Well, apparently the author bug has really bitten me, because I’ve already released another book for the Amazon Kindle!

The book, “Family Money: Easy Ways to Cut Your Family’s Expenses,” is a light-hearted how-to book on ways to drastically slash your monthly expenses without correspondingly affecting your lifestyle. Through years of writing on Saving Without a Budget I’ve found that the single biggest reason people don’t adopt a frugal lifestyle is because they think they’re going to have to live a life of self-deprivation. It’s not because they’re lazy or stupid; it’s because they falsely believe they’re going to have to drastically alter the way they live day-to-day.

The book offers well over 100 simple ways individuals and families can reduce their monthly expenses without ever really noticing a change in their lives. These money saving tips are broken down into different types, like utilities, clothing, and groceries; i.e. the major expenses in people’s lives.

Considering the price of the book is only $3.97, buying Family Money is certainly a worthwhile investment, especially when you consider following just a few of the tips for less than a day will save you much more than $3.97!

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

In continuing with my new obsession – and hopefully yours as well – I thought I would write more about some less-than-extreme couponing tips that I think will help you save hundreds of dollars per week and thousands of dollars per year.

CouponMom.com is one of the best resources to learn about couponing.

Considering the economy is growing at a much slower than expected pace, being able to save every dollar you can is certainly a great idea.  And when you take into account the fact you can cut lots of money per week from your grocery bill by taking just a few minutes to clip coupons and plan your meals around good deals, there’s really no good reason to justify not making the effort.

In an article in U.S.A. Weekend entitled “How You Can Become a Coupon Queen” – which, to be perfectly honest I do take some issue with considering I’m a 30 year old man who clips coupons and most certainly is not a “queen” – Jean Chatzky offers up the following couponing insights and tips:

When it comes to grocery shopping, the New American Pantry study says 48% of us are now willing to wait for a sale. Shoppers have tuned in to the fact that prices change frequently. For them, the sale price has become the only price they’re willing to pay.

Do it right: You have to know how much the items you buy most frequently cost when they are on sale. This may mean keeping a log of the best price you paid for a particular product (sometimes called a “price book”) until you commit those prices to memory. Then you stock up when items are cheapest and shop in your own cupboard until they go on sale again. Take apple juice, for example: Mullen knows if she can get it for $1 a bottle, that’s a good price. Note: The website grocerypricebooks.com can help you get started.

She then goes on to write:

There’s couponing — sitting down with the Sunday newspaper and clipping those offers your family will use — which saves the average family about $1,000 a year, according to NCH Marketing Info, which tracks coupon use.And then there’s organized couponing — spending hours clipping and organizing coupons, buying an extra copy of the Sunday paper because the deals are so good, downloading and printing coupons from the Web and using technology to clue you in on which stores in your area have the best deals each week. That, as Mullen has learned, can save you much, much more. Last year, there were 332 billion coupons and 3.3 billion redeemed, which put $3.7 billion in consumers’ pockets. “The overall face value savings per coupon is $1.46,” NCH vice president Charlie Brown says.

Do it right:Despite advances in digital coupons, the biggest bang for your couponing buck is still the Sunday paper. Those shiny inserts contained 88% of all the coupons issued in the past year.

Clip the ones you’ll use and start a file that will help you keep track of them. Watch expiration dates, Brown says.

Next, hit the Web and spend a little time on couponing sites. Nationals such as couponmom.com and thekrazycouponlady.com, and locals such as ppgazette.com in Los Angeles, can help you keep track of where your coupons match up with the best sales. These websites also will point you to digital coupons — the ones you can download and print at home or load onto your smartphone.

As you know, I’ve raved about CouponMom.com and TheKrazyCouponLady.com before on this site, and believe they are great resources for anyone — again, not just coupon queens — interested in learning how to cut their grocery bills by up to 60%.

As Chatzky points out in her article, extreme couponing is tough and, more or less, is a full-time job in and of itself.  If I had the time to do it, I’m sure I would try, but having a full-time job and wanting to enjoy my remaining free time with my wife and friends, I just can’t do it.  But, I’ve also learned how spending just 30 minutes every Sunday morning clipping coupons and planning our weekend meals can save my family thousands of dollars per year.

If I were you, I would certainly give it a try!

Do you clip coupons?  Do you extreme coupon?  Leave your comments and share your best couponing tips below!  And, as always, please share this post using the social bookmarking buttons – especially Facebook and Twitter!

Related articles

• The Best Sites for Extreme Couponing (savingwithoutabudget.com)
• Extreme Couponing Is the Most Addicting Game I’ve Ever Played (savingwithoutabudget.com)
• Extreme Couponing Tip: Patience Pays (livingrichwithcoupons.com)
• Are Coupons Really Worth It? (couponshoebox.com)

We all know that being overweight is unhealthy and can lead to a lot of chronic disorders like high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as increased chances for a heart attack and many forms of cancer.  However, did you know that being overweight can have a lasting affect on your personal finances as well?

