To help you save more over time, it’s important to shed any money-wasting habits that may be weighing your finances down. Here are the top 10 culprits that prevent people from saving and growing their money:

Signing Up For Too Many Subscription Services

Today, there is an unprecedented number of entertainment services that you can subscribe to for a monthly fee. Content-on-demand platforms, such as Netflix and Hulu, are popular subscription services that people sign up for, both of which can cost you at least $10 each per month. There are also monthly subscriptions for dog toys and treats, magazines, financial data services, etcetera. These recurring expenses, although seemingly small, can collectively add up to a hefty sum over time. Limit your subscriptions to essentials, and avoid having multiple subscriptions of a similar service.

Auto Renewing Your Monthly Plans/Services

The option to auto renew a service is convenient, but it can also lead to paying for services that you no longer need or want. Most companies will issue a refund, but it takes time and a phone call to get your money back. Auto-renewing services also leave you at risk of getting your bank account overdrawn if the payment is charged at the worst possible time. Rather than go through the hassle and stress, avoid setting your services to auto-renew at the start of each month, especially for services that you sign up for on a free trial basis.

Buying Brand Names

Another common money wasting habit is buying brand names instead of generic alternatives. Majority of generic choices that you will find at supermarkets and shopping centers are equally reliable but come at significantly lower price tags. Advertisement campaigns have convinced us that brand name products are a much better choice over generic brand names even though they are comparatively similar in quality. Do your own research as to where and how a consumer product is manufactured, what ingredients or materials are used, and how well received it is by recent customers.

Dining Out

In today’s fast-paced lifestyle, it’s become increasingly difficult to prepare your own meals and cook good food. You could chalk it up to lack of time and energy from a busy work schedule. Others reason their lack of skill in the kitchen. Dining out, however, has dire financial consequences that many people ignore. Depending on location and choice of cuisine, the cost per meal per person can range anywhere between $5 to $30. Multiply that to the number of times the average American eats out every week, which is 4, and the cost can be alarming. Rather than dine out, save money by cooking meals in bulk, parsing them into containers, and storing them in your fridge, or what today’s generation calls “meal prepping”.

Not Investing Enough

Bad habits concerning personal finances don’t always stem from where and how you spend your hard-earned cash. It may also come from your inability to grow it through passive investments over time. One of the good habits that successful people do is investing a portion of their savings into high-yielding assets, be it stocks, mutual funds, commodities, or cryptocurrencies. Rather than having your available funds sitting idly in a savings account that yields one percent each year, invest it in low-risk assets that can yield higher returns.

Overdoing Maintenance

Although it’s prudent to be on top of routine maintenance of your personal belongings, such as your car, electronics, and appliances, overdoing it can have a counterproductive effect on your personal finances. For example, if you are regularly changing your car’s oil for every 3,000 miles it clocks in, you are essentially tripling your cost over time as many cars can last for more than 8,000 miles without getting their oil changed, especially newer models that use synthetic oils. The same goes for professional carpet cleaning or frequent routine visits to your physician.

Not Haggling For Purchases

This is one of the many good habits that today’s generation seldom exercise. Since most of the shopping happens online, haggling has become a lost skill. That said, haggling is still one of the easiest ways to save money, especially when buying big-ticket items, such as new electronics, a new family vehicle, or a home. Learn the simple habit of asking for a price reduction. There is nothing to lose or be ashamed of by asking. And in most cases, you’ll get a good discount, if not some freebies thrown in at the very least.

Lending to the Wrong People

Of the many bad habits that waste money, lending to people who aren’t creditworthy is a very tricky one to avoid. You never know when a close friend or relative will ask you for a small loan to bridge gaps in their personal finances. And if you have it, the most likely reaction would be to lend them the money without second thoughts. Being blindly generous and helpful can greatly affect your ability to save money and grow your investments. Avoid being emotional when it comes to the subject of money and your circle of people. New habits to learn when dealing with this sensitive subject is to set clear boundaries and let them know that you’ll be treating the loan as a business transaction rather than a personal one and that they should do the same.

Buying Everything

Sure, there are things you wouldn’t want to buy secondhand – dining utensils, personal hygiene kit, food, pillows, etcetera. Typical consumer mindset, however, tends to waste money by buying everything brand new – car, appliances, electronics, luxury clothing, furniture, and the list goes on. Avoid this restricting mindset by acknowledging the fact that many secondhand items are still in “brand new” condition and not as dirty or sketchy as you skeptically think.

Underpaying Their Debt

Of course, it’s better not to have debt at all. But in this day and age, debt is inevitable and sometimes necessary. For instance, applying for and getting a credit card is the typical first step to building a credit score, something you’ll need to apply for loans, mortgages, etcetera. If you do have debt in your name, try to pay off as much of it in as little time as possible. Although seemingly infinitesimal, even single digit APRs can snowball into massive, money wasting debt.

