There seems to be a lot of talk about becoming a millionaire. It’s kind of that magic number people always dream of reaching one day. 

I think it’s a great goal to have so long as you don’t hoard, aren’t greedy, and you give generously.

I read a good article on MarketWatch the other day called Start With $10,000 and Retire a Millionaire.

The premise of the article was that if you started with $10,000, assuming a 7% inflation-adjusted return (not always an easy feat), and saved consistently (the amount needed varied based on your age) you could retire at age 65 with $1,000,000.

Becoming a millionaire is not rocket science.  At the core, you could break down becoming a millionaire into 2 simple steps:

1. Spend less than you make

Intrinsic to saving consistently is the fact that you must have money to save.  The biggest factor noted in the book The Millionaire Next Door: Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthyby Stanley & Danko is that wealth accumulators do not spend above – or even up to- what they earn.

In fact, they spend much, much less. Surprisingly, the folks that are wealthy (not just earning a good income) do not get into status objects and luxury items – they actually spend frugally.

2. Save aggressively & consistently for a long period of time

Here’s the other key. You need to save. I don’t mean throwing your loose change in a jar.  I’m talking about saving a good amount for a long time, and doing it consistently.

Wealth accumulators save. It’s simple, but not easy. It’s easier to spend money on food, clothes, cars, homes, gadgets, and other fun things.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying you should never spend money on fun items. 

My point is this: If you want to accumulate wealth, you need to get a savings plan in place TODAY!

What should you do?  If you’re in debt, get out now!  Then start saving 10% of your income and try to get up to 20% as quickly as possible.  Even if you don’t reach “millionaire status”, you will have saved a nice chunk of change, and you’ll be happy you did!

What words describe God and his economy?

Big spender. High roller. Spendthrift. These certainly aren’t words we would choose to describe God.

Cheapskate. Penny-pincher. Tightwad. None of these words would seem to fit either.

So what words would describe God and his economy?

One way to find out would be to look at nature. After all, “Ever since the creation of the world [God’s] eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Romans 1:20 NRSV).

A few years ago, my wife and I hiked above the tree line on Mount Rainier. Everywhere we went on the trail, we were surrounded by wildflowers. For as far as we could see, wildflowers covered the mountain slopes. And I’d guess that on the back sides of the slopes there were more wildflowers that we couldn’t see—and that probably nobody could see.

Now I’ve been to the Vanderbilt Mansion in North Carolina, and the Vanderbilts really knew how to be big spenders, high rollers, and spendthrifts. They had gilded froufrou on their marble froufrou. But they would have never thrown around flowers the way God throws them around on the slopes of Mount Rainier.

God is magnificently, incomparably extravagant.

But what happens to all of God’s flowers at the end of the short alpine summer? When we’re done with something, we throw it away, but God can’t throw anything away because to God, there is no “away.” No, God uses those flowers to feed the birds, and the insects, and the chubby whistling marmots that are scrambling around the mountains. And ultimately, God reuses every molecule of those flowers in one way or another.

Now my parents grew up in the Great Depression. They never threw anything away. After they died, when my sisters and I were cleaning out their apartment, we found a whole kitchen drawer full of twist ties from bread wrappers. My parents were incredible cheapskates, penny-pinchers, and tightwads. But they never tried to find a use for every last faded flower.

God is immaculately, incomparably thrifty.

But here’s the really remarkable thing: The Vanderbilts were always extravagant; they didn’t know how to be thrifty. And my parents were always thrifty; they didn’t know how to be extravagant. But God is incomparably thrifty and incomparably extravagant at the same time.

One of our challenges in trying to develop a God-honoring financial lifestyle is that God so often embodies characteristics that seem downright contradictory to us. They’re not contradictory, of course; God doesn’t contradict himself. But from our terrestrial point of view, they can certainly seem contradictory. They’re paradoxical, which is the best word to describe God’s economy. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8 NRSV).

