5 Money Saving Tips that Can Pocket You Over $1,500. A Year!
According to Yahoo!� Finance, each American family carries about eight credit cards. These eight cards carry an average balance of around $9,000. About 40% of these families can afford to pay their credit card balances off every month. This means that the other 60% of Americans pay credit card interest every month. The average interest rate, according to www.creditcards.com, is 14% annually. This means that, on the average, every family pays about $105.00 a month in interest.
However, here is a money-saving tip: if you pay your credit card bills off every month, you can actually pocket this $1,260. instead of paying it to your bank.
2. Dump Credit Cards That Charge Annual Fees
Many credit card companies charge their customers an average of $25. – $100. a year just for the privilege of carrying their card. If you have one of these cards, shop around for one that won’t charge you! Keep the money for annual fees in your pocket instead!
3. Avoid Bank Service Charges
Banks charge their account holders a variety of fees. But, you can save money if you take steps to avoid paying these fees. If your bank charges you a fee for not keeping a certain minimum account in your checking, try linking your primary account to another account to avoid the charge. This move alone can pocket you approximately $11.00 a month, or $132.00 a year.
Here’s another money-saving tip: currently, banks are charging an average of $27.04 for every overdraft their customers make, according to www.bankrate.com. Another source estimates that Americans write about 60 billion checks a year. Out of that number, about 450 million of those checks bounce. So you can see that many Americans are paying their banks an exorbitant amount of money every year because they write checks on accounts with insufficient balances.
To avoid this, and keep your money in your pocket where it belongs, keep track of your account so you can avoid writing overdraft checks.
Carefully look over your monthly statements and make sure your bank isn’t charging you fees that you don’t owe.
4. Shop Around for the Best Cellular Service
According to www.LetsTalk.com, the average monthly cell phone bill is $60.00 a month. That means the average user pays $720.00 a year for the convenience of “staying in constant touch” with family and friends. But, the big question is, do you really need a cell phone? Is it that important to chat while you’re away from home? If you use your cell phone for emergencies, or you only use a small amount of your allotted minutes every month, there’s a better way. Here’s a money-saving tip: consider switching over to a prepaid cell phone. Most prepaid plans don’t require a deposit, service fee, monthly rental fee, activation, and termination fees. You can pay as little as 2 cents a minute, and you only pay for the minutes you use. A prepaid cell phone can save you quite a bit of money!
Some of the most popular prepaid providers are www.virginmobile.com, www.tracfone.com, and
www.cingular.com.
5. Cancel Unnecessary Subscriptions
Do you subscribe to your local newspaper, as well as to several magazines? Do you really need hard copies of these publications? Many newspapers and magazines are now available online. Cancel your newspaper subscription, and you can pocket approximately $300. to $400. a year. Magazine subscriptions vary in prices, but you can probably save at least $200. a year if you cancel unnecessary subscriptions.
Another money-saving tip is to cancel any cable or satellite channels you don’t watch too. Just eliminating one premium channel can pocket you an estimated $50. – $100. a year.