Final Thoughts

You may just be guilty of one or all of these bad habits, but the important thing is to look at your finances from an unbiased and objective POV. Start building new habits that cut back on expenses and add on your money-making assets with the aforementioned tips above.

Did you ever consider that you can choose to eat healthy food and save money by doing so? Assuming you would like to eat healthier and save money in the process, let’s take a look at some things you can start doing today.

Consult with the Experts

Diet and health are two very popular topics on the New York Times Best Seller’s list. These are topics that are near and dear to the hearts of millions of Americans. The people who write books on these topics are experts in the food industry. When we say experts, we are talking about people who work as doctors or have devoted their lives to understanding nutrition.

Before you worry about saving money, you might want to first contemplate what it means to eat healthy food. To help you in that endeavor, here are a few books you might want to consider putting on your nightstand:

• “Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating” by Walter C. Willett M.D.
• “The 30-Day Ketogenic Cleanse” by Maria Emmerich
• “Food Freedom Forever” by Melissa Hartwig
• “Food to Live By” by Myra Goodman
• “Wildly Affordable Organic” by Linda Watson

Avoid Eating Out

If you are single there is a good chance you believe it’s more cost-efficient to eat out at restaurants. If you have a busy family life, choosing to eat out might be a matter of doing what’s convenient. Either way, there are two issues worthy of note about eating at restaurants regularly.

First, eating out is expensive, even for a single person. Aside from the marked up costs of the food, there are tips and transportation expenses that need to be added to the final tally. Taking everything into account, there is no way eating out is less expensive than eating at home.

The second issue involves nutrition. If we are to be honest, most restaurants fill their menus with delicious, savory meals. Unfortunately, nutritional value and health are not things restaurant management takes into account when putting their menus together. The surest way to bust a diet is to visit a restaurant that doesn’t feature a salad bar.

If you have any designs about eating healthy and saving money at the same time, you should make restaurant eating the exception, not the rule.

Avoid Impulse Buying

As you stroll through the aisles of the grocery store, you are surrounded by temptation. Everywhere you look, there is something on display that tantalizes your taste buds. It’s no coincidence that grocers put the “good stuff” front and center. It’s also no coincidence that the “good stuff” isn’t always nutritious nor is it inexpensive.

The problem is temptation makes it difficult to make it to the checkout counter without throwing in a few things that weren’t on your grocery list. You’ll find ways to justify any purchase if you want it bad enough. How do you avoid falling victim to temptation?

First of all, you need to have a grocery list if you are serious about saving money on groceries. Trying to shop without a list is like trying to drive across country without a map or GPS. You are going to get lost and getting lost is going to cost you money.

Second, you need discipline. If you have a grocery list and the discipline to abide about it, your trip to the grocery store will be organized and directed. You are much more likely to go in and find the things on the list without worrying about what else the store has on sale.

Finally, you should never shop on a full stomach. When someone is hungry, Their stomach is telling their brain “feed me.” The brain will likely react by directing the individual to impulsively pick up things to satisfy that hunger.

The Value of Meal Planning

Part of creating a grocery list involves thinking about what kind of meals you want to put together during the week. Of course, it’s difficult for anyone to anticipate what they might want to eat in four days. However, that should not be an issue for someone who is organized and creative.

To be clear, meal planning is not an easy thing to do. It requires people to think into the future and anticipate cravings. The payoff comes when putting a meal plan together results in being able to create that elusive well thought out grocery list. As we indicated above, walking into a grocery store with a solid grocery list is going to result in savings.

Eat for Health and Saving Money

Eating for health and eating healthy are two different concepts. People who make a conscious effort to control their diets and eat the right foods are eating for health. If someone goes to a salad bar, they would be eating healthy. It’s not a conscious effort, it’s just something they are doing by chance.

If you are interested in eating for health, you will need to learn a little bit about nutrition and the human body. The aforementioned books and more could help in this regard.

During your research, you will want to focus on what the human body needs. It would also be appropriate to focus on what the body doesn’t need. With those two pieces of information in hand, it will become clear what a healthy diet should look like.

After conceptualizing a healthy diet, you can start thinking about how to get the right foods without spending too much money. To be clear, organic foods do tend to be more expensive than processed foods. However, there is value in eating foods that fulfill hunger without creating more hunger later on.

Were you aware that the human body chews up carbs and bad sugars so fast that the metabolic process creates more hunger? These are some of the concepts a healthy eater needs to learn.

Here’s the bottom line. There is a science to eating healthy while being able to save money on food. With discipline and a little creativity, you can learn to eat like a king, worship your body temple, and improve your financial stability, all at the same time.

Women and men have been using coupons for years. The traditional way to get coupons is to clip them from newspapers. However, in the 21st-century, there are many more ways to obtain them. Here is a beginners guide to couponing:

Where Can I Get My Coupons?

