savings Archives - The Frugal Prof

Saving on a Budget: Free Services to Help You Reach Your Financial Goals

January 30, 2023 by Frugal Prof

Free and Fabulous: Services to Help You Save More Money

Saving money can be a daunting task, especially when you’re on a tight budget.

However, there are many free services available that can help you reach your financial goals.

Here are a few to consider:

Budgeting apps: There are many budgeting apps available that can help you track your expenses and create a budget. Some popular options include Mint, PocketGuard, and You Need a Budget.

Saving apps: There are also apps that can help you save money automatically. For example, Qapital, Digit, and Acorns round up your purchases and transfer the spare change to a savings account.

Investment apps: If you want to start investing, there are apps that offer commission-free trading. Robinhood, for example, allows you to invest in stocks, options, and cryptocurrency with no trading fees.

Credit monitoring: Services like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and Quizzle offer free credit monitoring, which can alert you to potential fraudulent activity and help you keep track of your credit score.

Online resources: Websites like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and SmartAsset offer free financial resources such as articles, calculators, and tools to help you manage your money better.

By utilizing these free services, you can take control of your finances and boost your savings. Remember, small steps can lead to big changes. Start by setting a savings goal and tracking your progress, and you’ll be on your way to achieving your financial goals

Focus Group Cash Saved Me.

Learn more Here

Getting Results on the Path to Life after Debt

June 15, 2017 by Frugal Prof

Getting Results on the Path to Debt Free

The steps you need to take to become debt free are pretty simple:

1. Get organized: Its nearly impossible to stay in debt if you’re organized.

For most people this means opening the credit card statements that are in a box or drawer somewhere. By getting organized, you will be able to Take Charge of your personal finances. You wont need a personal loan or any debt consolidation.

Right now, I’m reviewing my year end credit card statements and I see so many charges that I’ve cut out. And I feel great about all the money I am no longer wasting. But part of me is calculating how many thousands of dollars that I lost simply by not paying attention.

Read more about the dumb stuff I bought last year.

Disclosure: My aim is to recommend products that will truly benefit you. I believe in transparency and want to disclose that I’ve included certain products and links to those products on this page that I will earn an affiliate commission for any purchases you make.

2. Create a Budget:

It doesn’t have to be fancy. On one side is all the income you have coming in. And on the other side is ALL the expenses you have going out. Every dime! Which means you must open the credit card statements and really understand where your money has been going. One of the advantages of this exercise is that it allows you to find your areas of wasteful spending.

Make sure you’re getting discounts and cash back: I use Ebates and they give me cash back for nearly all of my purchases. Ebates gets a commission from stores you shop at and they share the commission with you. Average cash back is about 7%, which is great. Right now, they are offering a Free $10 Gift Card when you join and spend $25. More about Ebates Here.

3. Eliminate wasteful spending.

I was wasting nearly $100 per month on a storage locker. It made me so angry that I eventually began this journey and started writing this personal finance blog.

“A Part of all you earn is yours to Keep.” – Richest Man in Babylon.

Realize when you go through your bills that every wasteful thing that you cut out is earned money. Don’t dwell on the money that you’ve wasted in the past. Focus on your debt free future.

I began to explore our current consumer culture and why we buy what we buy. This helped me understand why I was spending so much money shopping. More on our Consumer Culture.

Relevant Articles:

45 Ways to Increase your Income

9 Best Ways to Save $7K This Year

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4. Negotiate Discounts:

For those services and memberships that you like but would like to pay less for, you need to contact the merchants and ask for a discount. Yes, you can do it. And yes they will give you discounts on your memberships: Cell phone carrier, cable company, Satellite radio etc…

I have written a whole post about How to negotiate Discounts.

5. Create an Emergency Fund:

Unfortunately, life is full of unplanned emergencies. That is why you need to set aside an emergency fund of at least $1,000 to start. I’ve written an article on why an emergency fund is so important, An Emergency fund is an umbrella for your life.

6. Increase your Income: Everyone wants to increase their income. When I got really motivated to pay down my debt, I wrote financial articles for a financial blog and created this blog. You may want to find a side hustle or side income. I’ve written a number of posts about the best ways to increase income. 45 Ways to Boost your Income is one example.

