Monday, December 26, 2011

Buy Holiday Goods Now

Christmas is over which means it is the perfect time to start thinking about Christmas 2012 for those who want to save money. Before you begin rolling your eyes at the thought of having to think about the holiday season when you thought that is was finally over, remember that the better prepared you are before the holiday season starts, the more you'll save when the holiday season arrives. Just imagine how much more pleasurable December 2012 will be if you have all your decorations, ornaments and gifts bought and wrapped long before the 2012 holiday shopping season even begins?

The first thing you need to do is take a quick inventory of all the Christmas items that you have taking special need of anything that needs replacing or you wish you had during the holiday season. This is by far the best time to do this since it is still fresh in your mind so that you don't wish you had it again next year. With your list in hand, head to the stores where all Christmas related items should be heavily discounted.

You should be able to find all that you need to replace and anything that you know that you needed for 50% off or more. Once purchased, place with all your other Christmas and holiday goods and decorations and you will be set to go next year without having to worry about what you may still need. If you buy holiday related gifts for friends or family, this is also a great time to purchase these at great discounts to give for next year.

By beginning early and determining holiday needs now, you'll be in the position to significantly reduce the amount of money you spend on decorations, ornaments and holiday gifts next year. best of all, you won't have the pressure of having to find them with crowded holiday shoppers since it will all already be taken care of.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Clean Out Your Car Trunk To Save Money

Often it is simple little baby steps that can save you money over a long period of time. A good example of that is to empty out all the stuff you have been storing inside of your car's trunk.

There seems to be a law that if something goes into a car trunk, it must remain there indefinitely. As the months go by, the trunk starts looking less like a trunk and more like a storage closet. While your car's trunk may be a convenient place to store all those items that you are not sure where to put otherwise, that storage comes at a price. All those items resting in the trunk of your car add weight, and that added weight costs you money.

If you are the type of person that uses your car trunk as a storage area, make the time to go to your car and empty everything out of the trunk and back seat that doesn't need to be there. In addition to cleaning out the inside of your car, it's also a good time to take off the car rack if you have one. Car racks significantly reduce the aerodynamics of the car which lowers your overall gas mileage.

The more weight that you can shed from the car, the lighter and more fuel-efficient it will be. Emptying out your trunk should save you a minimum of $20 for the year and possibly much more. An added bonus to reducing the weight in your car is that your car's driving performance should also improve.

An added benefit of cleaning out your car is that you will likely find a lot of things that you thought were lost. Keeping it clean can also mean that important papers or other documents don't accidentally get lost in the mess. once your car is clean and organized, it should be much easier to keep it this way and save you both time and energy (on top of money) knowing where everything is.

getting your car and car trunk clean is a great first step in getting all the places in your life better organized and clean. Remember, it's a first baby step.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Credit Cards Have Advantages

There is often an assumption made by people who have gotten into credit card debt that credit cards are terrible. The truth is that they are terrible if you don't pay them off in full every month. If you have the discipline to pay them off each month in full, credit cards have many advantages. A few of these advantages include the following:

Creating A Credit History: Having a credit card that you pay off each month helps create a credit history which will improve your credit score. An improved credit score will allow you to get loans for a car or house at much better interest rates saving you money.

You Get An Interest Free Loan: from the time you buy something with a credit card until the time you pay off the credit card, you get an interest free loan.

Your receive Damage and Loss Protection: When you purchase something with a credit card, you are protected from damage or loss. You do not receive this protection when you use cash.

You Get Theft Protection: If an item that you purchase gets stolen within a specified period of time, your credit card often covers the replacement of the stolen item.

These are just a few ways that credit cards can be advantageous. The key point to remember is that this is only the case if you pay of the balance of the credit card each month in full.

Monday, December 05, 2011

Why You Should Pay Bills Right Away

For those of you who have had late payments on bills, learning to pay bills on time can have a profound impact on your savings so it's an important one to master.

If you haven't had any late payments in the last year, you have already figured out a quality system to get your payments in on time. You should change nothing and continue with the method you have devised that works for you.

If you made even one late payment in the past year, you've made one too many. A single late payment on any bill can have ill effects far beyond the bill in question including a decline in your credit rating and the raising of your credit card interest rates. What you want to do is to make sure you don't have another late payment from this day forward.

In order to achieve this, start by paying your bills the day that they arrive instead of their due date. When you bring in the mail, before you read any letters from your friends, before you look through the advertisements, before you read your favorite magazine, you should sit down with the bills and write out a check for each of them if you don't have an automatic payment system set up with your bank. The next day you will put them in the mailbox and send them off. That's all you have to do to avoid all the money you have paid in late fees in the past. By committing to do this you will avoid all late fees in the future.

Even if it seems early to pay the bill, you are far better off paying it too soon than accidentally forgetting it and paying too late. By paying bills the day your receive them, you will actually save yourself both time and money. That is, you will free up time that you would have wasted if had placed the bill somewhere to pay later. You will only look at the bill once and you will never have to spend the time searching for where you placed it again.