Sometimes we spend money without realizing it. Or we don’t really think about the long-term cost, or simply accept it as the price of convenience. Here are a few tips to controlling those hidden costs, and changing your mindset.

Avoid ATM Fees

ATM fees can really add up without us noticing. Some banks, like Wells Fargo, charge their customers $3 every time they use an ATM that isn’t affiliated with Wells Fargo. Then they turn around charge customers from other banks $3.50 to use their machines. So in essence you are charged twice (sometimes more than $6 total) for the privilege of withdrawing your own money. On one vacation, to a destination where my own bank didn’t even have a branch, I accrued $32 in non-branch ATM fees (that’s just the fee MY BANK charged me—it doesn’t include the fees charged by the ATM).

It’s our own fault, really. It’s not like that non-branch ATM doesn’t warn us that it’s going charge us $3 for the transaction. But it’s so easy to convince yourself that $3 isn’t all that much, considering you don’t have any cash and don’t really want to run clear across town.

But think about it. If you use a non-branch ATM just three times a week, and are charged $6 total for each transaction, that’s $72 a month. $816 a year. Over five years, you’ll have spent $4320. That is the true cost of convenience.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a few things I’d rather spend $4320 on.

Pay in Cash, Collect Change

As any ordinary beggar will tell you, change can really add up. But when it’s riding in your pocket, you don’t think much of it, do you? Once a paper dollar has been rendered into a few odd coins, we don’t seem to count it anymore. I know I don’t. When I’m out and about, I count the bills. The change is just a jangly weight in my pocket. It could be $11 in quarters…but it coin form, it’s just somehow less substantive than bills.

But get a big jar (I use one of those big 5-gallon water jugs) and put your change in it every evening. If you’re like me, in a few months, you’ll have a hundred dollars or more. What’s more, it feels like free money.

You can also earmark it for something. Call it your “New Car Fund”, or “Trip To Tahiti Fund.”

Grow Your Own Vegetables

More and more people are discovering the benefits of growing their own vegetables. Not only are they better for you (no insecticides) but doing so can save you a considerable amount of money. What’s more, you don’t need to become Tillamook Bob and plow up an entire acre of land. A small plot is all you really need. In the summer months, eat all of your vegetables free.  And if you’re really ambitious and have the resources, you can preserve them by canning or freezing. If you’re unsure how to do this, look for tips and resources online.  You’ll be surprised how much money you can shave off your grocery bill.  And as the old saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned.

To learn more about how you can slash your spending and put more money in your bank account, visit [Affiliate Link].

by Brandon Lamb

Finance Expert

Sometimes we spend money without realizing it. Or we don’t really think about the long-term cost, or simply accept it as the price of convenience. Here are a few tips to controlling those hidden costs, and changing your mindset.

Avoid ATM Fees

ATM fees can really add up without us noticing. Some banks, like Wells Fargo, charge their customers $3 every time they use an ATM that isn’t affiliated with Wells Fargo. Then they turn around charge customers from other banks $3.50 to use their machines. So in essence you are charged twice (sometimes more than $6 total) for the privilege of withdrawing your own money. On one vacation, to a destination where my own bank didn’t even have a branch, I accrued $32 in non-branch ATM fees (that’s just the fee MY BANK charged me—it doesn’t include the fees charged by the ATM).

It’s our own fault, really. It’s not like that non-branch ATM doesn’t warn us that it’s going charge us $3 for the transaction. But it’s so easy to convince yourself that $3 isn’t all that much, considering you don’t have any cash and don’t really want to run clear across town.

But think about it. If you use a non-branch ATM just three times a week, and are charged $6 total for each transaction, that’s $72 a month. $816 a year. Over five years, you’ll have spent $4320. That is the true cost of convenience.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a few things I’d rather spend $4320 on.

Pay in Cash, Collect Change

As any ordinary beggar will tell you, change can really add up. But when it’s riding in your pocket, you don’t think much of it, do you? Once a paper dollar has been rendered into a few odd coins, we don’t seem to count it anymore. I know I don’t. When I’m out and about, I count the bills. The change is just a jangly weight in my pocket. It could be $11 in quarters…but it coin form, it’s just somehow less substantive than bills.

But get a big jar (I use one of those big 5-gallon water jugs) and put your change in it every evening. If you’re like me, in a few months, you’ll have a hundred dollars or more. What’s more, it feels like free money.

You can also earmark it for something. Call it your “New Car Fund”, or “Trip To Tahiti Fund.”

