1. Create a vision.

2.  Do a written budget.

All you need to know is where to look to find the savings.

Several Ways To Save Money

The first thing you need to do is identify and cut ALL unnecessary spending:

• eating out on the weekends
• buying lunch at work every day
• magazine and newspaper subscriptions (especially those you can get online and at the local library)
• cable TV (you’d be amazed at how many other ways you’ll find to spend your time once you get rid of cable TV)
• groceries (you can save lots of money with coupons and specials.)

It’s OK to reward yourself once in a while, but if you are really looking to get out of debt faster, you owe it to yourself to save every single penny you can!

To find other ways to reduce your expenses, take a close look at your checkbook and credit card statements. You should also call your credit card companies to see if they will lower your interest rates, even if it is only for a short time.

You’ll be amazed at how many ways you can save money, especially once you start looking carefully at how you spend your money every month.

Shop Around For The Lowest Prices

For those expenses you can’t eliminate, it’s time to start shopping around for the best prices. You can shop around for just about ANYTHING you spend money on! In fact, by shopping around I ended up saving myself more than $750 a year on car insurance alone!

The same is true of many of your monthly expenses – like long distance telephone service, internet service, all types of insurance, mortgages, and in some places even your utility bills.

It DOESN’T take any special skills. All it takes is a few clicks and you can save yourself a bunch of money in no time at all!

So, if you’d like to save yourself lots of money every month – start shopping around and looking for ways to lower your monthly bills right away!

For those who are good savers, what unique ways have you learned to save money?  Post them in the comments below.

As a financial coach, I see a lot of scenarios day to day.  Most people could do a better job managing their money, but for some spending energy finding a better job is where the real energy should be spent.  I have read a lot of books on finding work, but I personally like Dan Miller’s ‘48 Day’s to The Work That You Love“ (affiliate link).  Dan’s book walks you through a systematic step by step process to help you find work that will not only pay the bills, but a career you will love.   Stop worrying about how many people are out of jobs, and let’s focus on you finding one job. There is work out there for you, we just need to find it.

(Affiliate)

Is it possible?

Depending on where you are in your financial journey you may be wondering if becoming debt free and having an emergency fund is even possible.  If you are thinking that it’s not achievable, trust me I understand.  At one time I thought the same thing, and if you would have told me that I would be teaching people about money today, I would have laughed at you.  I am here to tell you that it’s not only possible, but it’s absolutely necessary.  If you are going to have any chance of staying out of debt, and having financial success, then you are going to have some margin for life.

How much should I have?

I know if you have nothing saved for emergencies,  then obviously anything would be a good place to start right.  But we aren’t aiming low, so we are going to make a plan and go after it.  Now the end goal is not to aim low but we, are going to take small steps.  Our first goal needs to be $1000 ($500 if you make less than $20,000).  You should put all your energy into scraping this up.  This means selling stuff, working extra, and generally doing whatever it takes (legally) to get it in the bank.  This should happen in about a month or two, and before getting out of debt.

If you have debt, then you need to head guns blazing putting all your energy into getting rid of it.  You can check my article out here on getting out of debt.  If you are already debt free then I suggest putting the same energy into building your foundation.  This should be 3-6 months expenses, and for many this would look somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000-$12,000.  If you have more of a stable income then you might be fine only 3 months, but if you work on a variable income (like sales or tipped income), then I suggest you work for 6 months.

Just start

The bottom line is you should start somewhere.  Meaning if you can’t get an extra job, or you have little income left even after paying off debt, then you need to just start taking out something.  If you just take 2-3% of your check out you will eventually get there.

What do you think?  Is it possible?  What struggles do you have when it comes to building an emergency fund?  On the other hand, have you been able to build the emergency fund and move to build a better financial future?  I would love to here comments from either side.

1. We won’t yell at you, or think you are a horrible person because of your situation.

As Zig Ziglar always said “Failure is an event not a Person”. We know it’s how you respond to your situation that makes or breaks you. Where you have been doesn’t have a dominate power over where you will go.

2. We know you’re not the only one in your situation.

One thing that prevents you from succeeding is fear of what other people think. You might think you are the only one in your situation. Well I can promise you that your situation is not unique, and most likely not the worst. Most people aren’t prepared to deal with theses problems, and they build it up to be worse in their heads than in reality. Even if yours is the worst I have ever seen, you will still have more options than you think.

3. We realize it’s scary to ask a stranger for help with your finances.

Change of any kind can be scary, but it can also lead to amazing things. How has what you’ve been doing working for you? A good financial coach will offer 30 minutes to meet, so you can decide for yourself if hiring a coach is right for you.

4. We are passionate about helping others.

Making a living as a financial coach isn’t the path to riches. Unless you become a highly sought after, nationally syndicated radio host.  Most of us have been where you are, and just want to see you succeed.

5. A good financial Coach is worth every penny.

A good financial coach can cost anywhere from $600 to $1500 and it’s a bargain. I realize it may be hard to part with that kind of money upfront, but it’s nothing compared to what it will save you in a relatively short amount of time. You should recoup your investment in a few short months.

If you are considering hiring me as your financial coach, but you are on the fence, here are two things you can do right now.

1. Sign up for my newsletter.

It’s an easy way to get to know me, and get financial advice delivered right to your inbox. And it’s FREE!

2. Schedule a 30 minute consultation with me today.

Only on TV can all problems be solved in 30 minutes, but in the real world it’s a good amount of time to get to know each other. You can then decide how I can help you gain financial peace!  >Schedule it here!<

If you have any questions feel free to email me. I hope this is helps you to find the help you need to begin finding forward with your finances.

If you are going on vacation next month and you need $500 to take with you. You do your budget and realize that after expenses you will just barely make it, but you can’t spend a dollar for the next month. Then within that month a deal comes along for an new iphone that costs $200. We already know that you don’t have the extra money for the phone if you still want to go on vaction. You decide that the trip is more important than the phone. You also realize their will be time later for the phone.

This is an example of a short term vison, but what we need to develp is our long term vision. Thier are a few basic questions to help you develop your financial vision.

1. How do you want to retire? That is if you want to retire?
2. How do you want to spend your time now?
3. How big should your emergency fund be?
4. What are you willing to give up to achieve you goals.
5. What needs to change to begin going in this direction now.

This is a brief list that is menat to begin getting you thinking about having a long term vision. If you learn to think about your future and write them down, you will begin finding forward. If you need any help developing your vision you can email me here.