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other … It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both” (Ecclesiastes 7:14, 18 NRSV).

Jonathan Kopke has been teaching Christian stewardship precepts for over twenty years. He is the author of the book God’s Thrifty Extravagance: Understanding What the Bible Says about Money, which was released in February by Discovery House Publishers. Jonathan and his wife live in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he works as a software developer.

You may think that purchasing a new mobile phone worth several hundred dollars in order to become more frugal with your money is tough to justify, but often frugality is tough to implement because you need to be vigilant in every aspect of your life.

With a host of frugal tools at your fingertips on your iPhone, you can help frugality permeate every one of your habits and actions, and be on your way to saving money and being more financially responsible:

1 – Coupon apps

If you are diligent with your coupon cutting you can make affordable bulk purchases and save off your everyday items to cut your shopping bills. However, to make use of your coupons you have to remember to take them with you wherever you go, and you have to remember to present them when you pay.

With these three apps, you will never miss out on a coupon bargain again:

• Coupon Sherpa. This app is linked with a wide range of stores and allows you to access coupons from Bath & body Works or Books A Million for example, on your iPhone.
• Cellfire.  Cellfire allows you to add your shopper cards and then load coupons, which can then be automatically deducted when you use the card at the register. When new coupons are available they can be loaded onto your card, and ready for for use in ten minutes.
• Coupons.com.  The Coupons.com app allows you to access the same coupons you would find on the full Coupons.com website and you can then print them wirelessly from your iPhone. You can also load electronic coupons to your shopper cards.

2 – Shop online

Most people have discovered the benefits of shopping online for the convenience, the time saving and the ease of comparing prices and offers to find the best deal. Now there are a range of apps you can use on your frugal iPhone to make online shopping even more affordable:

• Compare Me. The Compare Me app allows you to compare different products using your iPhone to determine which size or packaging is the best value. Compare Me also gives you an outline of the savings you can make in percentages, across the different stores.
• Better Buy.  This app helps you compare unit pricing and allows you to enter weights and volumes with the price and the quantity to see which item is the better buy – whether it is really better value to buy bulk, or if the small packets on special are the way to go.
• Frugal.  The Frugal app will help you shop more frugally by helping you convert product quantities in either imperial or metric, to find out which product has the best price.

3 – Discounts and rewards

A lot of stores and businesses will offer you discounts and rewards if you sign up as a member – they get your mailing details and you get another card for your wallet.

While collecting membership cards and discounts can be a great way to shop smarter and be more frugal, you have to remember to take the cards with you in your already overfilled wallet, and you have to remember to present the, however, with the CardBank app you can store all of your membership cards and customised cards such as your gym membership and you no longer have to miss out on shopping benefits.

If you want to reap even more rewards you can download the WeReward app which pays you when you visit certain locations, or complete certain tasks.

For example, you visit a participating business, follow the instructions on the app and earn points. Each point is worth a penny and you can cash in your points using PayPal.

4 – Save on fuel

Fuel is right up there with your groceries as one of the biggest expenses your family has, so you are probably aiming to drive less, and drive more fuel efficiently to be more frugal.

You can also be frugal when you fill up by shopping around for the best fuel prices, but if you actually have to drive around to all the service stations to find the best price, you will have made your savings moot.

Instead, use the GasBuddy app which locates the cheapest fuel in your vicinity anywhere in the US or Canada. When you search you can compare distance by price and see all grade prices displayed so you never miss a bargain.

5 – Budgeting

It is also very important when trying to live frugally, to know exactly where all of your money is at any time, and how much you have available to spend in the week.

Therefore, a detailed working budget is a frugal family’s most important tool, and with the Budget app you can have all of that information and more at your fingertips.

