Debt Help Ideas

Working towards the goal to eliminate debt doesn’t have to mean no traveling . Vacations can be an important part of a family’s life.  For that matter, many of us have to travel for non-vacation purposes, such as business and family needs. Travel can be expensive but there are some great ways to save money. Here are three:

1.  Try to fly the same airline every single time. Unless you are traveling weekly, if you use several airlines, you will probably not accumulate enough frequent flyer miles to do much good. It’s better to pick one airline and see those miles go up, up, up. I personally love Southwest. I have earned several free trips thanks to their generous frequent flyer policy. They are very customer-service oriented. One time, we were diverted overnight to another state and didn’t land at our destination until twelve hours later. This was caused by circumstances beyond their control (not weather). I was thrilled to get a letter from them a week later, explaining what happened and that, even though it wasn’t their fault, they were giving us a free round-trip ticket as an apology! As you can imagine, I was definitely impressed even more with them. Their prices are great and they are definitely a good choice offering many ways to save money while traveling.

2. Once you make your plane and car rental reservations, don’t stop there. Check the prices of each a couple of times before the trip. Several times, I have been able to change my reservations in order to take advantage of a price drop. I was able to do this with both Southwest, and a couple of car rental agencies. I’m not sure which other airlines allow this, although I believe there are at least a couple that do. Call the airline reservations desk to see what their policies are. On a trip I took last December, I saved over $150 with this simple travel solution.

3. AAA is a great resource to help you when your car breaks down while traveling . I occasionally have to drive long distances from my home, so I pay extra for their premium service, which means I will be able to have my car brought home even if I am far away when it breaks down. Not only do I save money using them for car travel, they also are a great resource for other types of travel. I have been able to take advantage of Hertz’ wonderful #1 Club Gold Membership for free because of my AAA Premier card. This saves me  time, stress, and money. I can also use my AAA card to get discounts at hotels, motels, and amusement parks.

These three travel solutions are very useful ways to save money. And think how fun it will be to for us to take the money we saved and apply it to a loan payment as we “travel on” towards our goal to eliminate debt .

Here’s some tips to save money that are also green friendly. The next time we have to give a gift, whether it’s Mother’s Day, a birthday, or even Christmas, we can wrap it uniquely in a reusable shopping bag. Whether we pick a favorite store or just go by whichever bag we think is cutest (I like Trader Joe’s bags), our recipient will end up with a sturdy reusable bag. Not only that, we will usually only have to spend 50 cents – 99 cents which is cheaper than most of the dollar stores around.

To dress it up, we can use white or colored shades of crumpled tissue paper. After they’ve “opened” their gift, we can carefully fold the tissue paper to re-use it for the next gift giving project. It will fold nicely and doesn’t take much space. Another fun idea is to save the kids’ colored construction paper after they finish a project that they did NOT want to save. Run the paper thru a paper shredder, then stuff it on top of the present in the bag. This could get a little messy though, so we’ll have to be sure to have the kids help clean it up after the present is opened.

This works for all holidays including Christmas. Target’s red bags are especially good for that holiday. I’ve also seen green bags that would work nicely. Kids birthdays are another great occasion to put to good use these ways to save money. They always love having cute bags to carry all their prized possessions in. A sturdy reusable bag would be right up their alley!

The really fun part will be tallying up all the money we save by not buying  bags, ribbons, paper, and bows. I know I’ve spent as much as $5 on gift wrap before. Applying the savings from these tips to save money towards our lowest bill’s next payment will take us a step closer towards our goal to eliminate debt AND we get the satisfaction of knowing we did it in a fun, frugal, and green way!

Do you love to give and receive flowers? I know I do! Especially roses. They aren’t cheap though, are they? A great frugal investment we can make is to purchase and plant rose bushes and other perennial flowers around our house. Granted, there is an up-front cost involved, but in the long run this is definitely one of those multi-tasking tips to save money.

One thing I learned to do after buying a house that left me cash poor was to watch for sales at places like Rite Aid and Walgreens. They often get a big batch of plants in for spring, then put them on sale in mid-summer once most of them are gone.

Depending on the area we might even be safe buying plants looking a bit wilted. When I lived in Northern California I bought many roses for a fraction of their original cost because they looked like they were almost dead – wilted leaves, no flowers. With some careful pruning and great compost, they perked up wonderfully. The East Coast has not been as kind to me, but I’ve also had less time to try.

If we are able to do this, we can buy these plants for pennies on the dollar and then enjoy many years of gorgeous, wonderfully scented flowers in our homes as well as use some as gifts for others. I love ways to save money that smell good! Not only that, they add value to our homes, so when we go to sell them, we might actually get a higher price because of all the flowers growing! Now you know what I meant when I told you this was one of those multi-tasking tips to save money

In addition, I love applying the money I saved to my loan with the lowest balance as we march on together towards our goal to eliminate debt!

If you send books, CDs, and/or DVDs to friends or relatives (great ideas for long distance grandkids or elderly shut-ins), you are eligible for one of the best ways to save money on snail mail. And saving money is a great way to work towards our goal to eliminate debt!

