Easiest Ways to Save Money

Recession has hit every household so hard that everyone is forced to think of the easiest ways to save money. God! What do you do? You are confused and don't know where to start. You want to eliminate the debt and take control of your life once again. Well to start, you need a plan and need to follow it together as a family. Don't make very big plans as you are bound to fail. The magic is in keeping the plan simple and achievable.
What seem as small savings initially will over a period of time run into a few thousand dollars and you can resurrect your debt completely. Well are you interested? If yes, lets kick start your plan of action.
This is just a broad plan suggesting the easiest ways to save money and you can tweak it as per your individual needs. So shall we start... here we go...

• Cook at home - You will be surprised to know that most of us tend to spend a lot of money eating out. Well, start with one day a week where you will cook at home. Slowly increase the frequency and over a period of time the small dollars that you had saved will grow big.
• Prepare a shopping list - Most of us tend to be impulsive shoppers. We shop for things that we might never use. Make a list of things that you need and stick to it no matter what. The other advantage is that, you can shop for the entire week and save on valuable fuel as you are avoiding unnecessary trips to the supermarket.
• Consolidate and pay debt - Try and consolidate your debt to a lower interest and pay it as early as possible. Why do you want to keep paying interest and make the banks rich?
• Pay bills on time - Late fees... you missed the last date once again! Well, if it is happening frequently, you need to organize and start paying all your bills on time.
• Carpool or ride your bike to work - You can start a carpool with friends, neighbors and colleagues. You can also ride a bike to work and get the twin benefits of saving fuel and getting fit and healthy. Now isn't this just great!
• Electricity! Use it wisely - When you go out of a room switch off the lights and fan. Don't keep any of the electrical appliances on standby.
• Check prices whenever buying - You should always check for prices whenever you go shopping and especially when you are planning to buy something new. The internet is a great place to check for prices and there are a number of discount offers that you can avail of.
• Credit cards - You must use your cards in a clever way and do not indulge in impulsive shopping. If you have more than a couple of credit cards, surrender them and restrict yourself to just two.
• Do it yourself - Most of us have the skills needed to paint our house or trim the lawns or wash the car. But do we use them? No we don't and tend to spend valuable money on these simple tasks. Learn to do all these together and create a special bonding time also with your family.