What If You Could Save Some Of That Hard Earned Money?
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I put up a short list of ways you can save some money, so that it can help you grow your business. Simply take the money you save by following those tips and tricks (oh, and by the way, i offer no guarantees here, it’s my own experiences, but i certainly encourage you to try these at home!) and re-invest the money in advertising, marketing, office supplies, new computer and the likes. Once you have some money, it surely is easier to make more of it!
Cash Back On Your Credit Card Purchases
You probably have a credit card, if you don’t, why is that? You could actually save money if you had one. Most people will say credit cards are bad (or evil!), and they’re right (depends on how you use ‘em), but let’s look at this from another angle. Some credit card companies will give you (return) a % of what you spend using your credit card. Say you spend $500.00 on adwords every single month, and your credit card company offers some sort of cash back program, go ahead and join! You will pay less than you’re paying right now. So the money you get back from that “cash back” program, you can re-invest in more advertising and marketing. Nice huh? :)
Turn Off Your Computer(s)
I read a post some time ago on YoungGoGetter where Darius gives really nice tips on how you can save energy and, of course, that means saving money. Turning off your computer when you’re not using it is one good way to save. Take the money you save by following those tips and invest in a new flat screen (LCD consume less energy than CRT monitors). There you go you have a brand new flat screen, everything looks better, and you feel more productive! (well, at least that’s what it does to me).
Work From Home, Save On Gas
Many people actually like to get in the car in the morning and drive to work. I don’t. And, the money i save on gas, since i don’t “have to” go to work, can be used to fund advertisement, or invest in this and that. Working from home is definitely not for everyone, just like working for a boss is not for everyone. But if you enjoy working from home, you could actually save on gas! If you’re working for a company or something, why not ask your employer if you could do some work from home? Win-win for both you and your employer!
Do It Yourself - Don’t Pay For What You Don’t Need
That may sound obvious, but we tend to spend way too much on things or for services we don’t need, things that are not necessary. Do you “need” to pay someone to do this or that for you? Could you do it yourself? When i started this blog i had absolutely no clue what PHP was, and now i can very easily find my way around things. No need to hire someone to code anything for me, and if i ever get stuck on something, i’ll simply have to learn how to do it. The more you learn, the less money you’ll have to spend, since you can do it yourself.
So, how do you save money? What are the things you do everyday, every week, or every month, what are the actions you take, that helps you save money? Please share your own tips and tricks. Hope you find my little list useful, and please share your thoughts and own ways of doing things. It will surely be benificial to others.
And also, what do you usually do with the money you save? Do you re-invest it, or you spend it on “other” things?
Take care!
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40 Responses to “What If You Could Save Some Of That Hard Earned Money?”
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A lot of stuff made today is cheap and doesn’t last long.
I always buy quality. It lasts longer, is more productive, and saves you money in the long run.
I bought a filing cabinet at Walmart one time for 40 bucks. Worst 40 bucks I ever spent, and the only thing I ever bought there. It fell apart within a year.
So I went out and bought a proper one for 200 bucks. Had it 5 years and it’s got another 20 in it easy.
Hey Shane, good point there, $40 per year for 5 years, and you’re at 200 bucks, so might aswell buy one for $200 right from the top. A lot of stuff is made real cheap, and more often than not, you’re better off “investing” a little more money!
I just can’t buy anything at walmart, seriously, as soon as i enter the store i feel weird! Don’t know if it’s just me, but i just can’t shop there. So you reinforced my decision to not shop there again hehe I prefer buying quality stuff, more expensive, but it last longer. So you kinda save money in the long run.
I wont buy that credit card stuff mate, even if they give you something back. Just to get that something you will be tempted to buy something which may not be necessary.
I cant work from home even though I have the option to do so. Despite the fact that I love driving, I also get some creative ideas while driving, teaches me patience when in a traffic jam and also gives me an opportunity to raise my middle finger if someone is pissing me off….lol.
As Shane mentioned I would always prefer to buy quality stuff, you will feel the pinch only once and not every now and then.
Take care and Cheers.
Hey Robin, hehe yeah giving the finger in traffic, i know what you mean! lol
Well that cash back thing on a credit card can be interesting, you just have to not spend for stuff you don’t want or need. I mean in the end, it’s up to the person who enter his/her credit card infos to decide. Just have to set priorities and see that as a business. For example if your boss gives you a business credit card, and you see that awesome [insert thing here] you want, you most probably will use your own credit card and not the business one, just gotta see the cash back card the same way :)
“Do It Yourself - Don’t Pay For What You Don’t Need”
I think you change change this one the other way round too. Why do something you don’t know well if you can pay someone else to do it, the time you save you could make more money doing what you do best.
Tara, you bring a really good point!
Is the time spent learning something new, worth the money you’d save in the long run?
Well, to me, learning new stuff is something i enjoy a lot, i wouldn’t pay someone to do something for me, whaveter the money i’d loose if i invest time in learning, in the long run, it’s probably gonna be beneficial for me to have done so. And, there’s a lot of things i want to do myself, because i can decide, instead of having to explain stuff to someone. My opinion! :)
I just wanted to say thank you for your great saving advice. I definitely could use the help. It gets so expensive wasting money on things we could all easily avoid. Anyhow, I just thought I would comment and say thank you.