7. Stay Motivated: I found reading the book, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey to be incredibly helpful. Yes, it lays out the framework he used to be become debt free. But, the big benefit of the book is it gets you fired up to get out of debt. It is very motivational. And that is really helpful on the debt free journey. Read the Amazon reviews here.

The path to life after debt:

The only way to assess your current situation is to take the time to understand where your money is going.

I compiled a budget which allowed me to tell my money what to do instead of wondering where it all goes.

Read 7 Helpful Tips to Creating a Budget here.

It was time to be debt free. Here are some of the action steps I took: My advice: Take Action!

I closed my storage locker.
I switched to a less expensive gym.
I negotiated a discount on my XM Satellite radio.
I made some extra money when I sold a bunch of my stuff on Ebay.
I reviewed my credit card purchases.
And I started taking control of my money

That was my debt reduction plan. And you can do it too! I cut back on every purchase I wasn’t getting maximum value from. I cut out dumb spending. And each month I was able to save and invest much more of my money. It was time to take control of my finances. That’s the process of how to become debt free.

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Hitting the Wall on my Debt Success Journey

May 30, 2017 by Frugal Prof

Did I hit the wall on my debt success Journey?

Nobody said change is easy. Especially when it comes to paying off debt, creating a budget, and cutting back on credit card spending.

When I began this journey, I started making tons of progress.

I got rid of my storage locker,
Reviewed my bad spending habits- see the dumbest stuff I bought last year,
Cut back on wasteful spending like my health club membership, expensive car insurance, XM Satellite service, and so much more.
I went so far that I cut pizza delivery out of my budget.

It was great. And I cut down on my debt substantially. I had tons of momentum.

My debt reduction plan was making progress. I even started this financial blog to keep me motivated. Which was a great decision too. And thank you all for your support! (And If you’re ready to launch a blog, read the 7 Golden Rules to a Profitable Blog here.)

So, what happened?

I hit the wall last week. I’m not sure exactly why. But, when I bought my new glasses (and got ripped off), I lost some serious momentum. Let me explain.

Adulting: noun. The practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.

Budgeting: I’m starting to budget and plan ahead, which is great. But, in all honesty, I was in the habit of doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted with my money. Change is hard.

It requires patience and discipline to become financially free, debt free, and retire early. It’s a process.

7 Helpful Tips to Creating a Budget

9 Best Ways to Save $7K This Year

11 Legitimate Survey Sites for 2018

Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and stick to it.” –Dave Ramsey

And that applied to money as well. So, the same day that I finally decided to get glasses, I realized that U2 was coming to town that same weekend. And I wanted to go.

One problem: the cheapest tickets were $250. The bad seats were $250. Ugh. And I had already spent a lot of money on a great concert earlier this year. However, this seemed like a total ripoff.

When did concerts get SO EXPENSIVE?

When did everything get so expensive?

Why is everything so expensive when I’m trying to cut back, get out of debt, and save money?

A few tips on spending less on Concerts:

Change Venue: Ticket prices can vary depending on the location of the concert — even for the same artist and the same tour. Compare prices at concert venues to find lower prices.
Check out the nearby shows: If you live in New York, you can do a quick weekend trip to Philly or a weekend trip to Boston.”
Sit solo: When searching resale options, you’ll generally see better deals on single tickets, says Jessica Erskine, a spokesperson for StubHub.
Attend shows at the fair: OK, maybe Taylor Swift still isn’t in your budget. If you’re not picky about who you want to see live, check the fair circuit. Some county fairs grant free admission to a concert along with paid entry to the fair, which usually costs less than a concert ticket.
Earn cash back: I use Ebates and they give me cash back for nearly all of my purchases including ticketing websites. Ebates gets a commission from stores you shop at and they share the commission with you. Average cash back is about 7%, which is great. Right now, they are offering a Free $10 Gift Card when you join and spend $25. More about Ebates Here.

Relevant Articles:

44 Ways to Create Extra Income

Getting Results: How I Paid Off $17K

The Best Personal Finance Books

Taxes come first: This year I decided that I was going to pay my quarterly business taxes on time. And not wait until April 15th and get hit with a huge tax bill again.

Well, my next quarterly payment is due soon. It’s on my calendar. Its next month. So, I know that I have to pay for taxes, glasses, my bills, savings, and investments. As well as Double car payments to have my car paid off in the next few months.