Today you can get coupons from a wide variety of sources. These include:

• Online
• Apps
• Physical papers such as the Sunday paper
• Store receipts
• Store flyers
• Store coupon dispensers
• Store bulletin boards
• Social media groups such as on Facebook
• Sent to you from companies

Of the sources listed above, we’d like to expand on the first two:

Online:

Getting your coupons online is the most popular way to do it in the 21st-century. Online coupons are available from a wide variety of sources include at store websites, at websites devoted solely to coupons, and more. These sources provide you coupons that you can print or use directly from your smartphone.

Some notable websites are:

Printable Coupons

smartsource

Lozo

retailmenot

e-coupons

SavingStar

P&G Good Everyday

Kroger

Apps:

One of the hottest places to use coupons is with apps provided by stores. In this case, you download the store’s app on your smartphone or other devices, and then you can either print the coupon or, in many cases, use the coupon right off your phone. Stores will have machines, typically located at checkout, that allow you to place your phone on the device to get the savings.

How Do I Organize My Coupons?

When you need a coupon, the last thing you want is not to be able to find a coupon when you need one. If you need a coupon for eggs, you should know exactly where to go to find a coupon for eggs. Otherwise, you’re wasting time, and that should not be part of the goal.

For physical coupons, a coupon organizer separated by product categories, that you either buy or make, is an excellent way to organize print coupons. Categories could be dairy, meat and seafood, frozen foods, breads and pasta, canned goods, etc. You can make these categories broad, or you can tailor them specifically for your needs. Whatever you do, ensure that your categories coordinate well with the coupons you use.

Store your coupons in a binder, coupon wallet, recipe box, or a shoebox.

Organizing online coupons is not as straightforward. However, one way is to have a list of places where you get your online coupons, and then check the list as needed. This could take more time than organizing print coupons, but the savings could be substantial. If you give yourself a half-hour a week to check online coupons, that’s a good rule of thumb.

Overall, spend one to two hours per week to acquire and organize your coupons, including your online coupons. This may seem like a lot of time, but with practice, it will become an essential part of your week.

Choose the same day to do this activity every week, such as every Sunday. Always check the policy of a coupon before you store it away for use.

For example, if a coupon says, buy two and get one free, determine if that particular coupon is worth the savings. Do you need three of an item, or does it make more sense to use a coupon applicable for one item?

It helps to buy products with coupons when you are working from a list. This way, you can organize your coupons against the list, thereby saving time in the store and ensuring that you cover everything. It also helps you to be organized at the check-out. The goal of couponing is to save money, but saving money with coupons should not be an arduous task.

What Should I Buy First With My Coupons?

Start using coupons by purchasing what you would typically buy. You probably won’t save a lot of money in the beginning, but the more you practice the use of coupons, the more you’ll save.

Will Stores Honor My Expired Coupons?

Some stores will accept expired coupons if you bring your receipt. However, not every store will do that. It will depend on the store. So make sure you check the store’s policy to, once again, make good use of your time.

Will Stores Price Match My Coupons?

Price matching is when a product is listed for a price at one store, and you show another store the amount, and they give you the product at the first price. There are various ways to price match. You can show an ad from another store to the store that will price match. Some stores will match coupons, as well. Not every store will price match, but you end up saving lots of money with those who do. Also, price matching usually only works with local competitors.

When Is the Best Time to Buy Items With My Coupons?

Purchasing an item that is already on sale with a coupon is the best time to use one. For example, let’s say something typically $4.99 is on sale for $3.99. You buy it, but you buy it with a $1 off coupon. So you get the $4.99 product for $2.99.

Can You Get Rain Checks When I Use My Coupons?

A “rain check” means that you’re not getting the discount now, but you can get it later. Not every store will offer a rain check; however, if you have a coupon for a product, but the product is out of stock, it’s worth checking to see if they’ll give you the item at a discount when it’s back in stock.

Top Tips

Don’t get out of hand with couponing.

If you don’t need an item, buying it with a coupon doesn’t make sense. You’re not saving money, because it’s not an item you would buy.

Be careful with brand names.

Brand names are typically more expensive than non-brand names. Therefore, if you use a coupon with a brand name, you may not be saving money if you had just bought the non-brand names. Of course, if the brand name is of better quality, the savings could be significant.

Be willing to shop at different stores.

There may be stores where you always shop. Your loyalty to a brand is strong. However, if you find coupons that apply to another store and save you money, you should check it out. Be willing to branch out to save money!

Couponing can be a lot of fun if you are organized and have a system. You can save lots of money every week with the right approach.

Do you live paycheck to paycheck? Do you wish you had more money to spend on activities you enjoy, vacations, or more money to invest in retirement? Are you constantly buying things impulsively that you don’t actually need? Are you overwhelmed with all the “stuff” in your life? If you answered yes to most of these questions, I want to help you embark on a new lifestyle with the art of frugality.

When most people think of frugality, they just think it’s someone being cheap, stingy, not buying anything, living small, and not enjoying life. These are common misconceptions because frugal living is a lifestyle. It’s about many choices that make up a chance to change your life for the better. I will explain the basics you need to answer what is frugal living for yourself and why you should incorporate it into the way you live.

What is frugal living?