Grow Your Own Vegetables

More and more people are discovering the benefits of growing their own vegetables. Not only are they better for you (no insecticides) but doing so can save you a considerable amount of money. What’s more, you don’t need to become Tillamook Bob and plow up an entire acre of land. A small plot is all you really need. In the summer months, eat all of your vegetables free.  And if you’re really ambitious and have the resources, you can preserve them by canning or freezing. If you’re unsure how to do this, look for tips and resources online.  You’ll be surprised how much money you can shave off your grocery bill.  And as the old saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned.

To learn more about how you can slash your spending and put more money in your bank account, Click Here Now.

by Brandon Lamb

Saving money. It seems like it should be easy, doesn’t it? Just sock some extra money away each month and voila! But what exactly is “extra money?” If you’re like me, it seems like every cent you earn is spent long before it hits the bank, and usually just on essentials like gas, groceries, rent, water, and electricity.

According to a recent study, two-thirds of us live paycheck to paycheck. That means that if our next paycheck is delayed for whatever reason, or we’re faced with surprise expenses like car repairs or visits to the doctor, we won’t be able to pay our bills.

That’s why a healthy savings is so important—it can be the one thing that stands between us and insolvency.  But how do you start saving money when it seems like there’s no money to save?

Well, here are a few sure-fire ways to help you identify the “extra money” you earn, and start putting it away for that rainy day.

• Create a Budget—this is the foundation for saving money. Write down how much you earn every month, and then list your expenses. Doing this will help you identify that “extra money.” Maybe you can put away $3 every day instead of going to Starbucks. Think about it, that $3 a day adds up to around $90 a month, which adds up to roughly $1000 a year.

• Set Goals — Decide why you want to save money. Maybe it’s just to create that cushion between yourself and insolvency that we talked about earlier. Or maybe you need a new car, or a dishwasher, or a wide-screen, HD TV. You should give yourself long-term and short-term goals. Buying the dishwasher, would be a short-term goal, while saving for early retirement might be a long-term goal.

• Create a Separate Savings Account — It’s a fact for most of us that if we have “extra money” we’ll want to spend it. If you just mentally set money aside in your checking account, it’s so much easier to say, “Ah, it’s all right, I’ll put it back next payday.” Separating your savings from your spending money creates a psychological barrier.

• Make it Automatic — Whether you’re setting the money aside in a dedicated savings account at your bank, or stuffing it into an extra cookie jar in the kitchen cupboard, make it as automatic as possible. Your bank can automatically move the money to your savings account every payday. This is the best way because you never even see the money, and won’t even remember that you have it. If you’re using the old cookie jar, put the money in it immediately.

Yes, you might have to sacrifice a few things in order to save money, but the peace of mind will be worth it. To learn more about how you can slash your spending and put more money in your bank account, visit [Affiliate Link].

by Brandon Lamb

Finance Expert

Saving money. It seems like it should be easy, doesn’t it? Just sock some extra money away each month and voila! But what exactly is “extra money?” If you’re like me, it seems like every cent you earn is spent long before it hits the bank, and usually just on essentials like gas, groceries, rent, water, and electricity.

According to a recent study, two-thirds of us live paycheck to paycheck. That means that if our next paycheck is delayed for whatever reason, or we’re faced with surprise expenses like car repairs or visits to the doctor, we won’t be able to pay our bills.

That’s why a healthy savings is so important—it can be the one thing that stands between us and insolvency.  But how do you start saving money when it seems like there’s no money to save?

Well, here are a few sure-fire ways to help you identify the “extra money” you earn, and start putting it away for that rainy day.

• Create a Budget—this is the foundation for saving money. Write down how much you earn every month, and then list your expenses. Doing this will help you identify that “extra money.” Maybe you can put away $3 every day instead of going to Starbucks. Think about it, that $3 a day adds up to around $90 a month, which adds up to roughly $1000 a year.

• Set Goals — Decide why you want to save money. Maybe it’s just to create that cushion between yourself and insolvency that we talked about earlier. Or maybe you need a new car, or a dishwasher, or a wide-screen, HD TV. You should give yourself long-term and short-term goals. Buying the dishwasher, would be a short-term goal, while saving for early retirement might be a long-term goal.

• Create a Separate Savings Account — It’s a fact for most of us that if we have “extra money” we’ll want to spend it. If you just mentally set money aside in your checking account, it’s so much easier to say, “Ah, it’s all right, I’ll put it back next payday.” Separating your savings from your spending money creates a psychological barrier.