Media Mail is ultra cheap and quite easy. Just package up the books, CDs, and/or DVDs in a sturdy box. Don’t include anything else, especially not magazines or personal letters. The post office does do regular spot checks and if you accidentally include those, your package might take a lot longer and will cost a whole lot more! Wrap the package and address it. I usually write Media Mail in big letters on both sides of the package.

Take the package to the post office and request that it be sent via Media Mail. As an example of the savings you will see:

2 pound package from the West Coast to the East coast

Parcel Post would cost $6.97 whereas Media Mail is only $2.58

For a 7 pound package:

Parcel Post would run $12.81 while Media Mail is only $4.33

That’s definitely a great way to save money and work on our debt problem!

Debt Consolidation. You know what I mean. Taking all that unsecured debt and lumping it all together into one loan so you only have one payment. It seems so logical, so easy, so wonderful! We thought so too. Then we discovered the dark side of this option.

It’s just too easy to borrow more. Those paid off credit cards will be calling your name, begging you to use them. Needs will arise like you wouldn’t believe. Before you know it, your unsecured debt will have doubled and you will be miserable!

You’ll be a lot happier and a lot better off if you sit down and make a plan to eliminate debt safely and sanely, one bill at a time. I like the “debt snowball” idea that many financial counselors recommend. You start with the lowest bill and pay it off using any extra money you can. That’s where all the great ways to save money that you will find on this site will come in handy. Pay as much as you can on the bill, not just the minimum. Once it’s paid off, take all the money you were paying towards it and add it to the payment you are sending for the next lowest bill. Before you know it, your unsecured debt will be gone, and you will have gotten so much closer to your goal to eliminate debt!

Always being on the lookout for ways to save money is a great tool to help you eliminate debt.

One of the best ways to save money is to look at your car servicing habits. Here are four tips that may help you:

• Make sure you get the oil changed regularly. Taking good care of your car will save you money in the long run.
• Don’t, however, service it more often than you have to. For awhile, I kept reading recommendations that people should change their oil every 3000 miles. Car experts have discovered, however, that this is more often than necessary. 5000 miles is a better rule of thumb according to various sources, including my own car dealership. (Of course, you need to double-check this with your own car repair site as different models do vary.)
• Before taking your car into a dealer or other business for servicing, check their website. You may discover, as I did, that they offer coupons online for various services. These can save you anywhere from $5 – $100 or more depending on what you need to have done.
• Ask your repair business if they offer coupons via email. One dealership I went to regularly started doing that. It was so handy to have great ways to save money arrive in my inbox. Not only that, they’re a lot easier to find than in the piles on my desk.

Taking good care of our cars while keeping our eyes open for new ways to save money is definitely a great way to work towards our goal to get debt free! We need to make sure we take the money we save and add it to our lowest bill’s payment each month. Eventually we will succeed at our goal to eliminate debt!

As a Christian, one of my top goals is to eliminate debt. I take Romans 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law,” very seriously.

I have heard a couple of pastors, who I trust and respect, explain that passage refers to unsecured debt such as credit cards. They believe that careful debt on real estate property is acceptable as it is a business transaction. I pretty much agree with them, however in light of the current economic turmoil I am seriously rethinking that policy!

Unsecured debt is definitely one of the worst types of debt to have, though. Credit cards can be great tools if used wisely, with much self-control. You can actually save money with a free, frequent-flyer credit card if you pay off the debt each month.

If you don’t pay it off monthly and instead have to pay interest charges on the monthly balance, I would encourage you to put the card in a plastic container full of water and pop it into the freezer. You’ll still have it for emergencies but it will make you slow down and think through whether you really need what you want to buy.

This is one of many great tips that can help you eliminate debt!

On May 11, the Post Office will raise rates on first class letters. If you buy the Forever stamps, however, they will still be usable with no additional postage required. That’s true whether you use them on May 12, 2009 OR May 11, 2059!!! Talk about an easy money saver tip!

I used to love to buy all the cute stamps with teddy bears, hearts, cartoon characters, etc. But with postage rates going up every year and my goal to look for every money saver tip I can and work hard to eliminate debt, I’ve switched to the Forever stamps forever!

Eyeglasses can be so expensive. Here are two ways to save money and still be able to see.

1. Most stores selling glasses will do minor tweaks such as tightening and replacing screws and adjusting frames, all at no cost. This is often true, even if you didn’t buy the glasses there.
2. If your budget is ultra tight right now, but your eyeglass prescription has gotten worse, you can request that your new lenses be put into your old frames. If you do that, there are two things to watch out for:
   • Have them check the frames to ensure they are in good shape. If they break, you probably won’t be covered by any warranty!
   • Not only that, they may not provide a warranty on the new lenses either, because you are using your own frames!

These ways to save money on eyeglasses are both practical and easy. And how fun when we can apply what we’ve saved to our payments on our debts.. That will help bring us a step closer to our goal to eliminate debt!