BUSINESS SOLUTIONS AND WAYS TO SAVE MORE MONEY
image: mpi-inc.net
DEBUNKING THE FITNESS MYTH:
A USER'S GUIDE TO HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS
by Judee Shipman
CHAPTER 10
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS AND MONEY
Here are some Business Solutions that will really work to make you more wealthy.
Isn't that the idea, after all?
The amounts mentioned here may seem insignificantly tiny at first glance. People who tend to live “in the moment” often don’t see the cumulative effect of even our smallest efforts.
For instance, I know a particular publisher who has about 500 books listed on Amazon. He earns about $13,000 each month, despite the fact that only 5 of his books are regarded as “successful.”
Some may wonder why he wastes his time on all those other books, but guess what? The sales from the 495 “unsuccessful” books combined amount to more money than the five books deemed successful.
Clearly, the key to financial success is incremental. Most Business Solutions happen bit by bit.
Never mind how important you think these extra pennies are. If it really is so little, then it can’t do you any harm to set it aside. You won’t even miss it.
Adjust these numbers as needed to suit your own financial situation, and personalize your own Business Solutions.
The amount of money you set aside should be the highest amount you can possibly do without for now, without suffering any serious adverse effects, or sacrificing anything much at all.
In any case, just DO it!
Here are 11 Workable Business Solutions to help you Save More Money:
1. Start a “Keep The Change” Fund
A major bank once included among its business solutions a unique program called “Keep The Change."
The way it worked was any time you made a purchase with your debit card, the rounded up change from a dollar would automatically go into a separate savings account under your name.
For instance, if you made a $4.62 purchase with your debit card, then 38 cents would roll over into your “keep the change” savings account.
Although the bank no longer offers this deal, there’s no reason why we can’t implement our own business solutions with our own, similarly designed savings programs.
Here's the easy 5-step process:
- Keep a pad and pen with you at all times, or use a smart phone app that serves the same purpose.
- Write (or input) every purchase you make, whether by cash, card, PayPal, or any other method of payment.
- Calculate the change rounded up to the nearest dollar.
- Store the change in a prearranged, separate place that is not so easily accessible to you. To avoid having to do this very often, you could put a set amount, such as $5, in whatever passes for your piggy bank at the start of the month. Then keep track of what you buy until the amount you placed in the piggy bank is reached. Then put in another amount and repeat the process.
- Deposit the saved money into your savings account at regular intervals.
Keeping the change will save you anywhere from $5 to $50 a month, as long as you remember to do it every time you make any kind of purchase.
2. Start a Five-Dollar-A-Week Fund
Let’s face it: Almost anyone can afford to lose five dollars a week. If five dollars every week fell out of your pocket on your way home, you would somehow go on living.
So why not take JUST five dollars a week (or more of your income allows it), and pretend you don’t have it? Depositing this money into your separate savings account will increase your wealth by $20 a month or more.
As any business solutions expert can tell you, it all adds up.
3. Start a Money Pool
This is one of many fun business solutions for money savers with a competitive edge.
Invent a money saving game that involves yourself and a number of others, like a football pool.
For instance, each person in a group can put the same amount of money in a designated “pot.” Whichever player saves the most money by the end of each month wins all the money in the pot.
You can keep track of each other’s income using bank statements, receipts, pay stubs, or whatever works for allowing your group members to track each other's financial progress.
This creates a win-win situation. Even the non winners (a.k.a. losers) will save more money than they otherwise would have saved, due to the incentive created by trying to win money pool.
You can organize any group of like-minded friends, relatives, housemates, and/or coworkers to do this. When you win the pot, add it to your savings.
4. The Spenders-Keepers Plan
Are you craving retail therapy? Maybe you’ll decide to splurge on something you don’t really need, such as a new gadget you found in a store, or something you spotted on eBay, or maybe dinner at a fancy restaurant.
Then just suppose you change your mind, or otherwise talk yourself out of making this purchase. When this happens, take the money you would have spent, and deposit it into your savings account.
