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Losing money is something that we hope never happens and we take safeguards to assure that this is the case. Most of us use the bank to store our money and we do feel confident that the banking system will take of it as it should. We do not think about keeping too much cash at our home because we fear it may be stolen. But one woman in Israel has taken it a step further and has recently thrown out an old mattress containing her entire life savings, almost $1 million dollars. (more…)

With the economy experiencing a period of instability, consumers have a growing interest in ways they can save money. Saving is in vogue again and more and more people are finding that holding on to money far outweighs the benefits of the consumer-based lifestyle of the past 30 years. There are different ways to go about the work of saving, some more high risk than others. (more…)

Many Americans are scared of keeping their money in the bank for one main reason: they think that their institution will go under, and all their savings will be gone. Even though most banks are FDIC insured this is still a common worry. For this reason, more and more people are living by the mantra “cash is king.” In other words, they are keeping all of their money at home. The question is: is this a good idea or can it get you into trouble?

There is nothing wrong with keeping some cash at home, but you don’t want to act as your own bank. Simply put, the risk that you are taking with your bank is much less than keeping all your cash at home. The bank has FDIC insurance in order to protect most or all of your money (double check on which accounts are covered). Unfortunately, you do not and cannot have anything as good as FDIC insurance.

If you keep all your cash at home you could easily lose it to a thief or disaster such as a flood or fire. One day all your cash could be safe and sound under your bed and the next it could all be gone with no way of getting it back. Is that a risk you are willing to take?

You should definitely keep some cash in your home, but never a large percentage of your overall savings. If you do this you are taking a huge risk, and asking for trouble.

With the economy so bad, cutting expenses can help you get by for the time being. But how are you going to save money? One of the best and most used ways of doing so is shopping with coupons in hand. In other words, do your best to only buy items that you have a coupon for. This may not save you a lot on each individual purchase, but by the end of your trip to the store you will realize just how much money you have kept in your pocket.

Using coupons at the grocery store is a great way to test out this savings method. You can find plenty of coupons by scouring your local newspaper, or better yet printing them off the internet. Either way, you should consider using every coupon that you come across.

Of course, you should not stop at using coupons on groceries. Many other retailers, such as clothing, electronic, and hard stores also make coupons available to customers.

All in all, you can let coupons dictate where you shop as well as what you buy. This will allow you to save money, while also trying new stores and products that you may have never thought about using in the past.

If you shop with coupons you will save money; there is no two ways about it!

Sure, you have to watch your budget a lot more carefully these days, but plenty of people think they still deserve to live a little. Yahoo came up with some useful tips on how to save money on your splurges so you can have some fun without completely blowing the budget:

• Internet service: Rather than canceling your internet service to save money, shop around to see what the prices are at the competitor - then see if you can negotiate a better deal with your current provider.
• Cell phone service: Make sure you are not paying for a larger plan than you actually need. If you’re not consistently using all the talk time or messaging services that your plan includes, then downgrade to a cheaper monthly rate.
• Cable service: Try to bundle your cable subscription with another service like your cell phone - these days you’ll often get a better deal if you use the same provider for more than one service.
• Dining out: Always high on the hit list when we think about cutting back on spending, just find ways to make it cheaper and you can still go out sometimes - for example, buying an Entertainment Book for your city, or using sites like DinnerBroker.com where you can get 30% off your meal just for making a reservation ahead of time.

Did you know that one of the simplest ways to save money is by changing the way you buy food? Eating for less need not mean a sacrifice in taste or variety. In fact, you may quickly discover that paying more attention to the amount of money you spend on groceries translates into more attention to the foods you choose and how you prepare them. Drawing inspiration from “tips and tricks to eat healthy on a budget“, here are a few hints to get you started: 

