How To Do Everything

 If you are like most people you go to the grocery store at least once a week, maybe more.  Did you know, you can actually save money by reducing your number of trips to the store?  The theory is that when people shop more often, they buy more.

So instead of going to the store  48 or more times a year, you can go 12 times a year.  This will not only save you gas, but will save on your food budget as well.

1.  Make a Shopping List: make a detailed list of everything you need, which can be continually updated. Do this by saving your receipts and planning your meals.

• By saving your receipts from a typical month, it will allow you to go through and see what you normally purchase and how much you generally purchase.  Skip adding any impulse items or special buys.
• By planning your meals you can concentrate on what you really need.  It will also give you a way to plan your meat for example.  If you know you’re going to make shredded chicken sandwiches one night and chicken enchiladas the next, you can buy a larger, tougher cut of meat and put it in the slow cooker to soften it up.

2. Collect Coupons and ads: Look for coupons to save on items you buy frequently.  Then match your coupons up with local shopping ads to find out where the best deals are.
3. Make it a Team Effort:  You can divide your shopping party up into sections, giving meats to one person and dairy to another.  Again, this will allow you to focus only on what you really need.  Also, since this is a once-a month shopping trip it will take longer than you normally would to shop for one week.

4. Visit Different Stores:  One of the best ways to save the most on your food budget is to see where the best sales are on what you need and to visit multiple stores.

TIPS

• Once you get home, prioritize your items.  Fresh fruit and vegetables will probably need to be consumed first to avoid spoilage so clean them and chops them up so they can be easily accessed and used.
• Some foods may need to be frozen like milk, bread, and meats.
• You have several options for milk:

1.  drink fresh milk the first half of the month
2. freeze milk for the second half of the month
3. use powdered milk
4.  use ultra-pasteurized milk (long shelf life)
5. Or use soy milk if you can, it can last up to 2-3 months.  (but it is a bit more expensive)

• Evaluate your approach and adapt it to your needs.  At first you may find it a bit difficult and may forget a few things.  However, do not let “emergency trips” become a habit.

• Start with Small Steps: start by cutting your trips to twice a month then work down to only once a month.

• Shopping once a month can also be less wasteful as it will force you to use up all of your food instead of buying more.

Were you aware that you don’t earn as much as you may have thought you did?  If you are like most Americans you earn an hourly wage, however once you deduct the costs from working you will find that your hourly wage is actually a lot lower than you may have expected.

1 Figure out your work related expenses: There are several factors that go into figuring this step out.  You will need to figure out how much it costs you to commute, your costs for child care, work related clothing, and food costs in excess of what you would consume at home.

• Commuting: Calculate how many miles you travel each day to work.  Multiply that number by how many days you travel to work.  This will equal how many miles you travel to work each week.  Then figure out how much it costs you by mile by using your mpg for your vehicle.  For most small cars it is around $0.38/mile.  EX: If you travel 10 miles to work everyday and you work 5 days a week = 50 miles per week.  Multiply 50 by $0.38 = $19.00 to travel to work each week.
• Child Care:  Sit down and figure out what you spend each week or month on child care.
• Clothing: How often do you have to buy new clothing for work to replace worn out or ill fitting clothing.  You can estimate this.
• Food: Do you bring your lunch from home or do you eat out?  If you eat out, figure how much more it costs you to eat out vs bringing you lunch from home.

2. Subtract work expenses from your annual salary:  This will produce your actual earnings.  EX. So if you made $48,000 per year and had costs of $5,000, you would only make $43,000 per year.

3. Divide your actual earnings by the total hours you spend on work related activities:  This would include business trips, meetings, parties, commuting.  EX.  If you leave your house at 6:30 am and you don’t get home until 4:30 pm, this means you would devote 50 hours per week to work or 2500 hours each year.  $43,000/50 = $860 or $42,140 annual earnings.

4.  Figure out what you make an hour: $42,140/50 weeks per year = $842.80/week, $842.80/50 hrs per week = $16.86/hour.

If you are in need of cash in a hurry, there are a few simple ways to get it. It may not be a huge sum of money, but it will be something in your pocket by the end of the week.

1.  Day Labor - there are many employment agencies who specialize in connecting workers with day labor jobs.  Jobs like these, typically pay you at the end of each day you work.  Most of these jobs are construction, factory work, office work, and  manufacturing.  You may be able to score some labor work just by hanging out where you may be needed, like a construction site.  Some other great places to check for day labor work is in the newspaper and on Craigslist.org.  You may be able to find some quick gigs like painting, mowing lawns, snow removal, yard work, or moving help.

2. Sell, Sell, Sell  - rummage through your house….dig out those items you never use anymore…like old instruments, dishes, cds, dvds, or toys.  The quickest way to get cash for these items is at the pawnshop, however they may not give you top dolloar for your items.  Another option is to sell them through the classifieds section of your newspaper or local bulletin board.  You could also hold a yardsale…or opt to sell the items on Craigslist, Amazon, Half.com, or Ebay.

3. Complete online surveys - There are many companies out there who are dying to know what is on your mind.  Doing these surveys will not make you rich, but may give you some $$ in your pocket.  However, always remember to read the fine print.  Watch out for the “catch.”  Many times, companies ask for you to do surveys but expect you to buy a product first.

4. Expose Your Talent - If you have a knack for dancing, playing music, or telling jokes you may want to consider doing some street performances.  All you have to do, is  find a good location to set up and set out a tip jar, hat, or guitar case and perform your best and wait for the cash to come in.

5. Panhandle - panhandling is when you depend on the charity of strangers.  It may take swallowing your pride to do this, as you will be exposing yourself to your community and people you know may recognize you.  The most popular way to do this is to make yourself a sign, perhaps something clever, to attract attention to why you are begging for money.  Next, you find a prime location to set up.  Near shopping malls or plazas are a good place where you will see a lot of traffic. However, before you begin, be sure to check your local and state laws to be sure that panhandling is not illegal in your location. Cyberbegging has also become quite popular.  Some sites offer a place where you can display an ad to ask for money.  However, if you are looking to make a substantial amount of money, you will probably have to build your own site, which may require a monetary investment and an investment of time.

6. Donate Plasma -  Donating plasma is not only an easy way to put money in your pocket, but a great way to help the community.  Plasma is part of your blood, and the process for donating is similar to when you donate blood.  However, they actually spin out the plasma and return the red blood cells back into your blood stream.  In some areas you can make up to $30 per donation and can donate up to 2 times per week.  The requirements for donating plasma are that you must be between the ages of 18 and 59, be in good physical health, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be drug free.

7. Recycle - By looking through your trash and your neighbors you may find a hidden gold mine just waiting to be cashed in.  You can find cans and scrap metal in trash cans or near busy road ways.   Some places pay up to .10 per container.  For scrap metal you can often get up to 2 cents per pound.

8. Make Lemonade. -  If you live in a busy area or know of an empty corner in a busy area, consider setting up a stand to sell homemade beverages and foods. You can sell lemonade and baked goods to raise some extra cash.  Some great places to set up are near a busy apartment complex, near the mall or local shopping center, or any busy area.

9. Freelance - You can do this in a short period of time or to generate income over a longer period of time.  There are several freelancing websites where you go to bid on projects.  This is a great way to earn cash, especially if you have a specialized skill such as building websites or using photoshop.  However, you can also find gigs writing blogs and articles too.  Many of the clients will pay via paypal once the job is completed.

10. Advertise -   You may consider looking for marketing and advertising companies who are willing to pay you to advertise their services.  Some creative ways people have made money advertising are: Using your car as a moving advertisement, wearing promotional clothing items like T-shirts or hats, and temporary tattoos.