The Budget app can be a good investment for just $1.99 as there are a wide range of features you won’t usually find with other personal finance apps. The Budget app features:

• Easy to enter transactions. The most effective budgets are the ones which are kept updated regularly, but it can be time consuming to stop and enter a transaction each time you spend money. With the Budget app you can choose from a list of predefined items, which you can add to your budget by tapping the column next to it. You can also set a specific item in your budget by tapping the budget icon, or you can enter recurring transactions for each month. Plus, since you’re probably not the only one spending money from the budget, you can also share transactions between iPhones so everyone stays updated.
• Export the data. You can also export all of your budget information in a CSV file so you can view and compare it later in Excel.
• Graphs. You can also see an expenses vs budget graph if you prefer a visual representation of your progress and position for the month.
• Over budget. The Budget app will highlight any expenses which push you over budget to help keep your spending in check.

This is a guest post by Alban, a personal finance writer at Home Loan Finder, a home loan comparisonwebsite.

A new retirement is here.  The retirement landscape has changed!

There.  I said it.  But you already knew that didn’t you?

Things are different than they were three years ago in 2007, when the Dow Jones was above 14,000, your home increased by 15% every year and cats and dogs played nice together!

But now, in 2010, dogs are chasing cats again, your home has dropped by 15% or more and the Dow has woken from the dead of 6,600 but can’t seem to sit above 10k for more than a few weeks.

Things are different.

And that’s okay.

It’s okay because there has been a shift in the definition of retirement for the last several years, one that’s not totally dependent on the market or housing.

What is the new retirement?  It’s not just sitting at home watching Drew Carey destroy the Price is Right or even doing positive things like double checking all your beneficiaries so you know you have the right ones listed.

Here are 10 guiding principles for the New Retirement:

New Retirement Principle #1: Don’t Stop Working

More and more folks these days are working beyond age 65.

They enjoy working and want to continue to be a contributing member of society.

Gone are the days where you worked for 30-40 years, stopped and then veg’d out for the next 15 or so.

In the new retirement work still exists, it just looks a little different than your normal 9-5.

New Retirement Principle #2: Do Something You Love

Work looks different in the new retirement because folks are becoming more interested in doing something they really love.

Instead of dragging your feet to work every day, a lot of baby boomers are fulfilling their life’s dream to do what they love – what they’re passionate about.

That will look differently for everyone, but think about what it is that makes you tick – is there a way to make money at it?

New Retirement Principle #3: Become More Concerned With True Wealth

Speaking of doing things that you’re passionate about – I believe that True Wealth is really defined by the 3 P’s – People, Passion and Purpose.

The new retirement focuses on investing into the lives of people, pursuing what you are passionate about and living life with purpose!

This brings greater fulfillment than any amount of comma’s alone could bring.

Use your material wealth to pursue True Wealth!

New Retirement Principle #4: Become More Charitable

Keeping it all for yourself is a surefire way to become a crotchety old man or woman!

Be generous.  Be charitable.  Look for ways to benefit others, not just yourself.  Here’s is one blogger’s strategy for giving away millions!

The new retirement is concerned about others well-being, not just your own.

New Retirement Principle #5: Become Debt Free

The new retirement is intent on getting out of debt!  Living high on the hog while you mortgage your future isn’t the way to a happy retirement any more.

If you can pay off your mortgage, your cars and get rid of all debt – you’ll be much more free to do what you want, when you want in retirement!

You’ll be able to enjoy yourself much more and will be less worried about a “fixed income” or a lower income for that matter.

New Retirement Principle #6: Become More Frugal

Frugality is the new game in town.  And it’s also the name of the game in the new retirement.

Make frugality fun.  Being frugal doesn’t mean being cheap – there is a difference.

It does mean that you consciously shop for deals, bargains, and use your money wisely – not frivolously.

New Retirement Principle #7: Become More Entrepreneurial

Don’t be afraid to tap the creative juices and become an entrepreneur.

There is sometimes a stigma with entrepreneurship, that you must be filthy rich in order to be an entrepreneur.  I don’t think that’s the case.