The idea is that of you ever thought you could afford the item to begin with, then you can probably afford to set that amount of money aside. You were just about to spend that money anyway, so go ahead and pretend you did.
Some of the best business solutions involve nothing more than a slight shift in our habitual ways of thinking.
5. Lowering Your Electric Bill
Here’s how to lower your electric bill without suffering much discomfort. Take any or all of the following steps:
- Turn your thermostat 2 degrees higher than usual during the summer months, and 2 degrees lower than usual during winter months. For most people, a deviation of two degrees from whatever air temperature they are used to will not make much of a difference in their comfort levels. Most bodies will adjust to this small a change within 3 days.
- Learn to enjoy wearing sweaters indoors.
- Wash your laundry in cold water. Machine washable items get just as clean this way. Whenever possible, hang your clothes on a line to dry.
- Wash dishes by hand. Or, if you do use a dishwasher, turn off the heated drying feature. This feature is unnecessary, as you can just leave the dishwasher door open and the dishes will dry quickly enough on their own. Or you can dry them with a dish towel.
- Illuminate your home with LED lights whenever possible. Use stronger lights only when necessary.
- Replace Edison bulbs with CFL bulbs, if you haven’t done so already.
- Turn off all big lights, electronics, and space heaters not in use.
- Turn off your oven or burner 5 minutes before the cooking time is up. That’s how long to takes for the heat to go down, so the food will continue cooking during that time.
- Replace your energy-eating kitchen range with a plug-in burner, a toaster oven, and a microwave.
To find out how much you save doing this, calculate the average of your last three or four electric bills. Then follow these steps, and calculate the average of your next three electric bills.
Your future electric bills should be lower than average. Simply subtract your new (lower) average from your previously calculated average to see how much money you saved.
Then deposit that saved money into your separate savings account.
6. Lowering Your Car Insurance Premiums
Here are some inventive business solutions for lowering the cost of car insurance, for those of us who insist on having a car.
Following ALL of these business solutions will lower your annual auto insurance premium rates by 20% or more.
- All major car insurance carriers offer numerous discount programs to encourage safe driving habits, and to earn your business. It is one of a car insurance carrier's many business solutions. Available auto insurance discounts include Safe Driver discounts, Student Driver discounts, Senior Citizen discounts, and a great many others. When you shop for car insurance, always GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to find out about the available discounts. Grab every discount you are eligible for.
- Use public transportation whenever it seems financially feasible to do so.
- Call around to get free auto insurance quotes, and also obtain a few free quotes online. Be sure to scout out ALL the available discounts with every free quote you receive.
- Get your license in state (or region) where car insurance premiums are relatively low. Maine has the lowest average car insurance premiums of any US state. Louisiana has the highest.
- Pay your premium in full each year, instead of month by month. This will earn you a key discount on your annual rate. A Paid In Full discount can be as high as 10% off your yearly premiums.
In real money, you can expect to save anywhere from $200 to $500 a month on car insurance by following the above-mentioned suggestions. How much money you (personally) save will depend on where you live and many other demographic details.
Why not start following any or all of the above fuel-saving techniques? Calculate your fuel economy both before and after one week of mindful driving.
10 More Ways To Save Money On Car Expenses.
- Check your vehicle’s tire pressure. Under inflated tires reduce fuel efficiency, and shorten the life of the tire.
- Maintain speed limits. Faster cars burn more fuel.
- Avoid fast driving in low gears. It reduces fuel efficiency by as much as 40%.
- Avoid using air conditioning whenever possible. If you are driving at a leisurely speed on local roads, roll down the windows and enjoy the breeze instead.
- Close car windows when traveling at higher speeds, such as on freeways.
- Avoid rough roads. Dirt or gravel roads are about 30% less fuel efficient than paved roads.
- Minimize the extra weight in your vehicle.
- Accelerate gently, brake gradually, and avoid frequent stops. If you find yourself in stop-and-go traffic, try to maintain a slow crawl.
- When approaching steep slopes, accelerate before you reach the hill.
- Get your vehicle serviced regularly, paying extra close attention to oil, filters, and alignment.
