Money, Honey...

I absolutely love this dress, it looks so effortless. If I could find it in another color I would be in second heaven. It was actually featured on Ideeli on a sale for $81.00. Its a BCBG maxazria. If you are looking for some good clothing deals, check out Ideeli.

Ok so anyone who knows me knows one of the things I get obsessed about is being money conscious and saving. As J now says when I try to get willful about spending (WWSOD, What would Suze Orman Do). Just as Naa knows to find David Tuttera for my wedding, I wish Suze Orman could be my personal financial advisor. Since that is not likely, I just have to take the tools she gives and apply them to my life.

So savings. I know I have talked about this in the past so consider this a refresher course. I have found some new things I am excited to share with you. So lets get ready to save some money.


1. Credit cards:
My best friend which can sometimes be the devil. Credit cards can be your best friend if you treat them well. What does this mean? Well it means you do not spend money you do not have. Let me explain a little more. Some people get credit cards and then go crazy forgetting that they will eventually have to pay that money back WITH INTEREST! So try to use your credit card for only emergencies. If you have a card with a good points system on the other hand, you can do what I do. I have the money but instead of spending the physical cash and not getting anything back I use my card and then promptly pay the credit card off so I end up getting the points and staying out of debt because I never accrue any interest charges etc. Another thing I have recently found is the website Offermatic. Offermatic allow you to sign your card up and then sends you rewards based on your shopping habits. So for example I signed up and it noticed that I had spent some money at Verizon, it offered me the chance to get off $5 at my next purchase from Verizon. If you want to read about the company click here, if you want some reviews about Offermatic, you can do so here.

2. You on the web make it work for you.
As I was telling Tala the other day, I do not make a move online without checking out the following websites. Groupon, Slickdeals, and/or Livingsocial to name a few. These websites are here to give you savings, why not take advantage of them? I typically use Groupon for massage or restaurant deals, slickdeals more for things I need to buy (electronics etc.) and Livingsocial is like Groupon, it has some awesome food and relaxation deals. (There is actually a deal on today I am trying to convince myself not to get lol). But yes before you make a purchase, any purchase online make sure to check out these websites.

3. Savings is the name of the game.
The savings tool/calculator should be your best friend. You can find these anywhere once you do a google search. But here are some websites that you can use to start you off nicely, Young money (and no it is not Lil Wayne), CNN money, Better budgeting, to name a few.

4. Educate yourself about your options
There are a lot of tools out there to teach us about money and saving it. Talk to your banker/financial advisor about your options. There are savings accounts, mutual funds, CD's etc. You need to figure out which works better for you. The trick is to get yourself started in the first place and keep it moving. Also consider an automatic savings option. This is where your bank takes out a specified amount of money every month when your paycheck comes in. The only thing with this is that you want to make sure you watch your money, you do not want to be too ambitious and have them take too much out or forget and think you have way more money than you actually have and thus overdraw your account.

Ok so these are some of the things I wanted to get off my chest before I run off to Church :). We keep thinking that we are young and we can always save later but what we all seem to forget is that we are growing and it is better to start saving now and reap the benefit later. I don't care how old you are 20 to 45 it is better to have a nest egg than to have nothing at all. You can save something, anything at all. I know it is easier said than done, having been a broke student who had to rely on stipends and a lot of financial support from my parents I picked up some bad financial habits that I am trying to work on breaking now. My parents are not going to be around forever (ok they will but :)) I need to learn to take very good care of me because no one is going to treat you better than you would treat yourself. So I am trying to set myself a savings goal of $500 for the next 5 months. I will let you guys know that works out. I am very psyched about saving and hope you will take the journey with me :).