You can easily start up an online business, or a consulting gig and start marketing yourself.

Just be sure you weigh the costs and the benefits.  Keep the costs down and go for it.  What have you got to lose?  You may find you love building something from scratch!

New Retirement Principle #8: Become More Diversified With Your Income

Folks in the new retirement don’t rely on Social Security or their pension.  They seek ways to create additional income.

Ranging from turning your hobby into a business, becoming an avid e-Bay seller, blogging to create income, becoming a freelance writer or any other number of things that can diversify your inflows – getting multiple sources of income is a smart thing to do.

Of course, there are some things you’re better off not trying when it comes to diversifying your income.

But again, as I said with principle #7 – be creative – figure out some alternative ways to make a little extra cash.

New Retirement Principle #9: Develop a More Simplified Lifestyle

The New Retirement understands that just because you can “have it all” doesn’t mean you should.

Folks in the New Retirement are quite content with living a minimalist lifestyle.

When you simplify your finances, it leads to less clutter, more contentment and can help free up the frantic pace of life we often lead in our pursuit of bigger and better!

If you’re just getting into the simplified or minimalist lifestyle, you may want to check out Minimalist Living 101.

New Retirement Principle #10: Serve the Common Good of Your Community

I’m reminded of Jeremiah 29:7:

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

God’s command to Jews exiled into Babylon was to serve the common good of the community.  How much more should we serve the common good of the places we live, work and play?

Folks in the new retirement seek opportunities to build up the community by volunteering, mentoring, teaching and simply investing time and energy to make their communities attractive.

What are Your Thoughts on the New Retirement?

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It’s been a busy week, but a great week – we’re finally getting over our sicknesses at the R2 household! 

It’s also a great week because the NCAA tournament begins!  I love March Madness - the games are always full of good sports drama and usually very exciting! 

But, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

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• Consumer Boomer talks about all kinds of rules with Roth IRAs
• My Journey to Millions discusses a bartering concept in Cairo called LETs, which is designed to sustain communities longer.
• Sweating the Big Stuff identifies some lessons learned from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
• Here’s a scary stat: 43% of American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement!  20′s Money talks about this here.
• The Canadian Finance Blog posts about passive income in retirement.
• Want to sell your car?  Fiscal Fizzle shows you how to sell your car on Craigslist!
• Here’s an interesting post from Ultimate Money Blog - Is it More Frugal to be a Minimalist or a Hoarder?
• Financial Samurai gives a pointed review of Michael Moore’s new documentary called “Capitalism a Love Story”.
• Planting Dollars discusses a Fear of Success!
• Money Help for Christians talks about how to help teens work through consumerism and spending.
• Consumerism Commentary makes a good point about using less detergent when washing clothes and therefore saving money.
• The Consumerist reports that banks are so inept at handling mortgage modifications that many folks have less than a 50-50 chance of getting one done!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Want to win a FREE Netbook?  Head over to Couple Money and follow the rules!

If your family’s growing and you need extra space, get it without buying a new home or building an expensive addition onto your house. Here’s how.

Clear the clutter in every cupboard, closet, drawer and storage area. Evaluate your keepsakes. Scan photos to revive the memory later. Do you really need nine things to remember Aunt Lucy by?

When it comes to furnishings and décor, think vertical. Get as much off the floor as possible to create more space. Reduce the amount of furniture you have. Instead of using plant stands, hang them on hooks.

Simplify and Sell

Get rid of some of your seating, especially if kids enjoy plopping on the floor instead. Remove clutter catchers like extra tables. Minimize the scale of your furniture, too. Sectional sofas and giant coffee tables gobble up more space than separated seating and diminutive end tables.

A friend sold her oak entertainment center/curio cabinets, her children’s outgrown movies, and standard television. She then used that money to buy a wall-mountable flat screen TV with a built-in DVD player and two slim storage towers for her DVDs and found extra floor space without blowing the budget.

