How to Save Money in this Disastrous Economy

Achieving financial independence may not be likely for many people given the current economy. By makingsome  adjustments to your finances, you can literally improve your overall financial picture and begin creating the financial independence you have always wanted. While the economy was great, it was easy to increase our expenses as new products and services come out. Now is the time to take a complete review of your overall financial budget and see where your money is really going so you can save more money and have more freedom.

After a complete review of my financial situation, I was able to save over $400.00 a month just by making basic changes to services I was using or didn't need. Depending on your monthly situation, you may easily be able to save even more.

First, take out a sheet of paper and make two columns. One column on the left will be for all monthly revenue. Write in the amounts. Once you have your monthly income written down, go ahead and enter in all of the expenses you have every month. 

Many people have to understand that by simply reducing as many of their expenses, it can lead up to a large amount.

Once you add up both columns compare it side by side to see the difference. If your expenses are greater than your income you need to cut down or eliminate expenses and get your finances back in line.

Regarding your credit card debt, you need to  Consolidate it  or Restructure it. You may want to do the same thing with Mortgage & Property Taxes.

You may want to  look at your biggest expenses. Many people may want to consider refinancing their homes to a lower fixed rate mortgage now that  interest rates are low.

The people who have equity in their may want to consider consolidating their credit cards to lower their expenses. Refinancing can be advantageous to people because it can shift the portion of your debt to a tax deduction to help you save on their income taxes. You may want to challenge your real estate taxes or Talk to an attorney who specializes in property tax reduction. Many attorneys that work on property tax redution charge a third of the savings after the property taxes have been lowered.

Many banks charge an annual fee on the credit cards. Many banks are now charging monthly fees. You man want to look for a bank that does not charge any monthly or annual fees like smaller banks or credit union.

You may want to check  BankRate.com to see what the banks are charging so you can make a wise decision in choosing a bank. 

Avoid NSF charges in your checking account by keeping good record in your bank register. If you get a charge for NSF call the bank and ask them to waive the fee they usully do it once every 6 months or every 12 months.

Another big expense for most people is food and dining. Staying in for a home cooked meal can save you lots of money especially if you dine out frequently. If you don't like cooking, try cooking larger portions and freeze the rest for later during the week. By cooking extra you may even take your leftovers to work the next day to avoid excess spending on lunch. Deal sites such as Groupon orLivingSocial and many others offer lucrative discounts to those looking to dine out. So be sure to sign up for their services and get access to their discounts.

By looking at the sales papers and forcing yourself to only buy things that are on sale, you can easily save up to fifty percent on your groceries. Shopping at discount stores like Aldi or Food 4 Less can really cut your grocery bill down dramatically as well. You may want to shop in bulk and buy from places like Costco or Sam's club. Buying bundles of bottled water you can really cut the cost of water and other goods down significantly.

Next look at your cell phone plan and assess whether or not you really need such a fancy phone plan. Google is also giving away free phone numbers which can be used at home, on your cell or even on a computer with free local calling. Make sure you take advantage of this free service from Google and look to cut out excess minutes or unnecessary data plans. If your kids have cell phones, remember the phones are for emergency and they probably don't need internet on their phones either. Just by cancelling the data plans alone can cut phone bills in half.

If you have internet on your cell phone, be sure to install the free app called "Gas Buddy." Gas Buddy will allow you to shop for the cheapest gasoline and just using this application alone can literally pay for your internet on your cell phone. Stop calling information instead, use Google on your computer and cell phone, you can eliminate the need to call information and will even eliminate the need to store unnecessary phone books.

Shop only at discount stores. Many discount stores carry the same merchandise as major retailers at a fraction of the cost and could be fun to shop for bargains. Be sure to check out stores like Marshall's or TJ Max for clothes and even look for used sporting goods at places like Play It Again Sports. Buying on EBay, Craigslist and Google shopping can really help you find the best prices on goods you probably never thought you would find. Be sure to look for online coupons too.

The next place to look is at your insurance policies. Consider raising deductibles on older cars and shopping for lower rates on your insurance needs. Insurance companies have handsome profits because most people don't bother shopping for insurance once they have it.

With the recent deregulation in utilities, many consumers now have the ability to pick their own utility companies and reduce their energy bills. Those switching to lower priced companies don't have to worry about service lines going out because many of the new companies still use the "big" companies energy lines lines to deliver the gas and electric infrastructure.

Consumers could save up to 12.4% off their gas and electric bills by switching to Ambit Energy. With Ambit Energy, consumers not only get their utilities at low prices but they also have the chance to earn their utilities for free by referring other customers. Ambit Energy even offers travel points and rewards to loyal consumers. You may get more information about Ambit Energy by visitingDecreaseMyUtilityBills.com and it literally takes less than a few minutes transfer. Now that's what I call easy money.

As you can see the possibilities to save money are almost endless. The real key to saving money is to make a commitment to yourself to do as many of the tips listed above as possible. Remember "big money comes from small money" and the more money you save, the more keep. Make a decision right now that you are going to do whatever it takes to begin saving as much money as possible and be sure to put your money into higher yielding savings or other investments and watch your money grow. So now that you have finished reading this, which steps are you going to take first?

Brian Saviano is a Marketing Consultant for Ambit Energy and helps consumers lower their utility bills and save money. Click Here to Save Money on Your Utility Bills