A common misconception about this lifestyle is that people are just being cheap. That is so far from the truth. It’s choosing to live a certain way, just as people choose to have children and raise families. It’s about not having the latest and greatest thing that comes out or spending impulsively. It’s thinking strategically about your money and spending wisely.

Why should you live a frugally?

Do you currently live paycheck to paycheck? A large number of people are in this situation. Imagine that a major setback happens and you cannot afford it. Living a frugal lifestyle will change all of this by making better decisions about how you spend your money. When setbacks occur or you have something you want to invest in, you will have the money available to handle the situation.

How do you benefit from this lifestyle?

“What’s in it for me?” you ask. There are several benefits to living frugally, so I’m going to give you a few of the most important ones.

1. While others will enter retirement with little savings, your new lifestyle will allow you to save for many years prior to retirement and allow you to make better decisions during retirement. While most Americans will question how they can survive on retirement savings or force them to work for years into retirement age, your decision to live frugally will make it easier for you to retire when the time comes.

2. Being debt-free is around the corner
Imagine having your mortgage paid off or not having credit card debt. While most Americans are struggling to pay off all their monthly bills, choosing a frugal lifestyle means paying off those debts sooner. Imagine logging into your checking and savings accounts and seeing a hefty balance each month.

3. A better credit score
A less debt-to-credit ratio means that your credit score will improve significantly! Higher credit scores will help you to get better rates and opportunities when applying for home loans or other big purchases.

4. More vacation time
Do you feel like you live to work rather than working to live? You’re not alone. When did you take your last vacation? When did you have to use a credit card to pay for your last vacation and how long did it take you to pay off? Living a frugal life means you will have more time to take off and enjoy trips and the means to pay for those trips without pulling out your credit card.

5. You will smile when you see your bank statement
Living a frugal lifestyle means saving more money. The more money you invest, the more the bank gives you in interest. Years of compounding interest will continue growing. Saying no to the impulse buys and adding that money to your savings will make you smile in the long run.

6. No more mortgage
How amazing would it be to pay off your home early? Living frugally means more money to invest in your mortgage which will result in paying it off sooner! Imagine not having a house payment each month and investing that money into your future. Paying off your home sooner also means you can invest in other properties or avenues to grow your nest egg.

7. If disaster strikes, are you ready?
We never know when life is going to throw a wrench into our day and also if it will be costly. If something breaks in your home, do you have money set aside to fix it? If your child is in an accident and insurance doesn’t cover all the medical bills, do you have enough money to cover them? Living frugally means having money set aside for these unexpected moments in your life and being able to handle them. What does that mean for you? Less anxiety and more control.

8. You can relax
Having enough money in the bank for the unexpected means that you can relax a little. Being able to cover events that happen in your life is a huge relief for you mentally and emotionally. Who needs the extra stress of worrying about the unexpected? You don’t. Living a life of frugality means having the control you need to handle everything in your life!

What now?

I explained what frugal living is, why you should engage in this lifestyle, and some common misconceptions. So, how can you act? There are ways that you can start living a frugal lifestyle today.

• Learn how to do projects yourself.
• Buy in bulk.
• Grow your own fruits and vegetables or find farms that will allow you to pick your own for less.
• Use the library over buying books.
• Create your own cleaners with vinegar instead of buying expensive cleaners.
• Find alternatives to expensive cable bills.
• Shop for discounted clothing at second-hand stores or buy clothes at the end of the season.
• Never, ever (I repeat) buy anything on impulse.

Finding the right balance.

If you choose to live frugally, it’s important to find a good balance between the ability to save money and spend thoughtfully and going to an extreme. When I say extreme, I just want to encourage you to not live cheaper in a way that negatively impacts your life. I will give you a couple of examples.

1. Be thoughtful about ways to save money on groceries, but don’t buy cheaper alternatives that are not healthy. Cheaper food is not necessarily better in some cases. Food manufacturers can make unhealthy food at a lower cost to you. Instead, buy food in bulk in order to save.

2. I encourage you to do projects on your own rather than hiring a contractor unless you pose a risk to yourself or someone else by doing so. There are some projects that should be left to the experts.

The main point of my examples is that frugal living can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. You want to be critical of your decisions and how they can impact your life. Be frugal, don’t be cheap.

If you’re excited to get started you can start small. Make it a weekly goal to tackle something on this list or create your own. It’s never too late to start living a frugal lifestyle. Here’s your motto to live by: live frugally is not to live cheaper. It’s so much more.

Money is one of the most important things in the world, whether you like to admit it or not. While it will not buy you happiness, it can definitely get you out of difficult situations if you do not have it.

Most of us only get income through work. However, behind-the-scenes people who know this secret are earning more than anyone would be willing to pay someone for their labor.

They are doing this without any active involvement at all through a number of different methods.

This concept is called passive-income. If you want to earn income passively, then you will be happy to know that we have collected 10 of the best ideas to start today that will begin to earn your income passively immediately.

