With the economy free falling we can all use some tips on managing our money. Personally my financial situation has been in the toilet since my husband and I split up earlier this year. My income was cut in half and lawyers are sucking the rest of it away. I’ve started freelancing to offset this but it’s going to be difficult to dig out of.
The Simple Dollar contains articles with frugal tips and for debt reduction and management. Some recent articles have included; The Readers Speak Out: Their 25 Best Actions for Saving Money, Paying Others to Provide a Service: When Is It Frugal?, and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Uses for an Old Cell Phone.
Some of the lists for being more frugal annoy me because I was already doing those things before money was a problem. I don’t have cable, I don’t go out to eat, I use the library, etc. I am, however, retooling an a 12 year old website I have that I basically abandoned but that gets a considerable amount of traffic. I figure I should be able to generate some passive income from that.
So, are you worried about money? Are you looking for alternative ways to generate additional funds? Are you already applying some of these frugal tips in your own life?
photo credit: apes_abroad
Thanks, Kim. I’ll check it out.
Wesley’s last blog post – Cinderella
KW, I love this. Every little tip helps these days. I went through the big “D” myself last year and I just recently left my secure job to do this monkey business full time. Every nickel counts!
Cheers
George
Tumblemoose’s last blog post – I will NOT work for free!
I devoured the simple dollar even before I knew about blogging. Trent has a gold mine buried in TheSimpleDollar.
I don’t apply all the frugality tips mentioned. But do keep an eye on monthly expenses and find ways to keep cutting it down.
What I am more interested in is finding ways to earn more since there will be a limit to how much expenses you can cut but no limit to how much you can earn.
Avani-Mehta’s last blog post – Top 8 Motivation Hacks – #2
Kim, thanks for the Simple Dollar URL. I’ll definitely check it out.
As you know, I am a disabled retiree with no income to speak of, and my wife supports the family. She recently had all her overtime cut out, effectively losing what amounted to a part time job. We are scrambling now to find ways to even afford medication copays. We were already pretty frugal, and the cuts we’re having to make are affecting our quality of life significantly.
I’m continuing to look for things I might do to supplement our income, but most of them are long-term propositions. Short-term fixes are just not there outside of selling things on eBay and CraigsList.
I’m sure we’ll weather this crisis, like we’ve weathered so many other crises, but it seems that our options are narrowing as we grow older. I’m not scared yet, but let’s just say that I’m very, very concerned.
Mike Nichols’s last blog post – “What if I’m the ONE?” Intolerance of Uncertainty, Worry and Anxiety
hey kim, i drop in from time to time on the simple dollars blog, i’m amazed at what trent can come up with for his posts
am i worried about money. no i don’t worry over it. either it’s there or it’s not. if i need to make more money, i design a website or i can go back to doing some wedding photography.
wow you don’t have cable? i can get rid of tv, but not the internet.
While the blog does have a lot of good tips, some of the posts seem to me to be a bit penny wise, pound foolish.
Wesley’s last blog post – A really cool Firefox plugin…
@Wesley – I hope you find the site useful.
@Tumblemoose – Yeah, divorce is terrible financially. Mine isn’t final yet. I guess the lawyers figure they haven’t sucked all the marrow out of me yet. I can’t freelance fulltime until that is past me.
@Avani – I have reached the point where the really isn’t any more to cut so am looking into alternate ways to generate income. I could try to find a better paying full time job but that this one gives me a level of flexibility that I need for mu daughter that would be difficult to find somewhere else.
@Mike – It is SO hard to have those fears as you get older. It’s a lot different when you are 20 or 30. My mother’s health insurance benefits were recently cut by quite a bit and she is now very ill. We are already very afraid of the medical bills. It somehow seems wrong to work hard your entire like and to be a good person and to then have it all not really make a difference because you’ve grown older and now have health concerns.
Have you looked into freelance writing? You’re a wonderful writer :-)
@Natural – lol – My internet is through DSL not cable. Giving up the internet would be a last ditch money saving solution.
I am worried about money because my situation is so precarious at the same time that the economy is falling apart. My ex has also given me quite a few problems over custody so I worry that if I were to lose my job that I would also lose custody of my daughter.
@Wesley – Can you give an example of that? In my case, there is only a little bit of money so I can only be careful with it in very small ways.
I saw several examples there. One of them was making your own laundry detergent; another was bargain hunting when clothes shopping. These are good tips but don’t seem like they would save enough money to be worth the effort.
Wesley – Ok – I think making your own laundry detergent might be more trouble than the money it saves. I don’t think shopping for bargains is a bad idea as long as it is planned out. I think the usefulness of various tips may really depend on how broke you are.
I actually spend slightly more on laundry to drop it off at the laundromat and have them wash and fold it for me. I don’t have to pay any detergent and I’ve calculated that it costs maybe $10 more a month. It saves me time and I don’t have to hang out at the laundromat with a 6 year old – that’s worth more to me than the $10.
You are completely right! Time with loved ones is worth far, far more than $10 a month. Good to see you have your priorities in order.
Wesley’s last blog post – Jan Blencowe was going to offer a discount painting, but changed her mind.
I can certainly understand the focus on frugality in such times and the virtue of it, however I see a lack of focus on building up income streams and personal skills. An open mind which constantly seeks out new ways of adding income streams goes a long way in building a healthy and financially stable lifestyle. Goodluck to all.
Hi Manshu – I agree. And you can only cut expenses to a point.