In an article on Get Rich Slowly entitled “The Financial Cost of Obesity,” April Dykman writes that after years of research, a recent study has been able to quantify the cost of being fat in America:

After tabulating various costs associated with being overweight or obese, the researchers found that being an obese individual in the U.S. costs $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men each year. The overall annual costs of being overweight are $524 for women and $432 for men. The researchers defined “obesity” as a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30, and “overweight” as a BMI between 25–29.

A balanced diet and regular exercise can help you keep more of your hard-earned money!

Adding the value of lost life to these yearly costs makes the price tag even higher: $8,365 and $6,518 for women and men, respectively.

The analysis showed that obese women pay nine times more and obese men pay six times more in associated costs than do individuals at a healthy BMI. The results also showed that women are affected much more than men when it comes to obesity and job-related costs, including lost wages, absenteeism, and disability.

The report, which was released by George Washington University, can be read by clicking this link.

This seems to make sesnse obesity increases the likelihood of chronic diseases, which certainly are not cheap to battle.  Additionally, if someone is obsese or has had chronic health issues brought about due to obseity, they’re a lot harder (read: expensive) to insure, both for things like health insurance as well as life insurance.

Then, there’s everyday expenses – larger clothes cost more, added weight to a vehicle reduces fuel economy, more food is consumed, etc.  It’s easy to see how all these costs can quickly add up.

These costs are staggering considering they’ve been provided on an annualized basis.  So, if you spend your entire adult life as someone who is obese, you’re going to effectively waste tens of thousands of dollars.  If you would have invested the money instead, you’d be looking at probably a hundred thousand dollar or so nest egg.

This just gives one more reason why it is so important to eat a balanced diet, get plenty of exercise, and lots of sleep.

What are your thoughts regarding this issue?  Leave your comments below and, as always, please pass this post along using the social bookmarking buttons below – especially Facebook and Twitter.

Related articles

• The Financial Cost of Obesity (getrichslowly.org)
• Study Says Being Overweight Hurts Your Finances, Mental State (askthemoneycoach.com)

Whether you’re a multi-millionaire, living paycheck to paycheck, or somewhere in between, we have all been affected by The Great Recession and the slow economic recovery. One of the few good things to come out of the recent tough times is a newfound love of saving money.

During the run-up to The Great Recession, the average savings rate was negative, meaning a typical person spent more money than they earned. That’s not a good thing at all and will lead to a financial disaster, which it did for many Americans. But, now that things have settled, we’ve learned to love saving and have become pretty creative at finding ways to keep more of our hard-earned cash.

Here’s a great article/slideshow from CNN Money that shows seven ways to save on everyday expenses, ranging from property taxes to car insurance:

7 Ways to Save Money on Everyday Expenses

My favorite tip was from the guy who says he never leaves a store without asking for a discount or something free – demands which are usually met 50% of the time. I never would have guessed it was that high! Here’s what he said:

I am amazed at the frequency with which I can get a discount by simply asking — at least 50% of the time I get some savings.

I went to a big-box retail store and bought a TV. Since it was a pretty big purchase I figured why not ask? The manager came over and agreed to knock off 10% and throw in some cables. Just by asking I saved about $120.

Along the same lines, here’s a YouTube clip reminding us to live within our means, something we weren’t doing a great job of prior to The Great Recession.

Leave a comment and let me know how you save money on everyday expenses!

Related articles

• How To Live Big On A Small Budget (hellobeautiful.com)
• Ten Ways to Use That Tax Refund (turbotax.intuit.com)
• Ways to Save Money at Work (circleoffood.com)

Have you noticed that your grocery bill has gotten more and more expensive over the last couple of months? Turns out you’re not alone.

I think that while in the short term this is going to hurt a lot of people financially (last time I checked, we do have to eat, so we’re probably going to continue to spend money on food despite the higher prices) in the long term higher food prices may be exactly what the United States needs.

The reason being, when prices increase above what you’re normally used to paying (especially if the jump is both unexpected and dramatic) on some level there is a correlating reduction in demand/consumption of that product. For example, let’s say gas prices jump to $4 – invariably more people will think twice about hopping in their car and going for a drive and will simply drive only if they have to.

Now, let’s translate this idea to food.

What’s the country’s most pressing health related issue? If you said obesity, you’d be correct. Obesity obviously has been linked to increased risk for a myriad of chronic health problems, from heart disease to cancer to erectile dysfunction.

What’s one of the largest growing costs for the average American family? Aside from energy, health care has the highest year over year out of pocket expense increase. Much of the reason health care has become so expensive is because the health care system has had to treat more and more of these very expensive chronic diseases.

