Eliminating Financial Waste to Save Money

Filed in archive Saving on February 11, 2009

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Recently, people had to start making some serious choices about where to spend their money. With a tighter economy, and less money in people's pockets, the choices were often forced, and people had to start being more frugal with their money. Some were surprised that they still could get by, and others actually managed to save money.

Many of the things that people spend money on each month are really unnecessary. If the money is there, that may be one thing, but then so many of these same people wonder why they cannot save anything. Here is a good reason for a budget - which will help you control and save money.


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Ideally, people should try and live on what Richards Jenkins at MSNMoney calls "The 60% Solution." While this figure will certainly surprise some, it will also certainly enable you to save money if you follow this simple rule.

Jenkins says that people should live on 60% of their income, and the rest should go for things like retirement, an emergency fund, savings, and long-term savings for vacations, and other larger expenses. He observes that many people get into financial trouble because of a lack of a budget - its not necessarily the small and medium-sized purchases that causes financial problems, he says, but things like long and expensive vacations, etc. - for which there wasn't enough money saved up in the first place.

Establishing a budget is essential to good financial control and saving money. In the days to come, I will be talking more about budgeting tips and how to do it.