How to Save Money in 2009

Here's a list from MSNBC on 10 ways to save money in 2009. Many of these ideas are re-hashing old suggestions, but there are a few new thoughts here as well as some old stand-bys worth revisiting. Here are the ones I liked and my thoughts on them:

Cut back $10/month on 15 expenses. Examine your monthly expenses and see what you can cut out or cut back.

It all comes back to controlling "small spending" because if you don't even a small leak can empty your bucket quickly. On the other hand, if you save little by little, you can become wealthy over time.

Put your raise, refund, monetary gifts right in the pot. Pretend you never received that windfall, however large or small.

Here's an oldie but a goodie! In other words, take that extra, "found" money and save it -- don't blow it. With a raise, it's ok to spend some of it (of course -- you have to live life, don't you?) but at least allocate part of it for savings.

Start saving for the holidays now. You probably did all of your holiday spending in the last 6 weeks — or less. Tally up your expenses for this holiday season, including gifts, travel, entertaining. Divide total by 10 and contribute that amount to your savings each month from January to October. Next November you can start spending that amount, paying cash for your holiday purchases.

Better yet, start your holiday buying now. keep your eye out for deals, clearance sales, and so on throughout the year, and you might be able to save a few hundred dollars versus buying all your gifts in the months of November and December.

Comments

[rwh]

My two kids each received $200 from their grandfather. We made them save $100 each. They were not too happy about that.

[Jon]

I got myself in the habit of taking half of my raises and adding that to the percentage I'm contributing to my 401K. I still feel like I got a raise, as my paycheck increased, but I don't miss the extra money I'm saving.