Top 10 Passive Income Ideas

Most of these ideas are not mutually exclusive, meaning that you will be able to create an even more significant stream of revenue if you combine all of the different methods that you have available.

Each of them will use a different method, and the difficulty, as well as the reward for each of them, will vary. Creating streams of income that flow into your bank account passively is not something that will happen overnight.

Almost all of these require that you put in a decent amount of work to get started, and it will start slowly at first.

However, if you continue to chip away at it, then it will not take you long before it starts to grow until it is a considerable size of income exponentially.

Eventually, it could easily outsize any income that you could receive from a job.

1 Start Your Own Online Business

There are so many different options when it comes to launching a business online today. You can literally sell almost anything, whether it is a physical product, a digital product, a service, or something the world has not even seen yet as long as you are able to find a buyer.

That is where the coolest part of the Internet comes into play because you will immediately have free access to the world’s largest market of customers.

People from around the entire world are able to access the Internet so you will not be limited by geographic location to a specific demographic.

Once you get an e-commerce storefront launch, then you can watch the money start to roll in, and the coolest part is that there is no upper limit to the income you can receive from your store.

2 Get Started In The Real Estate Industry By Buying Your First Home

Real Estate is one of the best ways to earn income passively. Everyone has to pay for a place to live.

Whether you have a mortgage or you are simply paying rent, you have money coming out of your paycheck every month going towards the roof over your head.

When you are paying rent, then as soon as that might leave your wallet, it is gone forever. With a mortgage, on the other hand, there are a few key differences that are worth bearing in mind.

You begin to build equity in your home as you pay off the principal balance of your mortgage. That means that you will get to see some of the money that you are paying for your mortgage back someday.

Your home will also almost definitely appreciate in value. Both of these ensure that you have regular income passively streaming into your bank account.

3 Expand Your Portfolio Of Properties By Adding A Rental Property

Rental Property is another great way to get your feet wet and begin to amass a sizable stream of revenue each month that you do not have to work to earn.

There can be a little bit of work involved with this type of idea if you are interested in being a landlord. It still would have plenty of benefits that are unique to this idea.

4 Blog About A Topic In Which You Have Special Expertise

This can be almost like an online business, but it can be about anything. No matter how niche the topic is, there could be a successful blog written about it.

If there are any areas of interest that you have and you would like to begin writing about it, then producing quality content regarding that material to post online can be an effective way to generate money regularly without active involvement once you have completed the initial work.

It can take a decent amount of work to get a blog to really take off, but once you do, then they can truly become powerhouses for patting your portfolios.

5 Start A Niche Youtube Channel And Cultivate An Audience Then Monetize Your Channel

Youtube is a great platform for visual media and is one of the world’s most popular ways to consume entertainment. Advertisers are aware of the widespread popularity of this video platform and have a strong presence over there.

Advertisers are Assisted by Google to allow people to monetize their videos. If you are able to create videos that people will watch, then you can get paid per view on each video that someone watches on your channel.

There are a few different types of ads that you can have play on your videos, but they will all pay you something, and it can be quite substantial if you get even a modest audience.

Record things that you already do and then upload them online. It is hardly any extra work, and you may end up being able to monetize your channel someday.

6  Amass A Large Portfolio Of Dividend Stocks

Dividend Stocks can be one of the best ways to create more money with money that you already have. People around the world know that using your money to work for you is the way to use your money smartly.

Dividends are a type of payment that is sent to an investor periodically from a company that is given out in proportion to the company’s shares.

This type of income is a reliable source of income and can be a very large amount if you have a sizable quantity to invest.

7 Begin Affiliate Marketing For Products That You Have Reviewed

Affiliate Marketing is perfect if you are the type of person who loves to review products.

All that you have to do is leave a special link that has a code that would give you credit, and anyone who purchases through this link would have their sale divided up, and you would be given a commission on it if they purchased the product from your link.

If you already are leaving reviews, then this is a way that you can potentially generate some high income without having to spend any extra time at all.

8 Create Online Courses To Help Others With Areas Of Knowledge And That You Have Expertise

You can Create Online Courses about just about anything in the world if there is someone out there who would be willing to pay you to listen.

Online courses have become an increasingly popular way for business professionals to get ahead and brush up on their skill sets when trying to move up in the job market.

People love to hear an expert talk about the subjects they are passionate about until they are experts themselves.

If you are able to give people knowledge that will give them great success then people will pay almost anything to hear, and it comes straight from you.

9 Help Out Your Friends And Other Members Of The Community With Peer To Peer Lending

One way that you can use the money that you already have to make some more money is to use peer to peer lending networks. These networks allow you to take out a loan from a local community member.

There are regulations, and it is stipulated by legal guidelines, but it can be a cool way to help one of your closest friends out and also make a little bit of profit on top of it. Talk about being a good person and getting to have your cake and eat it too.

10 Rent Out A Room Of Your Home

If you took our earlier advice and purchased your first home, then you are likely going to choose a home that has more bedrooms than you need unless you have children.