Oh and since I thought your blog was informative and has an awesome title…
I just “tagged” you (hope you don’t mind):
http://starmediacommunications.blogspot.com
Feel free to ignore the game if you don’t want to participate and please accept my apologies.
-Kate
Hi Kate, you’re welcome, please make yourself at home! :)
Thanx for tagging me, apppreciate it, but i already participated in one meme very very similar to this one, you can find te post here: http://smartwealthyrich.com/what-i-enjoy-about-blogging/
Thanx, take care :)
Personally, I have to agree with Robin about the credit cards. In my opinion, these companies are sharks, and as soon as they get an opportunity, they’ll beat you down. Play with snakes, sooner or later you get bit. I agree, you could come out a little ahead with the cash back, but for me, it’s not worth all the risk associated.
I agree with the “do it yourself” mentality. You always learn something new. The wife and I just laid tile and hardwood flooring over about half our house. We decided to do it ourselves both to save money, and learn something new.
Hey Anthony, you’re right those companies are sharks. But in the end, i mean, we’re the ones buying stuff, so seeing this cash back card as a “business expenses” card can help, of course if you can pay in full at the end of the month. I strongly believe we shouldn’t spend money we don’t have anyway (ok, i’m a little guilty of spending the cash i don’t have sometimes, but it depends for what). In a way, if you credit card is at 12% interest rate, and you get a 1% cash back, it’s nice. Think it depends if you’re a “saver” or a “spender” :)
About the “do it yourself” mentality, i have to say you did a great job with the flooring in your house, you must have learned a lot. I’m usually more satisfied if i do things myself, than hiring someone else to do it.
Hi Jonathan,
Yes I agree learning new things is great, but there are times when it is not the best option in my opinion. For example when I started out as a freelancer, I decided I would sort out how to keep my books and read a book about tax and accounting. Then my boyfriend suggested I talk to his friend an accountant (which I reluctantly did), he set me up with a book keeping system, does my tax returns and knows exactly what I can save money on/claim back as it’s what he does all day. So although I pay him to do something I could theoretically do myself, he does it better and has saved me a few thousand for the sake of a few hundred quid. Anyway just my 2 pence worth :)
Hey Tara, that’s a really interesting way of seeing things. I used to pay someone to do all that tax return thing every year, because i didn’t understand a thing, and didn’t know how to do it myself. But i took some time to learn, and next year i’ll do it myself (hope i’ll do it right hehe).
Maybe i’m a little too much “learning addicted”, hehe, but i always feel i “can” learn this or that. Though you kinda have to set time limits, and if you “can’t” learn this or that fast enough, hire someone. There’s this fine line between saving loads of money doing it yourself, and saving money hiring someone else to do it :)
There’s no doubt it just depends on the task. Like you said Jonathan, some tasks save you money by doing them yourself, on the other hand, some things will be less expensive if you hire someone with the required knowledge.
Agree! One cool way would be to pay someone to do the stuff you “can’t” do yourself, and learn how to do it. Like tax return, you can hire someone to do it for a couple years, take the time to learn how to do it, then one year, you can try doing it yourself (hope for good results though) :)
Something I know a little bit about:
Get in the game and invest - take a certain amount every month and put it into some broad-based ETF’s (exchange traded funds). At the very least make sure you have a savings account that pays more than inflation (ING).
Utilize all tax-deferred/tax-free options for saving you have (look into SEP IRA’s if you are self employed).
Hey Goldy, thanx for sharing your tips and tricks! I thought about getting an ING account, but haven’t got around to do it yet, i might do that soon. I’m not really familiar with exchange traded funds thought, i’m sure Robin (fortunewatch.com) could add to that, or if you could give me more details. sounds interesting though :)
I like doing things myself, saves a ton of money (if you know what you’re doing lol) I spent maybe a couple hundred or so doing some body work on my car last summer, when it would’ve cost at least $2000 do get it professionally done. Of course you can tell I did it lol, but I don’t have money either to spend on a pro. to do it.
Hi Sean! yeah i like doing tings myself also. It’s true it can cost more if you don’t know what you’re doing, but well, you can learn hehe one of the things i like is learn new things, ok i might not be good at first, but that’s what’s fun about learning!
These might not work for everyone, but I try never to buy a brand new car (as soon as you drive it off the lot, the value goes down–it’s “used”). I often buy clothing at “Vintage Shops,” where I can get pretty cool looking clothes for not very expensive prices. I try to limit the times I go out to eat. And, I replaced a very expensive Starbucks mocha habit with an espresso machine! Sounds extravagant, but I gotta have my mocha. The machine paid for itself in less than two months. I also take the change from the bottom of my purse each day and throw it in the piggy bank. It’s surprising how quickly that adds up! I’ve financed a mini-vacation that way (in less than 6 mos of saving!).
