| October 2008 |
|||||||
|
Savings Section:  Five Ways to Solve a Budget Shortfall So far, gas prices are the worldwide financial story of 2005. But your personal financial story of 2005 will probably be a matter of how well you compensate for monies sunk at the pump. So, we at Debt Matters are doing our best to find you new ideas to save. Check out this month's gems: 1Get rid of your PMI. It's called private mortgage insurance and it means you pay $30 to $100 more for your home. With PMI, you are paying for insurance that will only benefit your lender. So, do your best to get rid of it. Most lenders will drop PMI when you reach 20% equity and there are a couple ways to get there. You can pay down the mortgage ahead of time. Or, if your home has appreciated, you can have it appraised and demonstrate to your lender that you now have 20% equity. 2Stop going to movies. The big screen is nice, but going to movies is an extravagance and it's one that's easy to replicate at home with a rented DVD. Four tickets and popcorn will cost $40-50. A movie rental, drinks and popcorn made at home will cost less than $10. 3Change your own oil. If you don't know how, go to the library and get some books on auto mechanics. You'll figure it out sooner or later. Once you get the know-how and a set up for oil recycle/disposal, you'll be able to save roughly $90 a year on oil changes forever. And from there you can do more simple maintenance such as replacing windshield wiper blades or rotating your tires, saving more money. 4Never, never pay an ATM fee. This one takes simple discipline and planning. You're on your way to lunch and you're out of cash and you can't get to your bank's ATM. So you use a strange bank's ATM and they charge you a fee and then your bank charges you a fee. All for getting your own money! Four ATM fees a month can wind up being $120 a year. Always be aware of the cash you have and the cash you're going to need in the next couple days. 5Slim down your gym membership. If you're going to use a gym, check to see if your employer has a partnership with an area fitness center. They often have an arrangement that can save you $15-30 a month! |
|
|
|
|
|||