My family started keeping electronic records, which eliminated two filing cabinets in the home office. Downsizing from a sprawling desk to a taller, slimmer desk also created space.

On eBay, Craigslist or on a community bulletin board, list items that you wish to sell.  Hosting a garage sale is a perfect way to create some extra space.Search Ebay’s Want it Now section to see if anyone’s looking for your items.

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Maximize Space and Decorate Effectively

Now that you have more room and cash, you can really make strides in expanding your space. Select lighter colors to make your rooms open up visually when painting. Certain things can visually shrink rooms, such as heavy drapes, dim lighting, dark woodwork, busy patterns, and an abundance of knickknacks.

Efficiently use your storage areas. This will make your rooms seem bigger because you have fewer items in sight. Also, as an added benefit, you may be able to thin out more furniture per room.

By adding shelves in large cupboards, hanging shoe holders in closets and using over-the-door hooks, I’m given more closet space and the need for a coat tree is eliminated. I also like cascading closet hooks so shirts, skirts and folded pants use much less space.

Stow more with tables and ottomans that have built-in storage space. For example, using small, freestanding cabinets for nightstands lends us more storage than many tables would. Bunk beds with built-in drawers spared us from crowding the kids’ room with two beds and dressers.

I maximize the space under beds, couches and under the rod in closets. Plastic storage containers provide storage for whatever you want to stow nearby, such as throw blankets, board games, extra sheets, and toys.

Strategic Functionality of Your Rooms

Get more value from each room by multiplying its functions. This strategy may even garner an additional room. To merge his family room and home office and get an extra bedroom, Rich, a Pennsylvania dad, installed a tuner chip in his computer.

It functions as their television and DVD player, which eliminated the need for an additional screen and piece of furniture to house it. They aren’t big TV viewers, so this solution worked well for them.

Tuck a computer armoire in a kitchen or den because when the armoire doors are closed, it blends seamlessly with the room and nixes the need for a separate office.

Dale, a New York dad, gained two new bedrooms and a bathroom for his growing family by finishing off half his basement (check the building codes of your city before making structural changes). By completing most of the work himself with the help of knowledgeable friends, Dale saved quite a bit.

Compared with the cost of buying a larger home or building an addition, selling furniture and things you don’t need to “buy” more functional pieces and dividing large, open spaces to gain rooms still makes plenty of sense.

This has been a guest post by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant.  Deborah writes from her home in Wolcott, N.Y.

You can also find more room in your home by selling unwanted items. Hosting a garage sale is a perfect way to create some extra space.

Tip #10 – Start Packing Lunches!

Welcome to our tenth and final day of our journey, where we are looking at 10 money-saving tips to help save $10,000!  

This has been a really fun series of posts and it’s garnered a lot of great comments!  Keep ‘em coming everyone!

If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.

But to sum it up – here’s our mission:

• The Goal: Save $10,000
• By When: This time next year
• How: By implementing 10 money-saving tips

For the last couple weeks we’ve looked at one money-saving tip each Monday through Thursday.  If you have a tip that hasn’t been mentioned, or you’d like to add some additional thoughts to one of our existing tips, please let me know your best money-saving tip here!

We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip!  If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!

Remember – each of these alone don’t seem to add much savings, but when combined they add up to over $10,000 of savings over this next year!  Even if you don’t reach that $10,000 mark, saving a few grand this next year will help build an emergency fund or get you started on investing!

Here’s what we’ve been through so far:

Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!

Ok, so this one is similar to Tip #1, but I think it’s different enough to make a distinction and a separate post.  I guarantee there are some families that don’t go out to dinner very much as a family, but eat out for lunch almost every single day.

This was definitely the case for some folks I use to work with at former places of employment!

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How Much Does It Cost?

Well, this depends if you only have a half-hour for lunch and need to grab something quick, or if you’ve got an hour for lunch and like to hit a sit-down spot!

