Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Money Tip: Easy Way to Save

In my continuing quest to save money (and offset the high costs of living), I've decided to post from time to time different ideas for saving money. Not investing, not gambling, but actual money-saving ideas everybody can use. I'm going to tag all these posts as Rick's $$-saving tips so you can search for them.

Today's is called nickel and dime your way to success after my boss at Singer Co. back in the 70s, Al Silverstein, and it's a simple method to stash some cash for a rainy day.

All you have to do is pay for anything with bills, not coins. Even if something is fifteen cents, use a dollar bill. At the end of the day, toss all coins into a jar, box, etc. If you're an ordinary person, you use a credit or debit card sometimes, but at McDonald's, bars, convenience stores, you often use cash. This method can produce a couple of dollars a day in change if you're out a lot (when I'm at a bar, I'm good for $4-5 easily).

Save the money for Christmas presents or for a defined purchase (I once bought a new stereo system with money saved by this method). You can also reward yourself by throwing in a couple of dollar bills or even a five-spot every now and then. It adds up fast.

For the big spenders out there, use the same method, but use nothing smaller than a five dollar bill and save all the coins and singles. Your money pile will grow really quickly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.