NOW Years Resolution: Save Money
Kimberly Rae Miller

Want more money? Who doesn’t?

I like to think of budgeting like dieting. Most of us need it, but if you go too crazy it will just backfire and you’ll end up binging… usually on pretty cashmere things that you can’t afford. When it comes to budgeting, I believe in the slow and steady approach.

If your New Year’s resolution was to save money in 2010, here are some tips to get you on your way to financial rock stardom.

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Pack Your Lunch…

This one is as old as the work day is long. The average deli lunch in NYC is $7 (and we all know it can get more expensive than that). Multiply that $7 with the 255 work days in a year, you’re racking up $1785 in lunch costs alone per year. On average a homemade lunch costs $3. Basic math will tell you that that comes to $765 a year. By bringing lunch to work you save upwards of $1020 a year. That’s not a bad chunk of change.

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Coupons Are Back!

No longer are coupons associated with little old blue haired ladies, coupons are available for almost everything you buy, especially those online purchases for clothes, shoes, and even restaurants. Check out sites like Coupon Cabin, Retail Me Not, Smart Source, or Alice for coupons for everything you can think of. It’s free money, why not?

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Track Your Cash…

You can do things the old fashioned way with a pen and paper, or you can set up an online account with Mint.com, which will not only tally your spending based on your credit card, debit card, and savings activity, but it will help you form a budget, and help find you alternatives in spending and saving to help you save money.

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Separate Your Spending…

If you have more than one credit card, and you’re looking to pay down your debt, use one card for all new and basic purchases like food and clothes. On the other card make regular payments to pay down your debt. This way you always know how much money you owe and are continuously working to pay down the principle. Of course always pay down the full balance of the card you’re using for basic purchases each month. Don’t open up a second credit card if you don’t have one, you can do this same thing with cash.

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Save Diversely…

The old adage is true, you should always pay yourself first. It is for this exact reason that automatic withdrawal is an awesome thing. But, lets face it, interest rates aren’t what they used to be. It’s always important to have some cash liquid that you can draw on in an emergency, but there are other ways to save. High yield CDs are great options making your money grow in the longish-short term, interest rates are much higher than standard savings accounts and you can have access to your money in as little as a year. Bonds are also an option, as are community banks and credit unions that tend to have higher interest rates than larger banks.

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Find the Free…

There’s free stuff all over this city, whether it’s nightlife (Yay, no cover), book readings, movie screenings, art galleries. It is possible to live cheaply and still have fun. You can cut cable costs by watching TV online, and save that money you would have spent at the mega book stores by actually going to the library (gasp!).

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Create Your Own Layaway…

This past holiday season stores everywhere boasted about their revival of Layaway, a term I hadn’t heard since the early 90s. Layaway means that you pick out what you want and pay for it over time and eventually when you have enough you can leave the store with it. Unfortunately, if you never reach the required amount the store can keep your money. I’ve been doing this on my own for the last few months, every week $10 goes straight from my checking to a specially designated savings account toward a large purchase I plan to make. Sure, I could always charge this item and have instant gratification, but I can’t afford it now. In nine months I will proudly walk in to the store with my hard saved cash, plunk it down on the cash register and walk out like the lucky duck I plan to be. Bonus, if I change my mind, or get an unexpected windfall I haven’t lost my money to the Lay Away gods.

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Quit Smoking!

You should probably do this anyway, but cigarettes are a huge money suck, especially in New York City where they come to $9 per pack.  If you have a pack a day habit you’re smoking $3,285 a year.  That amount of cash could be a pretty significant boon to your standard of living.

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There you have it, go forth and pinch those pennies. Thrifty is the new skinny!