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Fix your Finance in 7 Days- Day 4

Teena — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:10:01 +0000

Hi everyone!!! I hope that all of you must have done your 3 day ritual regularly and i am sure you are sensing some improvement already from within. Today , the fourth day we are going to concentrate on Credit Cards

Analyze the payments you are making for all your credit cards every month. Ask yourself if you really need the number of credit cards that you own. If not surrender some and have as less as necessary.

Also make the monthly bills on time to keep a clean record of your credit score. Make use of offers given by the credit card companies. Do not fall victim for marketing gimmicks and buy a credit card on an offer as the APY might be a lot higher compared to the traditional ones without offer.

Determine how much credit card debt you owe to the company and start allotting a considerable amount every month.

Thats it!!! We are done for the day. This will not take more than an hour to analyze. So you can go to sleep with a satisfaction that you have completed more than 50% in your attempt to fix your finance.

Fix your Finances in 7 Days-Day 3

Teena — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:22:52 +0000

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend like me. Coming back to work, lets begin our third day ritual on fixing the finance. On the third day, we are going to look into the number of bank accounts we have and how to set up the necessary number of bank accounts.

Take time to analyze if the account you hold in a bank solves your purpose. If you have just a checking account, set up a Savings account and start putting some cash each month into it. An online high yielding savings account is the best option to earn some extra cash.

Make it compulsory to have just 2-3 bank accounts to solve your purpose and not more in order to make your finance simple.

Make use of setting up automatic payment options to pay your bills and debt installments on time. Ask the bank for their time to time offers and make use of them to your benefit.

Isn’t it simple? Yes thats all you need to do for today.

Fix your Finances in 7 Days

Teena — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:26:45 +0000

Still haven’t taken a step to manage your money? Well you aren’t alone, there are a million waiting for an auspicious day to begin this sacred ritual. So i thought why not do this together? Yes lets all start to manage our money and fix all our financial troubles in this week. Lets take the first step now.

Day 1:

Today is the first day in our ritual. Lets spend half hour and take the most important step. Calculate our personal net worth. All we have to do today is dig up all old documents or if you have great memory, sit with a diary to write down all your assets, its value and then the value of the liabilities and finally subtract the liability from the assets. Bhoom!!! You have just calculated your net worth.

Yes thats was simple isn’t? Yes thats all we are going to do today. Tomorrow we will take our next step. Till then relax!!! We are surely going to fix your finances in 7 days.

Reduce your Spending without Sacrificing Much

Teena — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:28:59 +0000

Somehow frugality has always been linked with giving up pleasures of life. According to me it is a very wrong notion. You could enjoy all the small and big pleasures of life while still saving money.

Here is a list of things you could do to reduce your spending:

Sell the Items you don’t Use Anymore:

Find out the items that you have not been using for a long time and sell them. It might be your old books, CDs or even a home appliance. Sell them, create some more space at your home and enjoy the free space and money that comes out of selling.

Save on Energy:

Replace light bulbls by CFLs and LEDs .

Unplug aplliances when they are not working.

Switch off lights and fans when you leave the room.

Seal the air leaks in your home.

Do a regular maintenance check on all appliances.

Save on Cell Phone:

Unless you have a valid reason to use cell phone heavily, replace your plan to pay as you go. Try using Skype whenever possible and reduce the frequency of using your cell phone.

Buy the Regular Stuff in Bulk:

Be it oil, soaps or even your body spray, if you are something regularly, buy it in bulk for it comes cheap.

Make use of a Library:

The next time you want to watch a movies or read a book, think of signing up for a library membership.

5 Blogs I recommend you to Read

Teena — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:30:28 +0000

I am a huge fan of finance blogs and never fail to update myself time and again with what experts have to save. So i thought why not share with my readers 5 blogs i think that would be useful for them to save money?

So here we go

My Good Cents

For those who want to be informed of shopping offers, deals, best buys, coupons and give aways, this blog is just perfect and has a lot to offer.

Simple Dollar Truth

This is one of my most favorite Personal Finance blogs and i simply love their content.

Frugal Dad

This is another favorite personal finance blog with a lot of useful information, interesting and humorous articles.