It is difficult to find homes that have only two or one-bedrooms in the United States today. If you have an extra room in your home that is not being used by anyone, then it represents a potential paycheck every month.

Rent that room out to a friend, family member, or someone from the local community who needs a place to stay and watch that income from your spare room flow in every month.

Final Notes Regarding Income Streams And Passivity

There are a million different ways that you can start earning income without having to work. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that perseverance will be required for almost any of these techniques.

If you are trying to generate income without work and you want to get it up and running quickly, then you are out of luck. As long as you are patient and you continually try to push further ahead towards your goals each day, then there is nothing in the world that can stop you.

Once you finally reach your goal, it will have all been worth it. You will have created something that people find value and are willing to pay for that will allow you to no longer work a job you only took because of wage slavery.

Earning income passively is the most freeing thing in the world.

Apply for a Secured Card

If you can’t get approved for an unsecured card, apply for a secured one. It can improve your credit score and build your credit history. If you get approved for a secured card, you’ll be required to make a security deposit. For example, if your security deposit is $200, you’ll have a $200 credit limit. If you don’t make your payments, the creditor will take money from your security deposit. Eventually, the creditor may give you an unsecured card.

Be an Authorized User

Consider asking one of your family members who manages their credit and finances well if you get be an authorized user on their card. To get someone to agree, let them know that you have no intention in using the credit card and that you want to be an authorized user to raise your credit score.

Additionally, being an authorized user on another person’s card has a lot of benefits. First, their account will show up on your credit report. So, if they make on-time payments, it’ll boost your credit score. Furthermore, your credit utilization ratio may improve, further raising your credit score depending on if the card’s limit and its current balance.

Pay Before or on the Due Date

When you apply for a credit card or loan, creditors will look to see if you pay your bills late. If you’re currently in arrears, try to start making on-time payments. Paying your bills late will hurt your credit score.

Additionally, be sure to pay all of your bills by their due dates. This includes your rent, utilities, phone bill, auto loans and student loans. To help you remember to pay your bills by their due dates, consider signing up for automatic payment or calendar reminders.

If you’re currently behind on your bills, try to pay them as soon as possible. Thankfully, even though late or missed payments stay on your credit report for seven years, their impact on your credit score declines as time goes on. Recent activity has more weight.

Diversify Your Credit

Diverse accounts affect 10 percent of your credit score. For example, if you currently have an auto loan, student loan and mortgage, adding a credit card to the mix may improve your credit score.

Pay off Debt

As mentioned previously, your credit utilization ratio is an important factor in determining your credit score. It’s calculated by adding all of your current debt and dividing it by your total credit limit.

You should try to keep your credit utilization rate at 30 percent or less. Keeping it at 10 percent or less will further improve your credit score. Lenders like to see you have a low utilization rate because it tells them you haven’t reached your credit limits and you know how to manage credit well.

Apply for Credit Only If Needed

Don’t apply for lines of credit just to try to improve your credit score. Furthermore, applying for credit can cause lenders to create a hard inquiry, and it can negatively affect your score. They’ll stay on your credit report for two years. Additionally, applying for too much credit may make it difficult to resist overspending. If you overspend, you may hurt your utilization ratio, negatively affecting your credit score.

Ask for Higher Limits

Ask your current creditors to increase your credit limits without performing a hard inquiry. If your credit limit increases and your overall balance stays the same, your credit utilization ratio will decrease.

Don’t Close Accounts

Don’t close accounts you don’t use unless you’re paying an annual or monthly fee. Additionally, closing an account may increase your utilization ratio, and the age of your accounts matter. If you have to close accounts, close those that are newer.

Communicate

If you know you can’t pay a bill, call your creditors to ask if you can skip a payment. Ask them if they’ll the missed payment to the credit bureaus. Additionally, if you’re having problems paying a lot of your bills, ask to set up a payment plan.

Consider Debt Consolidation

When you first enroll in a consolidation program for your debt, your credit score may temporarily decline. Fortunately, it’ll quickly improve if you make on-time payments.

Be Cautious Paying off Old Debt

If a debt is “charged off” by the creditor, it means they don’t expect further payments. If you make a payment on an account that’s been charged off, it’ll lower your credit score and reactivate your debt.

Dispute Inaccuracies

Check your credit report from all three major credit bureaus for any inaccuracies. The three major credit bureaus are TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Any information that isn’t correct on your credit reports could decrease your credit scores. If you see any information that’s incorrect, dispute it immediately. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate and respond to your dispute.

Additionally, monitoring your credit report on a regular basis can help you spot incorrect information before they do damage.

Final Words

Unfortunately, it takes a long time to remove negative information from your credit report. The length of time it takes to rebuild your credit history depends on various factors. Here’s how long some negative information stays on your report:

• Delinquencies: Seven years

• Public records: Seven years

• Bankruptcies: 10 years

Thankfully, you may see your credit score increase in three to six months if you practice good habits. Remember, having good credit will lower your interest rates, make it easier to get approved for lines of credit and more.

