Getting Spending under Control

Summer time is one of the two times over the course of the year when people tend to let their expenses go a little bit off the rails. With the return to the normal routine, it’s time to rein in the spending and start preparing for the most expensive time of year. Here are a few tips to make your money go further.

Find an App

There are plenty of apps out there that can help you manage your expenses on the go. Even better, there are apps that can help you get your coupons organized. Spend some time looking over apps that can save you from having to go through your texts and emails when you reach the cashier. If you get an app that can also help you manage your receipts, you will be able to record expenses on the way to your car.

Get back to Your Budget

I know that my family has strayed away from our budget. Now that the kids are back in school, I’ve created a list of things to do this weekend. Fortunately, I’d created the account for taking care of the kids’ school expenses, so I know that we stayed within our budget for that (we actually put the money into a couple of jars so the kids could put money in and have extra cash for things they wanted). But for a lot of the activities and splurging we have done since the Fourth of July was not planned. I will be spending a good bit of time this weekend trying to re-balance our finances.

Use Twitter

This is not conventional, but when you make a purchase and it doesn’t turn out to be what you expected (like it broke in the first month), you can tweet about it. Companies have become very attuned to what people are saying about their products on Twitter. You may get a refund or replacement a lot faster.

Sell Your Old Stuff

Garage sales are still popular, but it can be a lot of wasted time. After updating your insurance information, get rid of some of the junk around your home by posting them to things like eBay and clothing exchange. For bigger pieces, you can post them to Craig’s List and have it outside when people come to look at it. Always make sure you keep safety in mind when posting stuff online though. If you can mail it, that is usually the safest method, although you will need to decide who pays for the shipping.

000