Every financial expert will tell you that you should pay yourself first. Put aside a set amount of money each month to go into savings before you pay your bills. Most employers have the capability to direct deposit into multiple accounts. Set up your direct deposit so that a portion of your check goes into a savings account. You won’t miss what you never had.

Improve Your Credit

Everybody knows having poor credit will cost you when it comes time to borrow for a home or new car, but most don’t realize just how large a drain on their wallet having poor credit can be.  Check your credit annually to make sure your report is free of costly mistakes.

Cook At Home

Food is a substantial cost in a family’s monthly budget. One way to save on food costs is to eat out less often. This means making your meals at home. In addition, preparing your lunch at home and taking it to work instead of eating out every day will save you money.

Shop Around

Comparison shopping is an effective way to save on purchases. This is true for big expenses such as vehicles to relatively smaller household expenses. Check your local ads for sales and discounts prior to shopping. Clip coupons to help cut down your grocery bill.

Save Electricity

Consider making some relatively easy lifestyle changes. This means switching off lights when you are not using them, changing your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, and turning setting your air conditioner to run at a higher temperature.

Trim Your Tax Bill

Consult your accountant to find out what tax deductions you are missing out on. Making your home more energy efficient saves you money immediately and could potentially be tax deductible.

Finding ways to save money doesn’t have to be difficult. One or two relatively small changes in your behavior could equal a significant amount of money saved.

I will use myself as an example. Being a 35 year old bachelor, much of my social interaction is at lunch time and evenings out with friends. I will stick to lunch for this example. If I go to a non-fast food restaurant, on average I will spend roughly 12 dollars including tip. If I do this 3 times a week, that is 36 dollars. Multiply that times four weeks and  is just under $150.00. This is really a conservative number too.

You can see from the previous example how eating can really blow a whole in your bottom line. Discipline is key, but if I cut eating out to lunch to just one day a week I am saving an extra $100. a month. That could go towards savings, or paying down debt. This is just another example of how you can save money.

I average spending about $11.00 a day on lunch or roughly $220 a month. That is just on lunch. This is completely ridiculous. In all honesty, it is a bit embarrassing for me to admit that I do this! So how am I going to deal with this monumental waste? By planning ahead.

I have a rough budget that I follow, and yes I factored in this current cost. What is going to happen is the following. First, each Sunday I will sit down and plan out what I am going to eat each day for lunch. Seriously, I am writing down a list for Monday-Friday. One of those day will be a day where I eat out. The reason for this is social/networking. The current job I have is through networking and staying in contact with old coworkers and friends. Next, I will take that list to the grocery store and buy what I need. Finally, I will post on here about it on Saturday as a way of accountability to see if I stuck to my budget. For the moment, I am scheduling $30.00 for lunch money through the week.

This is part of the battle. Identifying where my week areas are and fixing them one at a time. I know there are plenty more, but this is the next step. Once this is under control, I will improve another area. Keep in mind, I am still paying down debt so every improvement is speeding that process along.

-Kevin

1.  It is hard to cook for just one person. The time it takes and I am not skilled enough yet to get the portions right. So there is waste.
2. I have conditioned myself with some expensive tastes. I like sushi!
3. I’m single and like the social interaction of meeting friends out for dinner. Oh, I’m not talking about dates. I’ll get to my thoughts on those in another blog.
4. Freedom! I like the freedom to decide on a whim what I want. I live close to plenty of places to eat.

Yes, I know these are things I need to fix. I just eed to indentify them all and start attacking them. What are some of your weaknesses with eating out? What are you doing to address them?

-rebel