If you figure the average fast food meal costs anywhere from $5 to $8 depending on what you get and where you live and the average sit-down meal is somewhere in the $8 to $12 neighborhood, you’re looking at $25 – $60 a week if you’re eating out every day! 

Not only does going out for lunch all the time decrease the wallet size, but it increases the belt size!  Going out for lunch all the time is not good for you – unless of course you are disciplined and always make the healthy choice – I know I don’t!

But Leftovers Might Kill My Career…

Think I’m crazy?  Think again.  Helena Echlin from Chow.com says that bringing your leftovers makes you look less successful and also makes a statement to others that you are anti-social!

Maybe you should stop bringing your leftovers in your Superman lunch box – seriously, no one wants to know that you’re a big Clark Kent fan!

I don’t know, maybe bringing a lunch does ding your image.  As a self-employed, independent contractor, I guess I never really had to worry about the silliness of climbing the corporate ladder.  But I guess i can see the point.

Image vs. Reality – What’s More Important?

So bringing some leftovers to work makes you look like you’re at the bottom of the food chain!  It’s like anything else in our society these days – do we live for our image or do we live in reality?

How many people do you know that seemingly have it all – a lot of toys, a big house and nice cars – yet they’re up to their eyeballs in debt!

They aren’t rich, they just act like it!  So, let your co-workers rip on you because you’re bringing your leftover casserole while they throw their $15 lunch on their credit card and have some laughs.

You’ll have the last laugh after you’ve gotten out of debt and stashed $10,000 over this next year!

But I Don’t Know What to Pack!

Need some ideas for packing lunches?  Check out Alan’s Kitchen and his list of quick and easy lunch recipes!  If you have a plan in place you are much more likely to act on it.

One of the biggest tips to help you start packing lunches is to prepare a “leftover container” right after dinner that you can take with you for lunch the next day.  I know for myself that if the food isn’t in an easy-to-grab container the odds of me putting it in one in the morning decrease dramatically!

Estimated Savings: $25 – $150 per month

Let Us Know in the Comments

1. How much have you saved by packing lunches
2. Have you felt the temptation to go out for lunch to protect your image?

Check Out All The Tips From Our Series

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan

Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line

Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!

Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!

Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!

Tip #9 – Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

Welcome to day nine of our roughly 10-day journey, where we are looking at 10 money-saving tips to help save $10,000!   This has been a really fun series of posts and it’s garnered a lot of great comments!  Keep ‘em coming everyone!

If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.

But to sum it up – here’s our mission:

• The Goal: Save $10,000
• By When: This time next year
• How: By implementing 10 money-saving tips

For the last couple weeks we’ve looked at one money-saving tip each Monday through Thursday.  We’ll be finishing up our series this week!

If you have a tip that hasn’t been mentioned, or you’d like to add some additional thoughts to one of our existing tips, please let me know your best money-saving tip here!

We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip!  If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!

Here’s what we’ve been through so far:

Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

This is one tip that most people have probably thought of, but perhaps haven’t paid much attention to.  For whatever reason, we all get into a rut and so when our renewal notice comes we just pay the premium and on we go for another six months.

For many of us, the thought of getting auto insurance quotes and home insurance quotes isn’t all that appealling right?  So what do we do with things that aren’t that fun?  C’mon now, be honest – we put them off!  

 But, this is one area that you can really save some big money with a little front-end effort of getting some quotes!

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How Much Coverage Do You Need?

Before you get carried away and start raising your deductible and dropping coverage, you really need to do a little homework up front to figure out how much coverage you actually need.

Smart Money has a great article on auto insurance that walks you through the different options for your auto insurance and gives an idea of how much coverage you should be looking for.

Shop Around For Home and Auto Insurance Quotes

Ok, now for the fun part.  Before you give your existing company a call, you’ll want to give competitor’s a call and start comparing insurance quotes.  You’ll also want to check to see if your employer offers any discounts with certain carriers.  If you’re a Costco member, you get a discount as well. 

