Part of living in an advanced society is dealing with money. Sometimes, it seems as if your money flies out of your wallet to pay for extra expenses. It’s never too late to turn things around. There’s still time to learn how to manage your personal finances instead of letting them manage you.
Learn the signs of financial distress to a lender and avoid them. Suddenly opening multiple accounts or attempting to are huge red flags on your credit report. Using one credit card to pay off another is a sign of distress as well. Actions like these tell a prospective lender that you are not able to survive on your current income.
Get a rewards credit card. No-fee reward cards are the best if you need a credit card. Reward cards give you rewards on various things that you typically use such as hotel rooms, airline tickets and store rewards. Be sure you pay the card off every month and pay on time to avoid interest and late fees.
Get a credit card that rewards you with frequent flyer miles. This is a great tip only if you are diligent about paying off your card balance monthly. These cards usually give you a big bonus miles bump on your first purchase, plus miles for every dollar you put on the card. You could be earning free flights very quickly.
If you and your spouse have a joint bank account and constantly argue about money, consider setting up separate bank accounts. By setting up separate bank accounts and assigning certain bills to each account, a lot of arguments can be avoided. Separate banks account also mean that you don’t have to justify any private, personal spending to your partner or spouse.
The majority of your unnecessary spending will usually come on a whim, as it should be your mission to limit this as much as possible. Before you go to the supermarket, make a list so that you just purchase the items that you are there for, reducing the amount of impulse purchases.
Every dollar counts, and you should find all of the coins in your home and put them in the bank. Search all of your couch cushions and pockets of your jeans, to find extra quarters, dimes, and nickels that you can cash in. This money is better served earning interest than lying around the house.
Old coins can sometimes be worth large amounts of money for one to sell and invest the return back into ones personal finances. These old coins can sometimes be found in a relatives ancient piggy bank or in the most unlikely of places. If one knows what coins to look for they can be greatly rewarded if they find them.
Before signing a lease agreement, talk to your future property management about the privacy policies. Many places require social security numbers and many other personal pieces of information, but they never explain how this information is stored and kept safe. Stolen identities are on a sky high rise in the past decade and without proper safekeeping from the management company, yours can be next.
To make sure your checking account isn’t a drain on your finances, take the time to find a truly free checking account. Some checking accounts claim to be free, but have high minimum funds requirements or will charge a fee if you don’t have direct deposit. This can put you in a bad place if you become unemployed. A totally free checking account will allow you to make the best use of your finances no matter what your situation is.
If you have consistently made your credit card payments on time for at least one whole year, you may have some leverage to negotiate more favorable terms, like a lowered interest rate or even a higher credit limit. Of course, only go for the second option if you have a real need to do so and can responsibly pay the added amount every month.
If you find that all of your bills are due at roughly the same time of the month, contact your various providers and see what options are available for you to change your monthly due dates. This avoids spreading your paychecks too thin, during each pay period and allows you to manage your cash flow more efficiently.
Never co-sign a loan for anyone!!! No matter how much you think you can trust them, if the debt is not something you are willing to pay off, just don’t do it. If you do, and they don’t pay, the debt will be your responsibility, and you will have to fork up the money.
After you finish reading this, you should have a better understanding of how to save money. Keep in mind that you will not be able to make things better overnight. Just like losing weight, the results of your hard work won’t be immediate. Just do it one step at a time and you’ll eventually see changes.
