• meetings
• membership
• mentoring
• committees
• get involved
• articles
• about
• home

"Theresa, I got a referral from you last week and I've had a couple other people tell me you referred them to me. I just wanted to say thank you for that. Its very helpful in my line of work and I do appreciate you taking the time to give my name and contact details to people." Lisa Zeller, Spherion Recuiter.

© 2008 DigitalEve Columbus. All rights reserved.

articles

Your Best Money Saving Tips

By DigitalEve Columbus Members

Inspired by Luci's meeting last week, I had an idea: What money saving tips would you like to share with the group? And here they are:

Ginny Claphan:

• Buy a local Entertainment Book. It pays for itself easily enough.
• Clip coupons.
• Watch the grocery store specials. Sometimes the store brand that isn't on sale is cheaper than the national brand of the same item that is on sale.
• Make enough food for leftovers for lunch the next day.
• Half price books sells bundles of magazines for $3 or less. Depending on the magazine, the content is still timely even after a couple of months.

Kirsten Harris:

• I haven’t had a home phone in the last two houses I’ve live in. I already had a cell phone, and if I wasn’t home, people would just get the answering machine. So I just skipped ever signing up for a phone, and it works out great. Savings: I think somewhere around $40 per month, with local and long distance fees.

Laurel Sheppard:

• Recycle paper to use in your printer that has already been printed on one side.
• Buy generic brands at the grocery store.
• Buy clothes and furniture at resale shops.
• Look for free entertainment, like events at your local library or metropark. For a comprehensive list of events see the online calendar at aroundrr.com.
• Stop smoking!
• Bring your lunch to work instead of eating out.
• Cut back on Starbucks. (I'm glad I don't drink coffee!)
• Buy gas at your grocery store, you should get a discount (Krogers, Giant Eagle).
• Buy a hybrid car, the Prius gets around 50mpg on the highway, depending on weather.
• Look at refinancing your mortgage, it may save a lot of money over the long term.

Theresa Wilkinson:

• I called Time Warner to reduce my cable and internet bill. I asked them if they would match what my neighbor was getting from WOW. It worked! They reduced my bill by $40/month!
• Packing my lunch everyday and not going out as much has REALLY saved me a lot of money that I have used to pay off bills.

Luci Gubbins:

Ideas to increase saving:

• Take out movies and books from the library instead of renting individual films or buying books (if you must have it, check 1/2 price books).
• Go through your kitchen cabinets and use up any unusual foods (the things you don't buy constantly) - saves if you don't buy more exotic ingredients.
• Stay out of the stores and limit recreational shopping.
• Make a visible reminder with your weekly or monthly savings goals (just like charities do with the thermometers) so that small progress is exciting.

Ideas for what to do with your savings:

• Review your options for checking, savings, CD's or Money Market accounts and implement a good mix of accounts for your needs (so you can achieve your goals but not be inconvenienced!).
• Add to or initiate your retirement accounts.
• Add to or initiate other asset accounts - Mutual funds, individual stocks, (can be dividend reinvestment plan).

Virtually all of the Financial Magazines have articles out in this issue along the lines of "Sticking to your New Year resolution."