Bulk buying is a good thing. Planning your meals in advance helps to save money on your grocery bills. You know what you need and can shop in bulk. If your family uses a lot of peanut butter, pick up a bunch when it goes on sale.
Save some more by cooking in bulk once a week. This frees up extra time during the week. One thing to watch out for when you buy in bulk is that you will use the product before it goes bad. Throwing stuff away does not help save a dime. You may as well throw the money out instead.
Do get all your bills up to date. No one wants to burn up cash on late fees and finance charges. This is very important regarding your bank balance. Keep the minimum you need to cover your bills in your account. Avoid the overdraft fee by not using it. Do not get NSF fees, not only does the company you owe money to charge you more, but these seemly innocent little charges can badly affect your credit score.
Try not to listen to the so called friends who encourage you to spend recklessly. The buddy who is whispering “you deserve to treat yourself” all the time is not doing you any favours. Treating yourself while you have a stack of bills at home is just being self indulgent.
Challenge yourself and your friends instead to have a no spend weekend. See who can come up with the best ideas.
Save money if at all possible. It doesn’t matter how small the amount is. If you get into the habit of placing money in your savings account it develops a good routine. Over time you will see results. The amounts may not be huge but you will feel better as you build up that safety net.
Try to pay off your bad debts. While a mortgage is a good debt, credit card debt is not. People often use credit cards to buy the stuff they want but cannot afford. This pattern of spending will cost you big in the long run. Save up for an item. Buying a piece of furniture with your money feels so much better. Your new chair is bought and paid for. There is no expensive credit card bill showing up in the mail later in the month.
Make sure a sale is really a sale not just a store strategy. The buy one get one free or huge discount only helps if you save money. If the actual price you pay for the item is more than buying it down the street this is not a great deal. Often store B may sell the same item for less all the time just because store A is advertising the item on SALE does not mean it is always the best price.
Sandra Nolan is a freelance writer from Rocky Mountain House. Her column will appear every other week in LIFE. Contact her at slnolan@xplornet.com.