When my husband and I were first married, we wanted to start saving for a house right away. This wasn’t difficult considering he moved into my apartment, and we had the cheapest rent in Queens. (Thanks Mrs. B!) We credit one small thing with enabling us to save lots of money.

Before we were married, both of us enjoyed lunches out with co-workers or ordered in when we took working lunches. We nipped that practice in the bud right after coming home from our honeymoon. This was a savings of anywhere from $10 to $50 each day! Lunch was good too! Since I worked later hours, my husband cooked dinner. He always made enough for at least four portions – two for dinner and two for lunch.

Of course there were other ways to save money, clipping coupons, not keeping a credit card balance and comparison shopping, to name a few. Not buying lunch every day made the biggest difference.

Now, I do work from home at the moment, but eight years later my husband is still brown bagging it – and still saving us money.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

A common mistake many people make when trying to save money is to wait until they have enough cash to make a bank deposit. They feel it’s inconvenient to make a trip to the bank with under fifty or even one hundred dollars. The problem with this is that any extra money is temptation. Any time we have a few extra dollars in our wallets, we’re inclined to spend.

When I was 20 and living on my own, my existence was hand to mouth. I made a vow to deposit something, anything, with every paycheck. Sometimes after paying the bills, allotting for expenses and purchasing groceries, I’d have only a couple of dollars left. Nevertheless, this went into the bank.

The use of ATMs for deposits wasn’t widespread in the mid-eighties so I’d stand in line on a Saturday morning to make my deposit. Banks were crowded on Saturday mornings, and sometimes, I would wait for an hour to deposit my paltry cash into savings. A bank teller who was about my age once asked me, “Why do you stand on such a long line to deposit seven dollars?” I said, “I have to. I’m not going to save up any money if I don’t make this a weekly habit.”

After that, it became a game for us. I would always stand in her line and when I came to the window, we would joke about the amount to be deposited. The joke wasn’t on me, however. I was building a savings account. By the end of the year, I had a few hundred dollars. This may not sound like a lot, but if you’re an underpaid twenty something who is doing her best to make ends meet, this can seem like a fortune!

Nowadays, every bank has an ATM in its lobby. No one has to stand in line to deposit a few dollars. Deposits of all sizes can be made at one’s convenience! Consider this, if you deposit five dollars each week for a year, you’ll have two hundred and sixty dollars by the time the year has ended. Ten dollars a week will get you five hundred and twenty dollars at the end of the year. If you deposit twenty dollars a week, you’ll have amassed a small fortune of one thousand forty dollars! This isn’t counting interest.

Something turning people off from opening a savings account is how most require a minimum balance. This doesn’t have to be the case. Talk with a bank manager and explain your situation. Let her know you wish to make regular deposits but can’t afford the minimum balance. She’ll more than likely be happy to work with you.

Depositing even a few dollars each week or pay period will add up. It won’t seem like a lot at first, but the end results will be well worth it. If this starving blogger can put some money away each week and survive, chances are, you can too.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

This is where the solar panels come to the rescue. However, it’s a popular belief that solar panels cost way too much for homeowners to find cost-effectiveness in utilizing solar energy. Just see this price comparison from BioGreenLife:

“The cost of solar panel power per kilowatt hour is admittedly not the absolute cheapest of renewable energies – at around $0.55 per kWh as compared with $0.05 for wind or $0.06 for micro-hydroelectric.”

So, how can one actually save money if using solar panels cost that much? Aside from BioGreenLife’s saying that making sure that the solar panels are working efficiently to provide you optimum results with regards to your home’s energy needs, government programs against the increase of energy costs such as providing federal and state financial incentives are the potential solutions. One of the known states to employ these incentive programs is California.

According to Ronald Mulick, Solartronics’ president…

“Those incentive programs promote the harnessing of solar energy to lower energy costs while at the same time eliminating the incidents of rolling power outages by feeding electrical power back into the main electric supply grid. These programs will rely on converting solar energy into electricity by installing solar panels on homes and commercial buildings.” – Duo Have a Bright Idea About How to Save Money 

I sense symbiosis between businesses and the government. What do you think?

(Image from nrel.gov)

Post from: Thrifty Mommy