On top of all of that, there is the brewing Medicare/Medicaid problem for the U.S. government. With health care costs expected to continue to skyrocket, the United States government won’t be able to continue the current health care plans without selling its fiscal soul to China (if it already hasn’t).

So, back to the price of food – if it continues to jump, people are going to have to be more selective about what they eat and, more than likely, do a better job of eating less and rationing their food. Last time I checked, it’s pretty tough to become morbidly obese when your caloric intake is slashed by 10 to 20 percent.

So, with people having to actually adjust to eating less and not being so gluttonous, there should be a decline in the obesity rates throughout the country. In turn, over time this should lead to a corresponding decline in chronic diseases which more than likely will lead to a decline in health care costs for everyone.

Granted, this is a very rough theory, but in the end, I think it’s easy to see how an increase in the cost of food would likely bring about a less fat society, which in turn would hopefully bring lower health care costs for everyone.

I know this is definitely a bit out there, but it’s a “stupid college money saving trick” that’s sort of carried over in to my post college life.

First, let me preface by saying that I cut my hair pretty short, and have done so most of my life.  It’s not like cutting my own hair caused a dramatic change in my appearance.  However, if you’re someone who is very particular about your hair, I encourage you to stop reading now and go on to another one of my posts.

Anyway, one day while I was still in college, I realized that I was paying $15 every couple of weeks so I could have someone take a pair of clippers and cut my hair, something I could very easily do myself.

See Mom and Dad, all that tuition money ended up being useful!

So, instead of dropping $15 to get my hair cut, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a $15 pair of clippers – and have been using them ever since.  I figure over the past couple of years, I’ve probably saved over $750 by cutting my own hair, so I think it was definitely worth picking up the clippers.

I’m not going to rehash all of the physical health benefits of quitting smoking.  I’m not going to remind you that smoking has been linked to an increased risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer and that the average smoker lives seven years less than a non-smoker.

Don't you think it's time you gave up smoking? Your bank account does.

(Oops, guess I just did.)

What I really want to show you is the horrible effect smoking has on your financial health.

According to TobaccoFreeKids.org, the average price for a pack of cigarettes in the United States is $4.35.  That means that a person who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day spends roughly $1,600 per year on smokes.  That’s a lot of money to be spending on anything, let alone on something that’s so bad for you.

So, what would happen if you invested that money instead?  Below are two scenarios that show how much money you lose out on by lighting up, based on smoking a pack a day for 25 years.

Scenario #1 – Investing in a money market account with an annual yield of 4%:

Scenario #2 – Investing in a mutual fund with an annual yield of 8%:

In the first scenario, by investing the $1,600 that would have been spent on cigarettes, you would be sitting on about $69,000 (pre-tax), instead of being out $40,000 with nothing to show for it except yellow teeth and a nasty cough.  That’s a swing of $109,000 in your favor.

In the second scenario, by investing that same $1,600 in a mutual fund that returns 8% annually, you would have roughly $126,000 instead of being out $40,000.  That’s a swing of $166,000 in your favor.

Even if you don’t invest the $1,600, but use it towards paying down your mortgage sooner, or paying off credit card debt, or rewarding your iron will with a big screen TV, financially you’re going to be much better off than if you let that money go up in smoke.

So, if you can’t quit smoking for the health benefits, at least try it for the financial benefits.  Either way, down the road you’re going to be a lot better off if you kick the habit now – or better yet, you don’t even start.

Guest Post by Iva Marjanovic, Iva is a writer for TotallyMoney.com which is a website that compares mortgages and cheap loans. She also runs a popular personal finance blog where she shares money saving ideas and frugal tips.

First off, don’t get me wrong – I’m certainly not trying to dissuade you from exercising and living a healthy lifestyle.  I’m a firm believer in exercising and staying in shape; I just don’t see the need to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Gym memberships cost, on average, between $30 and $50 per month, and usually require an initial one time membership set up fee of between $50 and $200.  So, over the course of a year, to be a member of a gym will typically cost you between $400 and $800.

If you really want a workout don't join a gym, get a program like P90X

It’s hard for me to justify spending that amount of money for things that can very easily be done outside the gym for free.  For example, it doesn’t cost me anything to jog outside, do push ups, pull ups, play pick up basketball at the local courts, etc.

However, if you feel the need to actually use “going to the gym” as motivation to work out, you may want to check a couple of other places before you make the commitment to fork over $400 or more of your hard earned money.

For example, more and more employers are realizing the benefits of having a healthy workforce and are putting a work out room in their facilities.  Also, many communities have a gym in their clubhouse – which is probably something you’re already paying for if you have homeowner association fees.

Or, if you felt the need, you could take that $400 to $800 you’d be spending on gym membership fees and put it towards getting some small gym equipment for your own house.  Then you can get the gym like atmosphere without having to leave your home – and you don’t have to make reoccurring payments.

The moral of the story is you should definitely find ways to get out and exercise, but joining a gym should be one of your last options.