https://unsplash.com/photos/k0y4BY-8FnE
Families all over the country worry about money. Unless you were born into extravagant wealth or got lucky with the lottery, it can feel like one missed paycheck or emergency could spell disaster for all of your hard work and savings. However, as worrying as these things are, there are ways you can make it a little easier on yourself. It’s almost certain that you are letting money run down the drain somewhere, and here are four ways you can change that.
Energy Inefficiency
If you go around your home, you will find areas that are wasting money through sheer energy inefficiency. This could be old light fixtures and lightbulbs, it could be an AC filter that is clogged up with dust, forcing it to work harder to provide the same results. Your windows or roof may have gaps in them. Your kids leave the lights on, even when they aren’t in the room. All of these issues mean your money goes down the drain, never to return. With a more significant focus on good energy consumption than ever, you must take steps to transform your home and make it energy efficient. The planet and your bank balance will thank you.
Interest Rates
Interest rates are often considered a necessary evil when it comes to owning a credit card. However, you don’t need to be at the mercy of these rates when you make a large purchase. Money experts recommend that it’s best to compare credit card options and identify which services offer excellent benefits. You can find 0% interest options, and you can even get useful benefits such as air miles or tokens to save money on other services.
Learn to Negotiate
Learning how to negotiate is useful whether at work or in life. Of course, you won’t be able to barter down a new sofa set. But when you’re buying a car or paying off bills in installments, you’d be surprised at how far a little negotiation will go. Companies are happier than you expect to reduce the cost of certain services because they’d rather have your money than not. This won’t work for every purchase or payment, but it’s always worth a try in some situations.
Services You Don’t Use
Once upon a time, you signed up to a subscription service that you have since forgotten about. Perhaps you have moved house and forgot to update your address; maybeyou were inspired by a commercial and called the company immediately to hand over your credit card number. Whatever happened, you don’t use these services anymore, so why pay for them? Take a look through y our statement and trace all payments to identify what you can get rid of and enjoy a little more financial security.
Drained
You may not notice a couple of bucks here or there, and this may not be much help in an emergency, but you should still identify the best ways to protect your money as efficiently as possible. If you want to take control of your finances, consider what areas of your life and home are draining money and plug them as soon as you can.