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Savings & Spending Tips Spending Tips Minimize or eliminate your debt. This is critical to long-term financial success. Do not spend money that you don't have. If you can't pay for it in the next couple of months, with a few exceptions, don't charge it! Pay yourself first. Make sure that before any other expense is deducted from your paycheck, you contribute to your tax-qualified plan at work or any other tax-deferred savings vehicle. Understand exactly where every dime you spend goes. Be a smart shopper. Buy winter clothing during off-season sales and only buy items on sale. Ask yourself if what you are about to purchase is a need or a want. Do you really need 150 channels on your TV? Do you need two mobile phones and a pager? Eat out less often. You don't have to pay the cook, the waiter, the valet or the owner of the restaurant. Cut transportation costs. Consider buying a used car and driving it until it doesn't work. Of course, you can save even more by taking public transportation or carpooling once in a while as well. Cancel all but one of your credit cards. And pay that one off each month. Make sure you are not paying for more insurance than you need or paying too much for the insurance you need. Visit the Risk Management course for a personalized analysis of your insurance needs. It will take a lot of discipline to change your spending habits, but you will soon appreciate the benefits of spending money and saving money wisely. To sum up, only spend what you can see and make sure you don't see everything. That is, you don't see the money going into your tax-deferred plan every month. < PREVIOUS NEXT > #38599