A great way to save money during a recession is to make a budget.
Start by writing down all of your expenses for one week and taking a look at how you are spending your money. This will be an eye-opening experience. Divide your expenses into categories and make cuts where you can.
Also be realistic about your income. If you make $1000 per month after taxes, your budget should not have more than $900 in total expenses allocated. The “missing” 10% ($100 in this example) is used to pay yourself first. In other words, no matter how much or how little you are making, it always pays to pay yourself 10% of your after-tax income before setting your budget.
We can hear you grumbling right now but in this case it’s truly “No Pain, No Gain.” (But hey, this is just Recession Tips, not Recession Rules so do what you want.)
If you are not comfortable setting up your own budget, there are tools available to help you set one up.
PC users should take a look at Microsoft Money and Mac users should take a look at Quicken for Mac.
If you know your way around Microsoft Excel, you should check out a budget template. Recession Tips members can save 20% on this budget template by entering coupon code RECESSION20 at checkout.
Of course, no tool will help you unless you commit 100% to live within your means.
