Saving Money is Easier than Expected with These 5 Tips

Behold July! 

I feel like I should start saving for the holidays now. I'm in full-paying off mode, and S and I have finally done a household budget. It wasn’t as painful as we imagined. 

I have models of my budget set in folders on Learnvest, where I can follow how much I am spending and saving each month.

Here’s a few things to try..

·         Buy a gift card each month to keep for Christmas gifts (I read this somewhere, going to start trying it 5 months before the holidays, this month) If I buy a visa gift card, it’s on my CC statement, plus if I don’t spend them all, I can use them for groceries. I am going to pick one up this week. I like this better than putting money in a Christmas account, in my opinion.

·         Make and take my lunch every day. Lunch out only once a week. This is a huge investment to get lunch at work each day- sometimes around $9. That’s about $80 a month if I get the café even just twice a week, and that could be a nice dinner out with my honeypie.

·         Make my own coffee daily- this is a biggie for several reasons. I work in Philly, miles from my home, I leave very early so stopping to get a leisurely cup of joe isn’t on the schedule. 
I wake up, I go to the kitchen, turn on the Keurig, get dressed, and make coffee- boom, one cup for me.

·         Barter for services. Got a skill- USE IT! Teach yoga for electrical work, make meals for gardening. Local time banks are helpful too.  
Obv, use common sense and be aware of your surroundings and people that you are bartering with.

·         Shopping in house. I want to change up some things, so rearranging the furniture, finding new uses for items and repurposing is a fabulous way to shop without spending any money.

what are your favorite ways to save?

Rich Bitch Nicole Lapin Talks Money - A Simple 12 Step Plan for Getting Your Financial Life Together

Financial expert Nicole Lapin became an overnight success last year with her INSTANT New York Times bestseller Rich Bitch: A Simple 12 Step Plan for Getting Your Financial Life Together...Finally.

When asked why her message resonated so well with Americans during the competition, Lapin said, "I don't speak in jargon. I didn't work at a bank; I didn't get my MBA. I'm just a girl who grew up in an immigrant family and learned the hard way because she got herself into debt and needed to get out of it. I went to the money school of hard knocks." 

Lapin graduated top of her class at Northwestern, and was youngest anchor ever at CNN before holding the same title at CNBC.

I love this book, and Nicole is fabulous. It’s a fun, smart, cool book that tells people how it is- how to learn, to save, to take charge in life and more- Lapin, you got this!

Learn:

-- How to kick the online shopping addiction once and for all

-- How to make an extra $100 right now

-- How to negotiate EVERYTHING and save approximately $1000/year

-- How to talk to boys about money

-- How to sound like the smartest bitch at a cocktail party

-- How to know if your side hustle is a jobby or just a hobby

-- How to make your employees love you

From the basics of creating a spending plan to understanding how to put your money to work for you, Lapin offers the nuts and bolts of personal finance to a new generation of women poised to take on the world. RICH BITCH pulls no punches as it offers a realistic approach to money. 

Written in plain English that won’t cause your eyes to glaze over, Lapin’s approach is simple and effective. She doesn’t soft pedal reality, but she doesn’t expect you to give up small luxuries, either. From figuring out how much rent you can pay to deciding how much car you can afford to learning how to invest for the future, her no-nonsense plan will help women embrace their “Rich Bitch” and the power that comes with it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nicole Lapin is the star of the CW's new business competition reality show "Hatched." She was the youngest anchor ever at CNN before holding the same title at CNBC anchoring "Worldwide Exchange," the only global finance show on the network, while contributing financial reports to "Today" and MSNBC. "Rich Bitch" is a personal finance guide for women, became an instant New York Times bestseller and sold out on Amazon. Lapin is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary and graduated as valedictorian from Northwestern University.

Rich Bitch: A Simple 12-Step Plan for Getting Your Financial Life Together...Finally

By Nicole Lapin

William Morrow Trade Paperback / 9780062429827 / $15.99