Fresh Start

To stop impulse buying, understand that this habit is actually ingrained in you from very early in your life. When you were hungry, you cried. Somebody fed you, and you felt better. Looking outside of ourselves is natural when we feel an emptiness. However, as we get older we understand that chocolate ice cream really won’t help when we’re dealing with a grumpy family member or an irate boss. Shopping also serves to fill that emptiness, about as ineffectively as chocolate ice cream.

To take better, more positive control of your life, the first step is to Stop the Meanness! Yes, you’ve made mistakes. It’s part of being human. You understand that you have a problem and you’re going to do something about it. Celebrate this strength instead of being cruel to yourself.

Skip the Budget (For Now)

The decision to set up a budget to help you control your finances will just add more pressure to the situation. One of the best tips to stop impulse buying is to set up an all-or-nothing mindset.

To create a spending plan with less stress, buy nothing at all for two weeks unless you’re completely out of it. If you need eggs, take a couple of dollars into the grocery store and buy eggs and nothing else. If you can’t, order them curbside and let someone else bring them to you.

At the end of these two weeks, you will have some extremely useful tools. You will

• have some money in the bank

• have a decent understanding of what you actually need, and

• be a lot more self aware in terms of where your money was going

Once you’re past the two week welded wallet challenge, go back to cash for everything but the bills you pay online. We’ve all opened our credit card statement and had a heart-clutch moment, shocked and appalled at what we’ve spent. If you have $50 in your wallet for groceries, you can spend $50 and then you may have to put some stuff back. No panic, no scary credit card bills.

Stock Up and Save

Now that you know that your family won’t perish if you don’t shop on a weekly or daily basis, it’s time to stock up and save. Paper goods, cleaning supplies, laundry products and toiletries can easily be stashed on a storage room shelf or under a bed. Designate a spot for stocking up, keep an eye on the sales and load up. If you get a coupon from a bulk store, put it to use.

Don’t be a hoarder; the world has never run out of toilet paper once. Just make sure that you have a spare container of your favorite brand of dish soap, laundry detergent and lotion in your stash.

Disconnect

If you have an app on your phone that tells you when something on your list is on sale, disable the app. One of the best tips to stop impulse buying is to make shopping a frustrating challenge. Forget your account password. Cancel the credit card that you saved on the app. Do whatever it takes to make your favorite method of impulse buying a giant pain in the neck.

Psychologist Shawn Anchor, CEO of Good Think Inc., points out that the path of good intentions is about 20 feet long. If you want to pick up a good habit or do something you know will make you happy, keep it within 20 feet of yourself. Bad things that make you sad need to be 25 feet away.

Use this on your favorite buying apps or with the email promoting a good sale. Do you need this product?

No, but I really want it because it will fill a void and buying it will be a rush.

Plus, I’ve been working hard not to spend and I deserve it!

See where this is going?

Ok, you can have it. You just need to

• get your credit card out of the attic or the basement where you stashed it for just such an urge

• reset your password because you purposely locked yourself out of the account, and

• buy the thing you don’t need that you think will make you happy even if you know it won’t.

Because this thing isn’t really anything you need, the fact that it will be a giant pain in the neck to purchase will make an impulse buy less likely. If you do go to the trouble to buy it, remember that you can probably return it, or even cancel it before it ships.

Get Visual

The “why” on controlling impulse spending is actually a very personal challenge. Are you trying to stop your impulse spending because you really can’t afford it? Is it because you can’t manage your possessions and you’re drowning in stuff you bought but no longer want?

If you’re working to stop impulse buying because you have a savings goal you want to meet, get a photo of the thing you want. Make sure that you don’t feel guilty about this thing. For example, if your family could never afford a vacation growing up and you really want to take your kids to Disneyland, you may feel some residual guilt for wanting something that seems frivolous. Fight this guilt by being proud of the memories you’re giving your kids. If anyone in your personal sphere is trying to make you feel guilty, take care not to share your dreams. Not everyone deserves them.

Keep a chart in your home to depict how you’re conquering your debt. Yes, you can view it on the computer. However, if it’s on paper you can act on it, color it, glue on a star sticker, whatever it takes to make you proud of each step on the path. You’re taking control of your life. Actions taken by you to make your monetary progress visible can give you the same jolt as buying something you don’t need. Control your finances and feel happy!

You Deserve Peace of Mind

You’ll have less stress when you know where your money has gone. A smart purchase of an item that will work exactly as you need it to isn’t exactly Nirvana, but such purchases can lead to a more fulfilling life. Knowing that you have enough can reduce the desire for more. When you control your desires, you own your own happiness in a way that impulse buying can never touch.

Conclusion

Owning everything you want as soon as you want it never ends. Someone else will always have something nicer, or at least a little different. You treat yourself to a blue what’s-it and are so happy it’s yours, and then you see someone else who has a purple what’s-it. Suddenly the blue one isn’t enough. You can’t buy your way to a more fulfilling life, but if you understand the source of the urge, you can manage it.

