Ways To Save Money During The Recession

One good thing that has come out of the economic recession is that more people are seeing the need to become savers instead of borrowers. It's because the recession has shaken our faith on the economy. People are losing jobs, losing their homes and losing their livelihoods. The old lifestyle of freely borrowing and spending is now seen as highly irresponsible, and a new lifestyle of frugality is encouraged.If you haven't started to save yet, now is the perfect time to start the habit. Here are some ways to save money today.

Stick to Your Budget

If you don't have a budget yet, it's about time you make one. List all your expenses and allocate a maximum amount you can spend on it. Make sure you allot a percentage for emergencies. Having a budget and sticking with it will help cut down your unnecessary expenses and save you from financial hardships.

Cut Down on Food Expenses

This does not mean you should go hungry, it just means you should find ways to reduce your total food costs. There are a lot of creative ways to do this, such as making your own meals at home, buying food supplies in bulk at the grocery store, reducing the frequency of your restaurant visits, and even planting a small vegetable garden at your house.

Pay Off All Consumer Debts

Consumer debt is a borrowing used to buy something (like a car, or groceries) as opposed to a borrowing used to invest or start a business. It is not a secret that most consumer debts, like bank loans and credit cards, have very high interest rates. The best thing to do during a financial recession is to get out of debt. Start using cash only and pay off all your existing consumer debts. If you have more than one consumer debt, cancel the card or loan with the highest interest first.

Build a Savings Account

Even if you're in debt, find ways to save even just a small percentage of your salary every month. Slowly build a savings account equivalent to at least three months of your living expenditures. This will become your emergency backup fund in case you lose your job or get sick. The problem with most Americans today is they're not saving for the future, they're too focused on the present. Go against the flow and protect your tomorrow first for yourself and your family.

Find a Secondary Source of Income

Generate another income stream for yourself. It doesn't matter how small it is, the extra money will surely help to either pay off your existing debts or to add to your savings account. The main problem for employees during a recession is that there is very little job security during these times. The good thing about having a secondary source of income is at the event that you lose your main job, you have a backup source to tide you over. You can take a second job on a part-time or freelance basis. You can also establish a small, start-up business at home. You can sell some of the things that you don't need anymore at a garage sale.

How to Live a Better Life with Less

Post written by Leo Babauta.

I’ve worked for more than 5 years now to simplify my life, and while I’ve discovered the sublime joys of living a simple life, I’ve realized most people don’t get it.

“Why would I want LESS?” they ask themselves. “Less is less fun, harder, monk-like, boring.”

The simple answer: because life can be so much better with less.

That’s hard to believe if you haven’t tried it, but today I am happier than ever. I’m better off financially than ever, now that I’m out of debt and living blissfully debt-free. I am unencumbered by a crapload of stuff, and I have room in my life for what’s truly important: my family, my writing, and my twin loves of reading and running.

The beautiful thing is that you don’t need to earn more money or buy a bigger house or car or have a bigger company in order to have this better life — you need less of all of that. It’s attainable simply by cutting back.

Here’s how to do it — briefly. This will be familiar to long-time readers, but it’s a necessary primer for newer converts.

Do less. Cut back on your workload, on your commitments, on your schedule, on your todo list. Focus on the things that make the highest impact, and drop everything else. You can do this slowly, over time, but do it consciously. The result is you’ll have more room in your life for other things, you’ll be more effective with your time, and you’ll be less stressed out. Read more.

Have less. If you learn that enjoyment of life isn’t having stuff, you’ll be able to let go of it … and declutter. Having a life with a minimal amount of clutter is so enjoyable, so peaceful, it’s hard to describe. It leaves you feeling free, without the stress that comes with an overwhelming amount of stuff, and leaves room in your life for relaxation. Less of a focus on buying stuff means you also have more money, or less debt, or you need to work less in order to live the life you want. Any of those options are good.

Produce less. This is nonsensical to a lot of people — after all, aren’t we all trying to Get Things Done? To Get More Done? Well, that’s the norm, I’ll grant you that — people seem to think that producing grand amounts is great — to write a prodigious amount, to code a prodigious amount, to create a ton of products, to churn out services at an astronomical rate, to have more billable hours than anyone else. Well, that’s fine if you want your life to be all about churning out stuff, but not if you’re concerned about quality, about beauty, about meaning, and about having a life outside of producing. Instead, try producing less — spend more time making better things. Spend more time editing your work down to less, leaving only the most essential parts. Embrace a philosophy that work which is edited down to a minimum is better than volume.

Consume less. This is about how many resources we consume, how much we eat, how much waste we produce from our consumption. Instead of consuming, focus on enjoying what you have, preserving the beauty in what you’ve attained, being content with what’s already around you.

Connect online less. I love connecting with others online. Unfortunately, it consumes our lives if we let it. So if you do a lot of connecting online, through email and web surfing and blog reading and Twittering and Facebooking and what have you … cut back a little. Disconnect from time to time. Read the beta version of my book, Focus.

Connect with others, and your passions, more. Ah, here’s the good part. This is how your life becomes better, not worse, in living a life with less. It’s better because you disconnect from the online world in order to connect with what’s truly important: your loved ones, real people in the real world, and the things you really love doing. You’ve cut things out of your life not just for the sake of cutting, but for the sake of making room for what you’re really passionate about.

Edit, edit. Simplifying isn’t a one-step process of cutting things out. It’s an ongoing process, not only of simplifying but of putting a focus on what’s essential … and then continuing to edit. Think of your life as a work of art, and you as the artist. Come back to it and make it more beautiful by whittling away the unnecessary. Then come back and do it again, and again, until all you’re left with is what’s most beautiful, what’s most essential.

Life can really be better with less, if what’s left is what you love.

The Role of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is an emerging field recognized by the American Psychological Association, and many experts who design stress-control programs harness its principles.
It focuses on determining and promoting the factors that permit people to thrive.
Rather than search for the roots of unhappiness, research coming out of this field investigates the ingredients of a good life and weighs the effects of traits like optimism, humor, and even eccentricity.

Optimists, for example, tend to do better than pessimists when coping with stressful situations. They are more likely to put a positive spin on stressors, look for ways to make the best of a bad situation, and use problem-solving strategies to tackle difficulties. Some studies indicate that optimists often fare better physically, too.
A long-term study of more than 830 Mayo Clinic patients published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in 2000 found that those classified as pessimists had a 19% higher risk of mortality over the course of 30 years than those who were optimists.
A 10-year study of 1,300 men based on data drawn from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study was reported in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2001. It suggested that a sense of optimism may protect older men against developing heart disease.

If you're not a natural optimist, this information could merely fuel your pessimism. Don't let it. Take a deep breath and relax. Evidence suggests avoiding pessimism is more important than boosting optimism.
It's true that there are people with naturally sunny natures, but it's equally true that the way you handle yourself emotionally owes a great deal to nurture. With practice, your current outlook and behaviors can change for the better.

Can't learn without falling

"You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life." There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a ...part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

-Cherie Carter-Scott

"Seven Blunders of the World"

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle

—Mahatma Gandhi

Belief

"If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad." -Denis Waitley

A Quote to live by.

"Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do."
-Neale Donald Walsch