One of our New Year's Resolutions was to build our savings (and follow a budget). Easier said than done, and given the state of the economy right now, I decided to share a few of the resources that we like.1. Suze Orman's Expense Sheet. I love Suze Orman. Download her expense sheet to get a handle on what's coming in, and what's going out. This is a great place to start. Click on the link and you will be prompted to open or save the Excel file, then start filling it in. If you don't like hers, we created our own and would gladly share the Excel template.
2. Mint.com. The best (free) way to manage your money. My mom sent us a story she'd clipped out of the newspaper on this months ago, it's very cool, pretty easy, and completely secure, and private. I like it way better than any software we've tried.
3. Magazines: Consumer Reports & Kiplinger's. Consumer Reports is a great resource when you're making an important purchase, we've bought many 'CR Best Buy' products in the past. Kiplinger's sticks to 'timely, trusted financial advice and business forecasts.' Articles are educational and cover everything from daily living to investing.
4. Fatwallet. When you shop online, make sure you go through fat wallet first to get cash back on purchases. The list of vendors is a long one and it's easy to use. The cash back from purchases can be deposited in your Paypal account, or you can receive a check in the mail if you don't have a Paypal account. Ask us how to use this if you have any questions, but this one's a no-brainer if you shop online.
5. Online Deal sites. Mike religiously checks these favorite sites throughout the day. We've scored some really sweet deals by keeping up to date on these. Be prepared to act fast though, the best deals sell out quickly. Check out Slickdeals, Wired Deals, and Passwird. Other sites include Woot (usually electronics) and Bling Daily (jewelry) these sites feature a new item each day until it sells out.
6. Series I Bonds. Jeff told us about these in 2004 and we bought some at that time. Check them out at Treasury Direct. They have a two part interest rate, one that is fixed, and one that accounts for inflation - so despite what's happening in the economy right now, your Series I bonds could be earning as high as 6%.
On a side note, for those of you who are LDS, we just recently found out that you can pay your tithing online. Guess you can set it up so it is automatically deducted from your bank account even. Who knew?!
3 comments:
Good tips, thanks! In the past we've always just NOT had money to spend, but come July when Joe starts with GE we will; so these tips will probably come in handy to get organized & on a budget (at least until school loans are paid back). We'll also be asking you guys for help finding a good deal on a laptop in spring/summer. Our laptop now is broken & we're not going to haul around a desktop pc while moving every 6 months. We've never had to buy electronics before though, so it's a little scary (everything we've had so far has been hand me downs from people)! How funny about the online tithing; I never knew either! That'll probably actually be a great idea to take it out automatically so writing out the checks won't hurt when Joe actually has a great income...
great ideas! i'm going to try the mint.com idea, sounds great...and i'm SO excited about the tithing coming out online! it's like one of the only things we pay with check for, and we always forget!
Thanks Jenny - I downloaded Suze Orman's Expense Sheet and thought it was great. Just what we need - to see how much I am spending! AHHHH!
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