First, as much as we all have our financial fears, you should not let it ruin your retirement. The baseline of good investing trickles down to a handful of behaviors that help you accumulate wealth. The right investments guarantee your financial independence – this is when the return on capital employed is enough to cover your lifestyle and expenses without looking for a job. Since we all live different lifestyles, the finish line for every individual may be different too. This said, your investment strategy has to be parallel with a few essential guidelines to maximize its potential of satisfying your needs – whether a simple cabin or an Oceanside villa.

Whether you are beginning with a little or a large lump sum of money, there are a number of ways to go about choosing the right investment. Research is an essential step before making a decision. There several investments that can work even for a novice. However, you need to evaluate the risks against the gains. Here are a few best places to invest your funds.

1. Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are an excellent place to start, especially if you are not familiar with investment products. Mutual funds are investments from different investors that are put together to purchase securities such as money market funds, stocks, and bonds, among other securities. The money put together is managed by an expert who will make critical decisions on how to invest and grow the resources. The primary advantage of investing in mutual funds is that you’ll have time on your shoulders to do other important things since an external party will manage your funds. However, the returns from mutual funds may be lower compared to investing in those securities yourself.

2. Real Estate

There are numerous benefits of investing in real estate. With well-chosen assets and strategies, you are guaranteed a good return, cash flow, diversification and tax advantages. Many people have leveraged the ever-growing real estate sector to grow their wealth. Here Aare a few points to know before investing.

– Profits are generated through businesses using the property, appreciation and rental income

– Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) offer investors a way to invest in real estate without financing or owning property.

3. High-Yield Savings Account

If you need to save your money and still have quick access to it, high-yield savings accounts would be a perfect parking place for your money. The account does not have a maturity date, and you can access your funds whenever you need them. However, some transactions may be limited to 6 per month. High-yield savings accounts pay more than the traditional banks. This said, they have increasingly grown in popularity and are taking the market away from traditional banks.

4. Precious metals

Investing in precious metals is another good way to invest your money. Of all precious metals, investors like investing in gold. Serial investors [purchase gold as a way to diversify risk, especially through the use of future derivatives and contracts. Like other markets, gold is subject to volatility ad speculation. It is the most promising investment as compared to other metals for its safe haven and hedging properties across a number of territories around the world. You could also invest in other metals such as platinum, silver and palladium.

5. Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts are considered investments because of their unique tax regulations that are essential in assisting you achieve your future objectives. Several companies offer a 401 (K). Some firms also contribute a certain percentage on your behalf. If your job does not provide a 401 (k) account, you can open an individual retirement account (IRA). IRAs don’t have limitations to where you can invest – from exchange trade funds (ETFs) and mutual funds to bonds and stocks. The only limitation is that you may not receive company matches.

6. Certificates of deposit

Certificates of deposit are a safe way to invest your money. Just like high-yield savings accounts, it is insured by the FDIC. A certificate of deposit pays you an amount of money after agreeing to deposit a lump sum of money untouched for a certain period. After maturity, the funds will be accessible to investors. CD maturities range between 3 months to 10 years. Failure to follow the agreed may incur a penalty.

7. Money market accounts

Money market accounts are a good idea for saving for emergencies, the primary reason being they earn higher yields and are relatively liquid. It is an interest-earning deposit account that is also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). They require minimum balances compared to savings accounts and earn higher interests. It is an excellent investment for starters to build up a little cash flow.

8. Treasury securities

Investing in U.S Treasuries is considered a safe investment. This is because it is backed by the transparency of the United States government, meaning that the government will guarantee the payment of principal and interest in your investment. Considered a safe investment around the world and in the finance industry, the government guarantees you returns since it can raise additional funds by raising taxes when need be. It also issues securities to new investors and pays off existing investors from the funds collected. Government Treasuries are split into three primary categories– bonds, bills and notes.

9. Treasury bond funds

If your primary objective is to earn interest, investing in treasury bonds is a good idea. However, there are several other types of bonds to invest your money. Bonds are a way you can invest your money to receive an agreed interest after a certain period. It is an IOU from the receiver of funds to an investor. Bonds issued by corporations and municipalities may be unreliable. Treasury bonds, however, guarantee a return of your funds.

10. Nasdaq 100 index funds

Are you looking to have exposure to some of the best giant tech companies in the world without having to analyze firms or pick winners and losers? Look no further. An index fund based on the Nasdaq 100 is an excellent choice for you if you are looking for diversification. NASDAQ’s 100 largest companies are the most stable and successful. Some of the prominent member companies include Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. The best NASDAQ index funds charge a very low expense ratio, and they’re a cheap way to own all of the companies in the index.

It is never too late to start investing. It is a way to put your money into work since a properly implemented investment strategy will guarantee returns. You can calculate the returns you will receive over a given period at various interest rates using a money investment calculator. Since one investment may not be appropriate for another investor, remember to do your own research. You can also seek professional guidance from an expert before investing.