To see how much you save, keep track of your gas expenses and miles driven this week, without changing the way you drive. Starting next week, follow the above instructions and recalculate your fuel economy after one week of mindful driving.
7. Seeking Lower Prices Everywhere
Here are some handy tips for scoring the best possible deals on the stuff you need:
- For most commercial products, it is well worth the few minutes it takes to scan eBay, where many items are sold for about one third of the store cost. You can also scan Amazon for other special deals and discounts.
- Buy items in bulk whenever possible.
- Watch your email inbox for money-saving store coupons from any of the stores you shop at (both online and off).
- When grocery shopping, buy whatever brands are on sale. If you prefer the taste of a particular brand of food, that’s fair enough, but for many foods and household items such as flour, dairy, oils, and paper products, it doesn’t really matter which brand you choose. For brands not on sale, calculate the cost per unit to make the most cost effective decision. Attending to these details can save you $30 a month (or more) on groceries alone.
8. Recording ALL Purchases
The importance of keeping track of every single purchase cannot be overstated. Whether with a pen or using an app, keep a running tally of your purchases, including the rounded up change from a dollar mentioned previously.
9. Staying Busy!
As Henry David Thoreau once said, “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” Basically, the busier we are, the more work we get done, and the less time we have to engage in unhealthy habits such as overeating and impulse spending.
Keeping busy broadens your money-making horizons in general. So make wise, productive choices regarding how you spend your time. Stay mindful of the moment, and focus on your chosen task.
One easy way to stay productively busy is to replace some of your TV watching with surfing the net. TV watching is a passive activity, but internet research is a lucrative skill. You can also learn many new things while surfing the net. Just look up whatever interests you. Try it. It’s fun!
10. Thinking Forward
Some people tend to live in the moment. In some, there exists a compulsion to spend all of the money we have as soon as we get it. However, attaining wealth calls for a healthy dose of faith in the future.
This is not so hard to accept when you think about it. Most of us do not expect to die tomorrow, or any time soon, for that matter. So there is, of course, a future to consider.
For some of us, a good way to rid ourselves of counterproductive habits is to willfully do the opposite of whatever we are normally inclined to do. For instance, living with just a little less money, and pretending the additional money doesn’t exist.
If ever you feel the urge to splurge, ponder the brightness of your financial future, and consider how unwilling you are to deprive yourself of the prize you now realize is so clearly within reach.
11. Getting a Higher Paying Job
Let’s face it: Very few people enjoy their jobs, and many of us would rather stay home.
As a matter of fact, Work From Home opportunities exist all over the world.
Or you can
GO HERE for a comprehensive list of jobs in American that can pay $75,000 a year or more, and require NO advanced degree.
image: securityintelligence.com
DEBUNKING THE FITNESS MYTH
CHAPTER 1 (Wealth Through Exercise)
CHAPTER 2 (Fitness the Old Fashioned Way)
CHAPTER 3 (11 Common Exercise Myths)
CHAPTER 4 (Food List and Nutrition)
CHAPTER 5 (Health Tips And More)
CHAPTER 6 (Alternative Health And Exercise)
CHAPTER 7 (How To Eat Whatever You Want)
CHAPTER 8 (10 Common Nutrition Myths)
CHAPTER 9 (How To Start Saving Money)
CHAPTER 10 (Business Solutions and Money)
CHAPTER 11 (Business Solutions: High paying Jobs)
CHAPTER 12 (Business Solutions: Real Estate)
CHAPTER 13 (Stock Market Investments and More)
CHAPTER 14 (Wealth Building Business Solutions)
CHAPTER 15 (The Short Road To Happiness)
CHAPTER 16 (Spiritual Wealth)
CHAPTER 17 (Delicious Healthy Recipes)
CHAPTER 18 (Food List and More Recipes)
CHAPTER 19 (More Recipes)
CHAPTER 20 (More Recipes)
CHAPTER 21 (Sweet Treats)
RELATED LINKS
HEALTH TIPS
Weight Watchers Point List And McDonalds Menu
Sugar Content And Blood Sugar Chart
WEALTH
Create A Professional Business Plan