May 10, 2011
A Fun and Easy Way To Obtain Discounts – Printable Coupons
Mother’s Day is coming up soon, and I thought that I’d do an early tribute in today’s article. My mother is your typical everyday mom, retired today after serving 35 years as a language teacher in a primary school. She has no or little understanding of complicated financial tools or investments – I had to teach her about mutual funds when I was 20! However, full credit goes to her for teaching me valuable money lessons on stretching the dollar, living on a budget and sticking to it!
Dining Out Is A No No! All those years I was growing up, especially in my teenage years when peer pressure was abound, I realised my family almost never dined out. Sure, if it was a birthday or something but other that than… the rest of the time – we were as predictable as the sun rising in the east. When my brothers and I had the nerve to complain about wanting to eat at some fancy restaurant, we would normally get a long lecture. It usually had much to do with the sky (money don’t fall from the sky), trees (money don’t grow on trees), some family called Joneses (Don’t ever try to live up to the Joneses) or about rain (always save for a rainy day). Sure we were treated to street food once in a while, but huddled on an iron stool with a bowl of hot noodle while a stray cat rubbed itself against your feet was not what we had in mind.
Now that I’m a working adult, I finally get it. Eating out can really be expensive. It adds up and becomes quite a dent on either your bank account or credit card (depending on which source you are drawing your cash from). The situation is made worse by escalating food prices today. I now appreciate eating in, sometimes even insisting on it myself, as it helps me stick to my monthly budget. I confess that the first couple of years after I started working, I ate out with a vengeance! And that explains why I had no savings and a steadily increasing debit balance on my credit card. Lesson learnt!
Many people are finding this process to be very troublesome and time consuming, especially for those who barely have time to search, cut, and clip coupons. The introduction of printable coupons has become very beneficial since it eliminates traditional coupon processes.
Remove Excess Weight. Clean out the trunk and other spaces in the vehicle to reduce the vehicle’s weight. This added weight puts a higher load on the engine reducing fuel economy.
One of the greatest benefits of printable coupons is that it provides you with a great selection of coupons to choose from. Also, printable coupons are not limited to new products and provide coupons for branded and well known products that customers usually buy. More and more people are able to save more on not only products that are new to the market, but also on products that they purchase on a weekly basis.
Consider buying a moped or scooter. Don’t laugh. If all you really need is something to buzz around town on, the average 50cc moped is capable to run at 100 miles per gallon, but in most cases only able to reach top speeds of 35 miles per hour. Some 50cc models are capable of even better fuel efficiency. As you go up the ladder the speed increases, but the fuel efficiency goes down.
Simplicity was, and still is the way she leads her life. I realise today that getting a head start in life is not about getting the best education money can buy or the connections to springboard your career to the top. All this will fall apart (sooner or later) if you do not have the right money blueprint as your foundation. I’m grateful my mother (and my father) was my first money mentor. The lessons I’ve learnt will be my beacon as I chart my course towards financial freedom.
Harris Smith is a writer on personal finance education. Her article tackles the pros and cons of home equity line of credit . Debt Consolidation Program Resource and Guide.
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