Tight Budget Tips

With the success of my previous hub How To Live On A Tight Budget I thought I'd add some more money saving tips that could help us all weather through this slowed economic times. These tips are just a few more ideas that could help you save a few bucks this year.

The biggest way you can save a few hundred bucks a month is by stopping the needless spend of money on entertainment every month. The average person spends 20-30% of our total paycheck on entertainment while some may spend more than that. A great way to save your money is to cancel everything needless, which means entertainment.

Cancel the cable, unplug the satellite, cut back on the cell phone features, cancel all magazine/newspaper subscriptions, etc...

I'm not saying that you should be prisoner in your home, what you can do is find free ways entertaining yourself and your family. Here's just a few free fun examples.

• Play board games, card games, etc...
• Read a book - they are free at recycling depots or at the library.
• Borrow movies from friends or the library. You could even download movie torrents online (legal one's of course).
• Get a "free to air" satellite receiver. Satellite signals for basic local channels are still free.
• Borrow an internet connection from your neighbor. Make a deal to water their grass for free use of their wireless internet connection. They'll be glad to have a nice green lawn.
  

Keeping a lunch box handy could save you a tone of money. Eating out or purchasing snack items at a corner store adds up. Consider these examples.

• $6/day for a fast food meal X 20 work days = $120/month
• $1.50/day for coffee (the cheapest coffee) X 20 work days = $30/month
• $2/day for snacks & beverages X 20 work days = $40/month

Total = $190/month that could be saved by just packing food for lunch.