Hi This Eclectic Life, good tips there! Getting a used car is ssure a good way to save money, seriously a 2005 model is really just a 2007 model, but cheaper :)
Pocket change, i do this also, and it’s true it adds up real quick!
Hehe maybe i’m not ready to give up the Starbucks Caramel Machiattos yet lol but having my own machine at home would be nice!
Hey Jonathan,
I don’t want to fill up your site with investment mumbo jumbo… it’s what I do for a living. ETF’s are basically passively managed funds, they just track an underlying set of securities (like the S&P 500). They charge much lower fees than mutual funds and youn can trade out of them just like a stock.
Anyways… happy to discuss investing or anything else somewhere where I don’t feel I am clogging up your board :)
Hey Goldy, thanx for the infos, appreciatee it. Well i try to learn abou investments and stocks, i’m getting there. I just want to know enough so i can start going at it, and see how it’s like.
By the way, you can write a mile long reply, it’s way fine with me! I love reading the comments and replies, and don’t mind at all if you go and write investment mumbo jumbo on here! :)
Jonathan, you didn’t mention researching for free options. I love free options! An employee found AirSet.com (which is free) and maximizes my communication with hundreds of individuals in 12 different groups, and allows two of my employees to work virtually.
Jott.com is free - and allows me to time-shift communication to friends, family, employees and my network.
Free is good. Free is always in the budget!
Hi Wendy, you’re absolutely right! Free stuff is always nice. Airset.com seeems really nice i’ll have to look into it a little more. Thanx a lot for sharing those with us!
Free is always in the budget, and you’re sure to not spend too much, that’s for sure. :)
Hi Jon,
Nice list there. I especially agree with your last point. A lot of things, we can actually do ourselves, instead of paying. It will be a new skill learnt which can only be good for the long term.
Cheers,
Jag
Hey Jag! Thanx a lot! yeah i really like it when i learn something new, and usually it costs less in the long run to do stuff yourself. Just gotta know your limitations, and take some time to learn new things, one thing to keep in mind though is to not be obsessive about learning, if at some point you realize it takes way too much time to learn something, maybe it’s better to pay someone instead, and keep learning :)
There’s some great comments here. It takes some good discipline to take advantage of credit cards (instead of the other way around), but it’s definitely worth it.
Doing it yourself is always good. You learn something new and save a few bucks. My rule of thumb is that it’s usually going to take twice as long for me to do it as it would a tradesperson or whoever that does it all day long.
Shane, yeah there’s some really good comments, that’s something i love about blogging: conversations :)
I agree on the credit card thing, in the end it’s us (spenders) that uses the credit cards, so just gotta watch it, and spend only the money you have, and pay in full at the end of the month.
I love doing things myself (or partner with someone), i just love learning new things, so to me, even if it was more expensive to do it myself, i find there’s a lot more benefits than hiring someone.
An interesting article, although perhaps you should have mentioned that the credit card cashback is only profitable if you pay off your balance in full at the end of each month!
- Martin Reed
Hi Martin, good point, that’s what i like about blogging, people can contribute to the posts! :)
Well even if you don’t pay in full at the end of the month, you still save a little money compared to a “normal” credit card. But of course the best thing would be to pay in full, and spend only what we can afford.
The credit card thing has really gotten out of control. I don’t remember what the figure was, but in the USA right now the credit card debt is in the billions.
An article at the motley fool stated that there is an average of $50 billion in finance charges alone, paid every year.
Hi Bucky, welcome to smartwealthyrich, make yourself at home!
wow, now that’s a lot of money, it’s crazy how people can spend so much money, that isn’t theirs.
Thanx for adding to the discussion Bucky
[…] What If You Could Save Some Of That Hard Earned Money? […]
I totally agree with you. Especially the cash back/rewards programs. All the haters might say credit cards are eveil and they are partially right but guess what? I still use mine regularly. It tough to go to the Amazon store down the street (there isn’t one) or the Google store (again it doesn’t exist). So if i am using a card anyways might as well get something for it. The savings add up. I do a skymiles card and I get a few free flights a year. And yes, I do pay my balance off each month. So much for evil huh?
Hey Dave, yep my thoughts exactly! If you “can” pay you card off each month, it’s cool, this way you really benefit from the cash back/reward thing, point are cool too, free flights are always welcome (instead of having to take out your credit card to pay for a flight, use the points, it’s way cheaper hehe)
Great entry! Now I can go out and get a flatscreen without feeling frivolous. You know what?…I cut my car insurance bill in half just by shopping around. I’m with a better insurance company too. My problem is, I don’t ‘realize’ the savings. I need to put it away or re-invest it. Thanks for the advice.
Hi Andrew, welcome to SWR, make yourself at home! :)
Shopping for other options is a really good way to save some money, not only on car insurance, but also on that flatscreen hehe, why pay more for something if you can find the exact same thing somewhere else for less!
I’d rather work at home too. You save up on gas and you can also chill out whenever you want. Plus you don’t need to wear any restricting corporate clothes!
I do agree on the last part. We can do most of the things we pay for.
Totally! you save on gas, and you can take breaks whenever you want, just gotta watch it so that you ddon’t take breaks more often than you work hehe :)