Lower My Energy Bill

If your looking for ways to save money on your utility bills then this is the right place to see.

Hillbilly Housewife

If you are looking for delicious recipes to be made at a cheap cost then there are many mouthwatering frugal recipes here.

This is my list. What about yours?

Bank Accounts and Periodic Reviews

Teena — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:11:32 +0000

You must have already known that asking for a better deal from utility provides regularly could save you a lot of money, but did you know you could apply the same rule to your bank?

Are you still using a brick and mortar bank like i do? Then here are some tips that might help you.

Ask for better interest rates, enquire whether there is an account similar to your existing one, with better interest rate.
Do not forget to ask about free checking because its not advisable to waste money on service charges and other similar fees.
Enquire if the bank has a new website through which you could automate all your payments. This way you would never miss paying any bill.
Keep yourself updated with any new promotion that the bank might be running.

Have some more tips to add to the list? let us know.

Love and Money

Teena — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:38:22 +0000

It is believed that money is something not to be mentioned in a polite conversation. But this rule doesn’t apply if you’re in a serious relationship with someone.

Talking about money to your significant other is an important part of your relationship, if you are planning for a future together. Here are some things you must remember while talking about money to your partner.

Take it Slow:

As it is a sensitive issue, take it slow and steady. If you think your partner is spending too much, instead of staying ‘You’re spending a lot’ , its better to ask if she/he has thought about setting up a budget. It might take sometime for your partner to adjust to tracking his/her spendings, but do not give up at the same time do not try to impose your ideas.

Keep money out of your every conversation:

It is not advisable to talk about money all the time and give your partner a feeling that you are obsessed with money.Talk about money when you both are calm and composed to avoid any quarrels arising because of money.

Be a Model:

Stay in control of your money and be an inspiration to your partner. Instead of putting an end to all your enjoyments, you could both save for a fun trip together.

When Nothing Works, Bring in another Friend:

If you think, the situation is out of control you could ask the person close to your significant other to talk to him/her about money. This might help especially if your partner has a great respect for the person you choose to talk to him/her about the finances.

Remember that money can bring in a great development as well as tear down everything, so act wisely. Changes take time, so exercise patience.

4 Tips to Gradually become Rich

Teena — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:55:07 +0000

There isn’t anyone who would go away from the word ‘Rich’. However not everyone is able to embrace richness, this is because the rich are disciplined about money and follow some rules to make that money stay and multiply.

Here are 4 Tips you could practice to become rich:

Love the process more than the result:

If you keep on thinking abot becoming rich without enjoying the efforts taken, it could be a difficult journey ahead. Hence although the amount you save each month might be less, be happy that you are doing your job.

Treat Yourself:

After you reach a specific goal, you can treat yourself. Not necessarily by buying a luxury car with all your savings. A bottle of wine or a movie with your spouse would do.

Keep an eye on Fee:

When you start a savings account, the interests may be attractive but make sure the fee is attractive too else the earned interest would go waste on the fee.

Use your Power

The more you save , you might be eligible for special discounts and fee waiver at banks. Use these benefits to earn more.

Finance Lessons from Monopoly

Teena — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:13:31 +0000

Almost everyone of us would have played monopoly at some point of time or the other. The prospect of buying more properties and having a huge amount saved up in bank should have been delightful. Equally disappointing should have been getting into debt or ending up in a prison.

Monopoly is not merely a game of entertainment. Apart from increasing your general mathematics knowledge it also has few valuable lessons to teach. Lets have a look at them.

Long term asset building:

Just like in the game of monopoly , it is important to let your wealth build up by investing in properties. Else you might have to mortgage existing properties to pay the rents and bills. Just saving the money in the bank account might lead you to lose it especially due to inflation. So if you want to protect your money, invest it wisely.

Emergency Fund:

As important as investing, is having an emergency fund. Part of your savings should be allotted towards building a fund that you would use only in the case of emergencies and definitely not for your luxury purchases. If you have one such purchase on your mind, keep it as a goal and start saving every month for it but do not touch your cash cushion.

Just like in monopoly how the roll of dice determines your fate, happenings in your life could change its course , so its always better to be prepared. So next time you are on with monopoly think and apply the same rules to your personal finance, because winning in the latter is more important.