• Make it Automatic — Whether you’re setting the money aside in a dedicated savings account at your bank, or stuffing it into an extra cookie jar in the kitchen cupboard, make it as automatic as possible. Your bank can automatically move the money to your savings account every payday. This is the best way because you never even see the money, and won’t even remember that you have it. If you’re using the old cookie jar, put the money in it immediately.

Yes, you might have to sacrifice a few things in order to save money, but the peace of mind will be worth it. To learn more about how you can slash your spending and put more money in your bank account, Click Here Now.

by Brandon Lamb

As the old saying goes, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

To put it another way, when you save shave $20 off of your grocery bill, you get to keep the entire amount. But when you earn $20 at work, you have to pay part of it to taxes.

In that vein, here are a few money-saving suggestions that aren’t very savory. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend them — they take the concept of “pinching pennies” to a new low. But if there is one positive take-away here, it’s that opportunities to save money are everywhere. If you’re creative.

– Get free flowers for your wedding…by collecting them at a cemetery. I don’t know whether this suggestion is even legal, but somehow I doubt it.

– One woman suggested filling your pockets with free condiment packets at fast food restaurants. Worse, this woman confessed she made her kids do it, and then squeezed the contents into the jar of ketchup and mustard at home. I wonder how many of those tiny packets of salt McDonald’s provides will fill up a saltshaker. The answer itself could save you the cost of jellybeans. Consider setting the saltshaker out at birthday parties, and having kids try to guess.

– One man suggested saving the cost of a car wash by using the squeegee at a gas station.

– Umbrellas can be easily obtained at any large public library, according to one man. Simply go in and order one. Or at least tell them you lost a black umbrella. It’s almost certain that they have one. If not, simply say, “Oh, wait, maybe it was blue. Yeah, dark blue. I just think it looks black.” Of course, as you saunter out into the late afternoon rain, and open your new umbrella, some old lady may be getting wet.

– Taking toilet paper from public restrooms. This tip is ideal for women, who can easily conceal the toilet paper in their purses. A man might look a little odd walking out with a roll of toilet paper. But who knows, maybe if he’s also got a magazine rolled up under one arm and gives the clerk a jaunty wave, he’ll get away with it.

These unsavory ways to save money may make you look like a cheapskate, and they might make you feel like a thief, but they are ways, nonetheless, given to you in humor.  If you want to learn more savory ways to save money — in all seriousness — visit [Affiliate Link].

by Brandon Lamb

Finance Expert

As the old saying goes, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

To put it another way, when you save shave $20 off of your grocery bill, you get to keep the entire amount. But when you earn $20 at work, you have to pay part of it to taxes.

In that vein, here are a few money-saving suggestions that aren’t very savory. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend them — they take the concept of “pinching pennies” to a new low. But if there is one positive take-away here, it’s that opportunities to save money are everywhere. If you’re creative.

– Get free flowers for your wedding…by collecting them at a cemetery. I don’t know whether this suggestion is even legal, but somehow I doubt it.

– One woman suggested filling your pockets with free condiment packets at fast food restaurants. Worse, this woman confessed she made her kids do it, and then squeezed the contents into the jar of ketchup and mustard at home. I wonder how many of those tiny packets of salt McDonald’s provides will fill up a saltshaker. The answer itself could save you the cost of jellybeans. Consider setting the saltshaker out at birthday parties, and having kids try to guess.

– One man suggested saving the cost of a car wash by using the squeegee at a gas station.

– Umbrellas can be easily obtained at any large public library, according to one man. Simply go in and order one. Or at least tell them you lost a black umbrella. It’s almost certain that they have one. If not, simply say, “Oh, wait, maybe it was blue. Yeah, dark blue. I just think it looks black.” Of course, as you saunter out into the late afternoon rain, and open your new umbrella, some old lady may be getting wet.

– Taking toilet paper from public restrooms. This tip is ideal for women, who can easily conceal the toilet paper in their purses. A man might look a little odd walking out with a roll of toilet paper. But who knows, maybe if he’s also got a magazine rolled up under one arm and gives the clerk a jaunty wave, he’ll get away with it.

These unsavory ways to save money may make you look like a cheapskate, and they might make you feel like a thief, but they are ways, nonetheless, given to you in humor.  If you want to learn more savory ways to save money — in all seriousness — Click Here Now.

by Brandon Lamb