Make sure you know all the angles – most companies will offer you big discounts for buying both home and auto insurance – among other things through them! Make sure you check out as many auto insurance companies as possible, to make sure you get the best deal.

Get as much information as you can and write it down.  You want to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.  To help get you started here are some toll-free numbers to call so you can shop around:

Geico: 1-800-861-8380

AAA: (866) 539-8033

Allstate: 866 704 9900

Progressive: 1-800-776-4737

Or, you can always go on the web and get some free auto and home insurance quotes as well.

Simple Financial Lifestyle mentioned they recently shopped their car insurance and ended up saving $500 annually!  There’s some great potential savings because this type of insurance is very competitive – and companies want your business!

Call to Negotiate

Once you’ve got a pretty good idea as to what other companies will offer, you want to give your existing company a call first. 

Let them know that you’ve got a quote for “X” amount and you’re wondering what they can do to retain your business.  This works!  It’s amazing how many companies scramble to throw you a deal when they realize you’re about to walk.

There are some crazy discounts offered by the competition these days – ask your current company if there are any discounts you’ve been missing out on, like a safe driver discount, or a “I haven’t had a cold in two years” discount.  Anything!

If your existing company can’t match or beat the lowest price you shopped around for then it’s time to switch.  Yes it’s a pain, but it’s worth it.

Side Note: I don’t advocate going by price alone – you want to make sure you are with a legitimate company that has good claims-paying ability!  The last thing you want is to get into an accident and have a company that can’t pay!

Estimated Savings: $25-$100 per month

Don’t Forget To:

1. Check out the other money-saving tips in this series!

2. Leave a comment below letting us know how much you’ve saved by negotiating your home and auto insurance!

Check Out All The Tips From Our Series

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan

Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line

Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!

Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!

Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!

Tip #4 – Turn Your Heat Down

Welcome to day four of our roughly 10-day journey, where we are looking at 10 money-saving tips to help save $10,000!  If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.

But to sum it up – here’s our mission:

For the next couple weeks we’re going to look at one money-saving tip each Monday through Thursday.

On Thursdays we’re going to look at a tip, but also hear Personal Finance bloggers’ and hopefully some readers’ ideas and experiences on how they’ve saved money!

If you’d like to be included in the Thursday posts – please let me know your best money-saving tip here! We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip!

If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Friends who know us will laugh at this one.  Our house is always the cold house!  We try to turn the heat up when we have company over to accommodate, but they’ve wised up and started bringing sweatshirts and slippers now!

We do this mainly to save money on our heating costs.  As my wife always says, “There is no reason why you shouldn’t have to put on a sweatshirt and a blanket in the winter time!”

We also do this because we love to sleep in colder temperatures.  Neither one of us sleep well when it gets hot, so we turn that thermostat down to 63 degrees at night.

If no one is going to be home for the day, we leave the temp set at 63.  If someone is home, then we crank that puppy up to a balmy 65 – sometimes 66 on a really cold day!  We throw on sweatshirts and deal with it.

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You’re Nuts!

That’s usually the response we get when we tell people what we set our thermostat to, but I’m glad we are not the only ones out there. 

As promised we wanted to take a look at some PF Bloggers ideas on how they’ve saved money as well.  Take a look at these two submissions I received regarding turning the thermostat down:

Rainy Day Saver says:

We set our thermostat to 63 degrees to reduce our heating bill. It’s worth saving about $200/month.  Yep. The 7-degree difference from 70 degrees to 63 saves us a lot of moolah!

Kyle, from Suburban Dollar says:

I work from home all by myself, and to cut down on heating costs I keep the thermostat set at 63 degrees inside and bundle up while I work. 

Great job guys!!  In Kyle’s post, he had a link to an article by USA today that talks about the Challenge to Be Chilly.  They go on to say that some folks are doing this to save money and some are doing this in an effort to go green and conserve energy.  One family saved over $800 last year by turning their heat down and employing some energy-saving tips!

