Happy New Year of Saving!!!

Welcome to 2013! Here's hoping everyone has a happy and prosperous year. My grandmother always said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Well, her pennies went much further back then than my dollars do today, so I'm going to share some money-saving tips with you. There are many ways to save money--on groceries, entertainment, clothing, and just about everything you buy!

Think how hard you work to make enough to pay for the 200 channels of cable you don't watch, or buying another pair of black boots to go with the other six pairs in the closet. Makes you think, huh? As a nurse, I find it handy to ask," How many butts will I have my hand up in to earn enough to buy XX with?" Do you really want to throw out a full workday of 8+ hours on that purchase?

The best way to start is to know where those dollars are going. I'm "auditioning" several apps on my iPhone for tracking my spending. So far, the winner appears to be Pocket Expense Personal Finance Account Tracker by Blue Tags. It meets my most important criteria--easy to use and FREE!!! If you need more than just the basics, you may have to pay a few dollars for apps that do it all. Remember, in most cases you can upgrade later if you need to.

Got to go work on my coupon organizer. If you want to start the new year learning how to save big on groceries, there are dozens of web sites to get you started. One of the best I recommend (and she has a very good book to accompany the site is The Krazy Coupon Lady. You can follow her on Twitter at @KrazyCouponLady.

Till next time, happy saving!

Roma

There's more in managing than making

This little pearl of wisdom is from Nannie, my grandmother. You know, the best way to learn about how to make your bucks go further is to talk to someone who lived through the Depression (btw, we're in one now in case you haven't noticed. It's simple....I look at my checkbook and I get depressed). She could squeeze a penny till Lincoln cried. She and Pop, my grandfather, never owed a penny of debt to anyone. They had a simple philosophy-if you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it.

Now people seem to love living beyond their means, although the new economy has put a bit of a bite in that. Wonder why there are so many foreclosed homes in nice neighborhoods? Half-built neighborhoods where the builder went belly-up, leaving behind a skeleton of half-built homes? People upside-down with their mortgages, one paycheck away from the poor house? It's the same principle of why some of these millionaire athletes can't live on $10 million a year. I'm sorry, if you can't manage your money any better than that, and you go bankrupt when you're making those kind of bucks, I don't feel sorry for you. You got what ya deserved for being such a dumb ass. Here's a hint....just because you have $10 million, you don't go out and spend $11 million on a house, car, and airplane and then whine when the repo man comes and takes it all back.

Since I work hard for my money, I'd rather manage it better than have to go work even more. So I'm going to go cut out a few coupons and make a grocery list. Just remember, before you splurge on those hot new shoes that are going to kill your feet and give you bunions, just how hard did you have to work at a job you may not exactly love to pay for them?? Are they worth the workplace politics, office drama, and Atilla the Hun boss you deal with to earn the bucks to buy them?