Another Short Article

I found another short article on MSN that had some cool tips for saving in it. Here's a little excerpt:

But hooooow, you whine? How can you save a red cent when you just barely live on what you earn? Well, since you asked: Saving is a two-step process. First you retrain your brain, and then you find all kinds of clever ways to live on less (many of which are conveniently located below).

I think the best tips in it are the "Go Veggie" and "Haggle" ones. I find myself consciously looking for the meat in all my lunch and dinner meals, and it is the most expensive part. Beans are a great substitute, and they provide lots of good protein that you would have gotten from the meat. Protein also fills you up, so you won't go hungry.

Enter Password Please...

Everybody loves free and discounted stuff, especially when strapped for cash. That's why I enjoy passwird.com so much. You never know what kind of deals you'll find when you go there. Most days I just end up browsing and not getting anything, but sometimes it really pays off. When I purchased my Dell 700m last year, I got nearly $700 off from a 50% off coupon. I was in the market for a laptop but was waiting for a deal, and I couldn't pass it up. It's a good site to go to everyday, just to see what kind of discounts and offers they have. I don't know what's up with the spelling, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Being Prosperous

Here's something I don't think I've seen before. Prosper.com lets users borrow and lend money through the Internet. It could be a good way for those in debt with high interest loans to borrow money at a lower rate and pay them off. There doesn't seem to be any danger for borrowers except for the downside of having to accept a high interest rate in order to get people to lend to you. Being a lender seems rather risky and not worth the trouble. Splitting up your money between a few different loans would mitigate the risk of someone defaulting, but the rate at which you earn interest just doesn't seem to make up for the risk. If anyone has any experience, please post in the comments. I'll be looking into this further to see what some others have to say.

Living on a Shoestring

MSN Money recently had an interesting article about a woman living on $12,000 a year:

My 2007 "income," the money I can actually count on, will be $12,084. I know this because it consists of alimony and a portion of a school grant. (I went back to college last year; the grant covers tuition and books with a little left over.) I already know my big-ticket annual costs, too: rent of $6,300 and $1,200 for car insurance. Subtract these from my income and I'm left with $382 a month for food, utilities, clothes, medical deductibles and co-pays, gasoline, renter's and life insurance and any help I give my daughter, who lives on even less than I do.

It's a good read to get a few tips about how to save some extra cash, if a little extreme. I think the article shows how important saving the money you do have is, compared to simply making more money. I constantly look for ways to increase my income, but saving a few dollars here and there really adds up quick.