Monday, October 27, 2008

Pinching Pennies

I heard a statistic on the Today show this morning that said in 1980, Americans were saving $10 out of every $100. In 2008, Americans are saving .60 of every $100. The lady reporting the story said there was even a time when savings was in the negative. I guess with the way we spend money, that's not hard to believe.
But, along with probably most of you, my mind has been on saving and reducing and reusing lately. I'm slowly learning how to use coupons and I've found a couple of websites that help. I subscribe to the Sunday paper, but I've heard you can save so much more if you order 3 or 4 copies of the Sunday paper. I've started to conserve on things around the house and cut down on things we really don't need. I'm on a mission. I want to be debt free!!
We're on our way with no car payments. Now we're on to our student loans that are halfway paid off. And eventually.... our house! Can you imagine what a feeling of peace that would be? No mortgage payment!! Ahhhhhh...no mortgage payment.
Ok...so what are your best money saving tips?

5 comments:

The DeGiulio's said...

That was interesting stats on how people are saving 10 bucks out of 100 compared to .60 Pretty amazing on how quickly things change once the economy goes bad. Were trying to do the same thing especially since Im going to school and only working one day a week, we cut back on the all the things we dont need or at least changed to the lowest option. Luckily we will have both cars paid off after Shad graduates, but we will still have the house payment and my school loans. I cant wait till im graduated and have them paid off.

Zeann said...

The best money saving tip I have is "If you don't see it you don't need it" I hate window shopping and hanging out in tempting places.

We plan and plan and plan for projects until we have saved everything we need before we start.

When you are old you start looking for ways to get rid of all those collections that used to be so important and are now a nuisance.

We are definitly trying to haul out and the rule here is if something comes in, something has to leave.

Good luck to all in this endeavor. Love you

Katrina said...

My friend's sister saved the money from purchasing additional newspapers by going to the recycling bin/dumpster with her friend and finding the coupons that everyone else threw out! I thought it was hilarious, but I think the joke will be on me because she's probably saving a boatload! I seriously need some lessons in saving...

Lori Hopkins said...

My husband read an article last month in Money magazine about how you are probably paying too much for your insurance (car and house) and also for your cable and phone bill and it never hurts to get some quotes. Sure enough, we were able to reduce our bills by hundreds of dollars a year just by switching companies.

Priceless Heritage said...

Good luck! It's a lot of fun once you get the hang of it and you'll save a lot of money. My suggestion is don't let anyone push you around (those clerks aren't too friendly sometimes to coupon people). I get 3 papers every Sunday and shop the best deals on pinch your pennies and coupon sense.