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Kiplinger's TOP 50 money tips
by Melissa J. I feel that my strong commitment to improving the
Check out the tips they apply so easier to even these times that we are having.
ild
a comfortable savings cushion. You just have to play
a few mental tricks on yourself to stay focused on
spending less and keeping more cash. Small steps yield
big results, and the best savings tips are the simplest. In fact, each of
them could fit in a 140-character tweet.
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CINDY CAMPBELL OF
Upper Marlboro, Md.,
first appeared in
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
in
November 2007, when she
shared her strategies for getting
out of $7,000 in credit card debt.
We recently checked back with
Campbell, now 31, who has since
discovered the value of a rainyday
fund.
Campbell was laid off from
her job of five years in November
2009 and was out of work until
April 2010. “But thanks to my
savings and keeping my bills to
a manageable amount, I was not
worried or drastically affected,”
she says. “I found out how important
it is to keep money in an
emergency fund.”
Campbell kept six months’
worth of expenses in her rainyday
stash and reduced her
monthly bills by paying off her
car loan, having zero credit card
debt, eliminating cable TV for a
year and finding a very low-cost
phone plan. As soon as she found
a new job, she focused on rebuilding
her reserve fund, which
paid off when she had a baby last
year and took 16 weeks of unpaid
maternity leave.
Campbell is now back at work
and rebuilding her savings for
future needs. “Thanks to my
financial discipline, any life
changes and/or setbacks do not
hit me hard financially, and
that’s a great thing,” she says.
KIPTIP
Build an
emergency fund
Keep your budget and your goals simple.
Zeroing in on your main objective will help you stay
on course.
3
Write down specific goals.
That makes them
more real. Pledging to save $2,000 for a beach
vacation is likely to get you there.
4
Set up an account for each goal
—education,
vacation, car, computer—or for large, recurring
expenses, such as insurance premiums.
5
Have your boss (or your bank)
take money off
the top of your salary for retirement or some other
goal. You’ll never miss it.
6
Start small.
Even $100 per paycheck will add up
over time (to see how much, go to www.bankrate
.com/calculators.aspx).
2
Start now.
Don’t wait till you make more money.
1
The more you make, the more you spend.
Toss spare change
into a bank or glass jar and
watch your money grow into enough to pay for
holiday gifts or even a vacation.
Toss spare change
into a bank or glass jar and
watch your money grow into enough to pay for
holiday gifts or even a vacation.
77
Give yourself an instant reward.
Each time you
brown-bag your lunch instead of eating out, toss
the savings into your cash jar.
Keep writing the check
after you pay off a
loan or a bill, and send it to a savings or investment
account.
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Follow these simple steps and
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About Melissa J. 
I feel that my strong commitment to improving the
30 connections, 1 recommendations, 129 honor points.Joined APSense since, December 7th, 2007, From Atlanta, United States.
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