PFnut.com

The price of gas keeps going up and up.  I spent $50.00 to fill up my Honda CRV.  Is gas expense killing your budget.  How much more a month are you spending on gas? $50, $60, $70, $100

What are we suppose to do?

Look for ways to cut expenses in other areas of the budget.
Here are a few ideas I had for my family:

• Drop family membership to the health club. (Save $123.50/month)
• Limit going out to lunch to once a week.  (save $60/mo)
• Limit Starbucks to once per week. (save $40/mo)
• Change TV programming from U200 to U50. (save $30/mo)
• Ride my bike to work twice a week. (save $20/mo)
• Lower my long distance phone plan.  I use my cell phone for long distance calling. (save $10/mo)
• Drop text messaging from my cell phone features (save $30/mo)

All of these items are small items.  But they sure do add up.  If I actually dropped the items above from my budget I would be saving $313.50/month.  I know these are lifestyle changes.  But, wow what a difference these changes can make.
Make a list of things you can do to cut your living expenses.  Put everything on the board.  Here are a few more ideas:

• Drop Netflix
• Borrow videos from a friend instead of renting from Blockbuster.
• Drink ice tea rather than diet coke from the vending machine
• Car pool to work
• Run the whole house fan at night and do not run A/C during the day.
• Plan your trips around town.
• Do I need a hair cut every month?
• Do I need a pedicure this month?

There are lots of ways to save money.  Nothing is sacred.  Make a game out of it.  Who in the your family can come up with the best idea for saving money?

Have you ever heard the phrase “buy term, invest the difference”?  It isa life insurance phrase.  I first learned it while working with an insurance company called A.L. Williams.

When you buy a whole life policy you get your life insurance and your investment account bundled together.  There is no way to know how much if the premium goes to the insurance and how much go to the investment.

If you paid $600 dollars a year for a whole life policy you can get the same coverage for around $150 in a 20 year term policy.  The beauty of buy term and invest the difference is you know where all the money is going and what the return is on your investment.  If you die in 10 years you get the life insurance plus the $450 you have been saving for the past 10 years.  In most whole life policies you loose the the saving account when you die.

The biggest challenge with buy term and invest the difference is the discipline of investing the difference.  That is why I strongly recommend an automatic withdrawal for the saving plan.  If you were saving $450 a year that is only $37.50 per month.

Buy term and invest the difference is the best way to know what you have in insurance and what you have by investing.  Don’t get tricked into buying whole life.  The only reason for a whole life policy is a big commission for the agent.

I pay all my bills online.  Here are some of my reasons for using the service:

1. I bank at a credit union.  Online bill pay is free at my credit union.  Paying bills online saves money.  I do not have to pay for the check, the postage or the envelope.  If you add up the savings it is at least 50 cents per bill. 
2. Paying bills online saves time.  It do not have to write the check.  I do not have to buy stamps.  It is easy to enter the bills online.  I update my checkbook at the same time.
3. Paying bills online provides added security.  The checks are not in my mailbox.  Many of the bills are paid by ETF (electronic funds transfer).  I know the check will get to the biller on time.

Paying bills online is a great service.  I save $10 bucks a month with online bill pay.  Try it.  If you are like me I know you will like it.  Online bill pay is definitely the future of paying bills.