• Pack a lunch instead of buying food during the day. Ready-made food is often expensive and unhealthy. Stick to eating what you know is good for you. 
• Buy local whenever possible. Enjoying fresh and healthy food from local producers isn’t as expensive as you might expect. 
• Prepare a specific shopping list before you head out to do your food shopping and never shop on an empty stomach. This will help you avoid the impulse purchases that are based more on your poor memory or hungry stomach than any real need you might have for a product.
• Make some thrifty friends and find out what they do to save money on food and where they shop. If you have coworkers with lots of kids, ask them where they shop for food. A person accustomed to feeding lots of people in one house typically knows where to shop for the best food deals!  photo credit: x-eyedblonde

If you’re interested in saving money or getting out of debt, then you’ve probably heard this advice a hundred times: “Skip your daily Starbucks coffee and you’ll save a heap of money per year”. It’s sound advice, but a recent discussion at The Simple Dollar questions whether we should be focusing on small steps like these or big steps like - as in their example - selling the jet ski we only use once a year - and probably saving more money than we would by foregoing the daily coffee at Starbucks.

But the summary of the discussion is this: the best way to personal financial stability is to take a combination of small steps and big steps. If you take a lot of small steps, like brown-bagging your lunch instead of buying out, skipping that coffee, and hiring DVDs instead of going out to the cinema, then they will add up to be the equivalent of some of the big steps. If, at the same time, you also take some big financial steps, like downsizing your home or surviving with one car instead of two, then you’ll be accumulating a whole lot more savings there.

In combination, not only will you learn to live more frugally, but you’ll be feeling more secure because you are likely to get out or remain out of debt, and to be able to save towards a your retirement, too.

Living life simply can often mean you live life a little more cheaply, and so it’s no surprise that the suggestions on the On Simplicity blog for being thrifty are pretty useful. From the original story and the helpful comments of readers, there are all kinds of useful tips for saving a bit of money, including:

• Plan your meals for two weeks at a time, do one big shop every two weeks and then have no need to go out for fast food at all.
• Clean your house with white vinegar and baking soda instead of buying expensive cleaning products.
• Don’t leave your present buying until December - be on the lookout for Christmas gifts (and birthday presents) all year round so you can pick some up at discount prices and avoid the end of year craziness. And shop for Christmas cards and decorations on December 26, when they’re the cheapest of all.
• Learn to mend or alter clothing so that it lasts longer and you don’t need to buy new clothes so often.
• Buy fruits that are in season rather than paying a fortune for imported fruits out of season.
• If you take your kids to a restaurant, buy them one adult meal to share instead of two kids’ meals - as well as being cheaper it is usually a healthier option.

I was pretty surprised to read that the cost of running your water heater can be as much as 13% of home energy costs. It made me feel a little bit guilty about the hot showers I sometimes enjoy perhaps a little too long so I hope to follow a few of these tips soon:

• Turn down the thermostat on your hot water heater - although the standard setting is 140F, you can usually live just as well with it turned down to 120F and save up to 10% on the heating costs.
• If you go away on vacation, turn the water heater off for the period you’re away. Similarly, try to turn it off when it’s not needed for hours, for example by having a timer switch it off at night while everybody’s sleeping.
• Insulate your hot water heater, especially if it is an older model with poor insulation - touch the outside and if it’s hot or warm, you could save energy (and therefore money) by insulating it. Alternatively, consider upgrading to a new and more efficient model.
• Use less hot water by taking quicker showers - try using a timer to notice exactly how long you’re spending in the shower. You can also turn the water on and off while you’re soaping up to save some of the hot water.

Do you think it is wrong to treat yourself to a “shopping spree” every now and again? If you are on a tight budget your answer may be yes. But before you give your final answer keep in mind that you need to have fun and buy stuff for yourself from time to time. This does not mean that you should go nuts and spend tons of money on a regular basis. You need to stay responsible, but at the same time you should not feel bad about treating yourself if you reach your financial goals.

Do you have savings goals in mind for the new year? If so, you should work hard to reach all of them. And when you do there is nothing wrong with treating yourself to a few things you have had your eyes on. Again, you don’t want to go overboard but when you reach a goal you deserve to be rewarded.

When you set a reward for reaching a savings goal you are sure to work harder than ever before. For many people, a shopping spree is the best reward there is. Just make sure that your trip to the store does not negate all of your past progress.