Savings Tips for Hard Times.

The best way of saving is to have a portion of your paycheck automatically deposited to your savings account. With times getting tough and costs spiraling it is becoming harder to find that extra bit of cash to put away, or even to use for everyday expenses. For this reason I thought I’d do a series of savings tips to help the situation.

Please feel free to add your tips for others to share.

• Carpool or use public transportation. This will help save on gas, insurance and maintenance costs.

• Hold a garage sale. Be ruthless, if you have not used something for more than six month or more, let it go. Easier said than done –- I tend to be a hoarder myself.

• If you smoke -- give it up. The money saved does not even begin to touch on the savings in insurance and health care. Once you’ve been ‘smoke free’ for 12 months ask the insurance company to reassess your insurance costs.

• Consider the library for books, music and movies. Eat out less often. The average person spends $2,276 a year on eating out.

• Consider renting out a room in your home to an overseas student.

• Pay your credit card in full each month and only use it in emergency for temporary cash flow management. If you have been using your credit card until it has got out of control give it to a trusted friend in a sealed envelop and ask that they do not allow you to use it unless there is a valid reason. Make payments in excess of the minimum requirement.

• Build an emergency fund to handle unexpected expenses. This allows you to become your own lending agency.

• Make a list when shopping. Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry, you will only spend more. And, who knows, you may find that you loose weight!

Follow the above savings tips and you could be looking at saving something like $12,000 a year. Instead of debt, go for an emergency fund and save.

Don’t forget to add you own savings tips.