Top 15 Ways to Save

As a pert of blogging, i do read other blogs and then there are few blogs which have such beautiful articles that you just want to read over and share it..infact this inspired me to start my own blog so i could get to read and share and connect as well to all the beautiful blogs..and then i can have all these blogs collective together in one place to read over them again..

i recently came across one such good blogger mrsascouponorganizer. you can find the blog here . One fine artcle, i came acrooss about saving and iam reproducing the same here to read on and enjoy!

Top 15 Ways to Save

1. Don’t pay interest. Most of us must for a house. But even this can be minimized. Debt service is money down the drain.

2. Live in a house that meets your needs but don’t get carried away. Keep it neat and attractive and you’ll be satisfied.

3. Drive a car that is economical, reliable, and safe, but affordable. After a house, this is one of our major expenses. Don’t get lured in to a big payment.

4. Develop a budget whichs keeps you living within your means and helps you achieve your financial and lifestyle goals.

5. Don’t spend on a credit card unless you can pay it off monthly. No debt service.

6. Plan shopping trips based on your budget. Follow your shopping list to avoid impulse buying.

7. Obtain coupons for anticipated purchases.

8. Organize your coupons in a true organizer where you can see all coupons at once. This way, you don’t miss using a coupon, and they don’t expire. (I really love coupon organizers. They are one of the purchases that return far more than their cost)

9. Invest money wisely and in diverse ways. Interest coming to you is a good thing. Have a year’s supply of savings, if possible. Otherwise, crisis could force you in to debt.

10. Stay healthy. Those who don’t pay a small price daily for health will one day pay a great price.

11. Don’t buy something just because it is on sale. Determine if you will use it and if it fits your lifestyle, health, and happiness goals.

12. Buy generic when feasible.

13. Buy in bulk.

14. Buy and eat bulk, whole grains and legumes.

15. Plant a garden and eat from your harvest. Preserve that which you can.

Don’t buy what you don’t need. Take a deep look at yourself. Do you buy to mood alter? Living within one’s means provides a peace greater than the excitement of a purchase if it leaves you with the stress of debt. This list could be much longer. It was an exercise for me to see what I could think of off the top of my head.

Hope you find this interesting and something to think over...

The Purging week

hi! i am feeling so bad i could not participate in so many of the ongoing  organizing challenges in few of my fav blogs. It is only me to blame for my so disoriented time management. To add to it was down with acute gastritis (did i mention that earlier?) two weeks back just and this tossed away all my organizing plans. Now since feeling much better, i am so overwhelmed with all the things around me as to what to start with? So i finally decided upon to purge all the unwanted and unused things as quickly as possible before i start to organize anything.

The last week of my organizing theme was dedicated solely to purging..and God, u will not beleive (i too didn't) , the amount of unused things lying in my house. It was just about everything like the hubby's old clothes which he no longer wore (not that they were in bad shape, but he just outgrew it), my old clothes which no longer fitted me (was just holding on to it reluctant to throw away, hoping one day i will be able to fit in, now really seems distant dream), my kiddo's clothes and toys which he never played with or were dysfunctional (most of his toys collection are gadgets operating on battery, so they go bad very soon as he keeps fiddling and handles them rough, what can we expect from a 4 yo right?) and to add to it lots and lots of papers (news papers, courier papers, mails, school papers, just every kind of paper trash u can imagine!). This had occupied almost 50% of my storage space.. and i was amazed and so glad when i had so much of empty spaces and moreover, i donated few of the stuff which were still in good condition which i was holding on to, feeling happy that it will be atleast used. Few stuff i gave here and there (i feel so bad, we donot have this garage sale kinda thing here!) and to the poor beggars. Even beggars were hard to locate for this..i get to see them every where usually and so when i just took up my stuff like old toys and few clothes to distribute, i didn't find a single beggar on road as if they were hiding from me sort of.. (Hey, i stay in India, u just cannot have no beggars on street ok..) Finally located few urchins and gave my kids old shoes, toys, raincoats and they were happy as it seemed to me.. felt a kinda of satisfaction with a smile on their faces (and also felt bad i waste so much money to get new toys to my kid when the old toys are still so good that now he does not value them anymore!)

O.k, fine i will not stuffle you with more of my writings but these empty spaces somehow boosted my creativity and i really ended up with few more DIY projects .. will blog about them soon.. see ya then!

(hey see, finally writing something on organisations, right?)

love, shilpa