So, you want to save money . . .

Welcome to my new blog.  I will be talking about ways to save money.  Most tips will be based on my own experience and a few will probably be ideas that I have read about that I have not yet tried.  There may be times when you read my posts and think "DUH, everyone knows that".  Well if everyone knew "that" there would be no need to share information.  You will probably also at times get more information about me then you ever wanted to know.  I apologize in advance but you are here for a specific reason - to save money and if TMI helps you save - then I've done what I set out to do.  There is nothing "extreme" about what I will share with you.  Every tip is doable.  I don't promise to save you tens of thousands of dollars.  Perhaps over the long haul (12 months) you will save a few thousand.  It all depends on what you currently spend and how many tips/ideas you incorporate into your daily life.

There are many different reasons why people want to cut back on expenses.  Perhaps you are saving for a fantastic vacation, maybe you've decided it's time to start saving toward retirement, you may have a child who will be going to college in a few years, maybe you have recently bought a house and have to cut back, or you may have had a sudden loss of income.

In 2009, as many of you know, Dave (my husband) had a massive heart attack.  I came as close as I ever want to to loosing him.  We suddenly lost more than 1/2 our income and were not prepared for it.  I had to come up with a plan pretty damn quick.  So a lot of the things we will discuss come from our own personal experiences.

If you want to save money the first thing you need to know is where your money is going.  If you are serious about saving the first thing you need to do is get a notebook and write down every penny you spend.  I mean EVERY PENNY not just the big things like rent/mortgage and utilities.  If you buy a newspaper you need to write it down.  It is helpful to you to know where your money is going for a full month.  You will be surprised what you discover.  I have a friend who years ago was having financial difficulties.  She kept track of the family's spending for a month and discovered that they were spending something like $400 a month on eating out.  She was shocked and suddenly knew where the first cutback should be.

I will try to post something new on a weekly basis, perhaps more often.

Happy saving!  See you soon.
Karen