From securing personal information to grocery shopping on Wednesdays, here are 25 tips for a frugal year.
If the new year has you feeling motivated to up your financial game, then you’ve come to the right place. Below, you’ll find our 25 best personal finance tips from the year rounded up into bite-size pieces, ready for you to apply to your life. They’ll help you save more, spend smarter and keep your money safe.
Our phones hold an incredible amount of personal information about us, including financial details. To make sure yours doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, be sure to activate password protection, disable your phone from automatically connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots, avoid announcing that you’re on vacation publicly via social media and stay away from online stores (and people) that aren’t familiar.
2. Use apps wisely.
Many of us use apps for everything from tracking our fitness routines to checking the weather. They can do a lot to boost our finances, including helping us find the best deals and tracking our money. But they can also make it too easy to shop mindlessly from bed, waste time scrolling through Facebook updates and put our private information at risk if we don’t take steps to protect it (see previous tip).
Given the lack of job security that many Americans face, one of the best ways to augment your current income – and increase your overall financial stability – is to earn a second stream of income. One way to do that is by launching a side businesses. Websites such as Etsy, Fiverr, Elance and Freelancer.com make it easy to set up an account and offer your products or services to paying customers.
While more than 96 million Americans use credit unions, which tend to offer higher savings rates and lower fees than traditional banks, many people who are eligible still opt to park their money in traditional banks instead. You can check your eligibility at mycreditunion.gov, and shop around for your best options.
If you think about your future self, then you’re more likely to put money aside for that future self to one day use. That’s one insight from the research of Oleg Urminsky, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also suggests stopping yourself before splurging, even on small luxury items like a cup of coffee, to ask yourself if you would prefer to grow that money in a retirement savings account.
Being impatient isn’t just rude, it can also be costly. Research by Stephan Meier, a Columbia Business School associate professor, has found that people with less patience also tend to have lower credit scores, which can make it more expensive to take out loans. Your future self comes into play here, too: You can cultivate a greater degree of patience by thinking more about the long term than the short term and focusing on long-term values and goals.
Whether you’re at the stage of helping your aging parents handle their finances or coaching your children how to manage money (or perhaps you’re facing both tasks simultaneously), you might benefit from simply having more conversations about money. Children who talk more frequently with their parents about saving tend to practice better financial habits when they’re older. Similarly, adult children can help their aging parents by asking them key money questions about their long-term care and retirement plans.
Having enough emergency savings stored away to handle unexpected expenses, from a root canal to a car accident, can prevent those kind of events from sending you deep into credit card debt. To begin building your nest egg, start small by saving just $5 a day and slowly ramp that up over time. To make it easier, consider automating transfers into savings accounts each month.
Terror attack in Paris - CNN.com
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/12/31/25-ways-to-improve-your-finances-in-2015
World leaders walk in 'unity rally' in France 01:17
Story highlights
- After rally, Hollande and Israel's Netanyahu arrive at Paris synagogue
- Hundreds of thousands gather in Paris to show they will not stand for terrorism
- Many world leaders present; Obama, Kerry, Holder not at rally
(CNN)Dignitaries and world leaders joined hundreds of thousands of people in Paris on Sunday in what government officials called a "unity rally" in defiance of a terrorism rampage that claimed 17 lives.
French President Francois Hollande was joined by other heads of state and dignitaries -- several who linked arms.
At the very front of the march was Dalil Boubakeur, the
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/11/world/charlie-hebdo-paris-march/index.html
The New Year is the time for a fresh start.It brings a feeling of starting over, and an opportunity to improve all areas of your life. In the New Year, take some time to complete projects you’ve been putting off for months. You can create an even better home for you and your family by decluttering and organizing your home. Follow these tips for easy and quick ways to de-clutter your home. 1. Keep things at arms reach: Keep items you use daily somewhere where they can be easily reached, whether that’s in a basket, on a shelf, or in a cabinet. Store everything that is used sparingly on a higher shelf or in the garage or attic. It will be easier to find what you need when you need it. 2. Add shelves: If your home is cluttered adding more furniture won’t help. Instead of adding a bookshelf or desk, add wall shelving. You’ll have ROOM for BOOKS, picture frames, paperwork, and even a television without cluttering your home with more furniture. 3. 12-12-12 Challenge: This challenge comes from BecomingMinimalist.com, and is a simple project to add to your routine. Clean and organize by choosing 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 to return to a proper place in your home. This helps you organize, declutter, and give to a good cause all at the same time! 4. Garage storage: Make your garage your main storage area. Use old dressers and other furniture to store seasonal items and items you don’t use daily. Paint the furniture the same color to create a unified look. 5. Get rid of broken items: There’s no point in keeping items that are broken or unused, they’re just taking up precious space in your home. If you haven’t used it or gotten it fixed in the past six months, you probably never will. Throw it out or donate it to make ROOM for something new. 6. Use things up: It’s a habit to save special items for special occasions, whether it’s fancy bath soap or an expensive spice. Stop saving these things for the right time, use them and enjoy them now. Use what you have before you buy something new to help keep clutter at bay. 7. Deal with one room at a time: Take it step by step. Organize and declutter one room at a time, makes it easier to focus on the task at hand. If you try to juggle too many rooms at once, it may never get done. Go through these tasks every few months to help maintain an organized home. A decluttered home can give you and your family peace of mind – and room for something new. Recommended Reading: -Old to New: Tips for Rearranging Your Furniture -Small Changes, Big Difference: 5 Low Cost Ways to Make Your Home Appear Larger -How to Make a House a Home: Creating Memories Post Author - See more at: http://blog.century21.com/2015/01/7-ways-to-combat-clutter-in-the-new-year/#sthash.HXHKoE5q.dpuf
http://blog.century21.com/2015/01/7-ways-to-combat-clutter-in-the-new-year/
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