How Much Can You Really Save By Conserving Energy?

For most of you out there, you’re probably thinking, “OK, that’s great, but how much can you really save?  After all, it’s not worth saving $5 or $10 if I’m going to freeze my fanny off!”

According to Bill Pindle, deputy director for the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), “The rule of thumb is that you can save about 3% on your heating bill for every degree that you set back your thermostat”. 

If you turn down the thermostat 10 degrees when you go to work, and again when you go to bed — a total of 16 hours a day – you can save about 14% on your heating bill, says Prindle.

That’s a pretty good savings! 

Where I live, in the Chicago area, the average monthly heating bill in 2007 was $218.  In New York it was almost twice that, just shy of $500!  A 14% savings on those two numbers is roughly $30 – $70 per month in savings!!

Fight the Temptation to Crank It Up!

It will only take one day of you freezing your tail off to say, “Forget this, it’s not worth it!”.  Don’t do it.  Start with turning your thermostat down a few degrees to save some money and get used to the chill.

Buying a programmable thermostat will be a good investment for you as well, that way your temperature will automatically drop when you go to work and when you go to bed so you don’t have to always remember!

Give it a shot and see what happens!

Estimated Savings: $25-$200 per month!

How much have you saved by turning the temperature down?

Check Out All The Tips From Our Series

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan

Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line

Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!

Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!

Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!

Tip #3 – Cut Your Cable

Welcome to day three of our roughly 10 day journey to save $10,000 over this next year. If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.

But to sum it up – here’s our mission:

For the next couple weeks we’re going to look at one money-saving tip each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursdays we’re going to hear Personal Finance bloggers’ and hopefully some readers’ ideas and experiences on how they’ve saved money!

If you’d like to be included in the Thursday posts – please let me know your best money-saving tip here! We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip!

If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

I know I’m stepping on to some thin ice here, but I just have to do it.  The average digital cable subscriber spends approximately $75 per month and many pay well over $100!

Now before you get too upset – I am NOT suggesting you need to get rid of your cable altogether, although there are some who are in full support of cutting cable completely and have saved a lot of money doing it!

Take for example, Kita – from Personal Finance Journey.  She recently posted about how she got fired up to knock out some debt and made a radical decision to cut off her cable completely and saved over $70 per month!!

What I’m suggesting here is at the very least taking a look at your bill and sacrificing a bit to help shave some expenses.  Especially with all of the technology out nowadays like streaming from Netflix, Xbox or even just using your computer to watch shows online – there is no reason why you can’t find the shows you want.

Seriously, do you really need 800 channels? 

My wife and I just recently moved in our new house and after some debate we decided to go with the Direct TV family package, which includes channels we like HGTV, DIY and Food Network.  It also has all the cartoon and kids programming that we wanted as well since we have a daughter that is totally into Dora.

 It only has 50 channels, but the regular rate is $43 per month with taxes! 

It doesn’t have ESPN, but can I get by without it?  No – I mean Yes, yes I can.  I can actually check any highlights I want on ESPN.com! 

Will I miss some games I really want to see?  Sure, but I can see most of the games that I’m into and if there is something I want to see, I can always find a friend or family member and invite myself over!

I remember talking to someone a while back who was loaded to the gills with credit card debt.  It was so bad that the interest being paid was similar to most people’s mortgage payment! 

One of the things they staunchly refused to cut back on was their $150 cable bill stating they “needed” all those movie channels and premium packaging for their teenage boys.

One of the things you can do also is to negotiate with your cable provider for a lower rate.

So, take a look at your cable bill – see if there are some channels that you can do without for a while and give your cable company a call!  You’ll be glad you did.

Estimated Savings: $25-$75 per month

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Check Out All The Tips From Our Series

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan

Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line

Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!

Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!

Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance

Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!