Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Financial Literacy Month – Tip #5

Borrowing / Sharing

Here’s the tip from February 19 – Reduce or Eliminate Bills month:

Can you borrow something versus buying it? When I started my first company I shared space with a friend who was starting his company. To save money, we each bought one piece of office equipment. I bought the fax and he bought the copier. So when I needed to copy something, I would use his copier and when he needed to fax something he would use mine. A little creative thinking saved us money. What can you borrow versus buy? Your local library is a great place to start.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #4

Lower Your Car Insurance

Here’s the tip from February 4 – Reduce or Eliminate Bills month:

Did you know that you can lower your car insurance by taking a safe driving class? I took a safe driving class and was able to lower my car insurance premium. For me, I took eight hours of classroom time (that’s the Connecticut requirement for the class) at a cost of $16 and was able to save $100 per year for the next three years. I even learned a thing or two. Check with your insurance company to see how much you can save, then schedule a class near you.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #3

Use Cash

Here’s the tip from February 1 – Reduce or Eliminate Expenses month:

Use cash – sounds simple enough, but can you do this? When I say cash I mean the actual bills and coins, not a debit card. Using cash for your purchases makes you have to think about what you are purchasing, the cost and how much money you have with you. You can’t spend more than you have with you!

Try this – what have you go to lose? It really stops the impulse shopping and makes you think about your purchase. In addition, I personally find that if I have large bills in my wallet, I am less likely to break a $50 or $100 to make a purchase than if I am carrying smaller bills.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #2

Unseen Bills

Here’s the tip from January 28 – Analyze Your Bills month:

These are those bills that you don’t get in the mail. Those things that you are set up to automatically renew. The service will tell you that they take the hassle out of remembering to pay by setting automatic payments up for you. Yes, they do take the hassle out of it for you. But, the other side is that you might not remember this bill and therefore don’t look at it to cancel it or to shop around for a cheaper service. Examples of this can be subscriptions and memberships. Today, think about what you have in your life that happens automatically. Is it that gym membership that you bought last January that you don’t use? Is it the magazine subscription that renews automatically and is billed to your credit card? What’s happening automatically in your life?

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #1

Here’s the tip from January 14 – Analyze Your Bills month:

Roadside Assistance

I analyzed our car insurance as well as other related bills and added coverage to my insurance. For example, I added roadside assistance for less than $20 per year for two cars and was able to eliminate the auto club bill that was over $100 per year. The concession is that I have to pay for towing and then submit a bill for reimbursement. This was a no brainer for me saving 80%. What do you need to change?

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month Starts Wednesday!

April is Financial Literacy Month and I want to spread the word so that everyone can understand and improve their finances.

For the month of April, we will be posting daily tips from my book Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day on Twitter, LinkedIn and my Facebook Fan Page.  We need you to share and repost to your connections and friends so that these simple tips spread across the internet. My goal is to increase my exposure and therefore increase the number of people who improve their finances.

Financial Literacy MonthFirst, remember to connect with me through social media – Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Fan Page,  or you can forward this blog post to your family and friends for them to sign up for the newsletter.   Thank you for spreading the word.

We want everyone to have some extra cash this April, so let’s make it rain by sharing financial information that really works.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

Watch for my first post on April 1st. 🙂

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

Spring Cleaning Your Finances & More

In honor of spring – which we will see today in the northeast – I will be posting about spring cleaning.

Today, let’s discuss your passwords and computer.

Have you done these things lately (if not, now is a good time):

  1. Change your passwords – remember that they should be of strong strength and no two passwords should be the same.  Worried that you will forget them, consider a password management system.  If you are using a password management system, do a clean up.  You should change your passwords often.
  2. Make sure your software is up to date, run updates.  And while your at it, when was the last time you ran your virus protection / malware scans.  If you can’t remember, then it’s time to do this now.
  3. No one likes to lose anything, do a back up today.  Consider automatic back up both local and in a cloud.  Many years ago, I had an office broken into and the computers were smashed as well as the local back ups (this was before clouds) were stolen.  Luckily for me, my hard drive was recoverable after many weeks without the data and at a hefty price.  I have learned from this experience, you should to.

Visit my resources page for suggestions of the products that we use.

More next week on spring cleaning in honor of the season.

#30Ways2Save for Financial Literacy Month April 2014

stamp-greenI’ll add a video here each day in April. The newest video will be on top. Scroll down for all budgeting tips you can handle!

How to take the trip of a lifetime (cheaply). For more details on our amazing trip (and our amazing savings) go here

What do you do when you checkout at the grocery store? Look at the gum, the magazines, talk to the cashier? Here’s what you should be doing.

How to get deals on concerts and events

What about rewards cards? Are they worth it?

How to negotiate a lower price

Where to find free videos, music and audio books

Which foods are always 50% at the grocery store?

What’s your bank charging you? Find out how you can avoid bank fees in today’s #30Ways2Save tip.

Have you ever run into a store for just 1 item, and come out with 20 instead? Those impulse buys can be budget killers. Here’s the best way to stay on track

Eating on a budget? Turn 1 healthy, filling meal into 2 healthy, filling meals

Get Matching Funds to Double Your Savings with This Program (If You Qualify)

 

How to keep your frequent-flyer account active and earn miles – without flying!

Lower your electric bill with this easy trick

How to find free workouts in your neighborhood

What to do when your rates increase

Where’s Your Unclaimed Money?

Use Cash to Avoid Overspending in Grocery Stores and Restaurants

Prescriptions – Can You Get Them Cheaper?

Shop Off-Season for Beautiful Clothes on a Budget

Free Movies and Entertainment (without pirating)

Make Your Own Household Cleaners for Big Savings

Get Organized to Avoid Buying Duplicates

Clean Out Your Closets for Cash

Do It Yourself (When Possible)

Make a Checklist for Your Bills

Coupons – Make it Easy!

Automate Your Savings

Company Discounts – Use Them!

The Daily Deal

Our Financial Literacy Month tips were from Thrive in Five

thrive_250I was so happy to give you a month of savings ideas for Financial Literacy Month. I really hope they inspired you to think about your future and what you can do today to make your dreams a reality.

Every tip I shared with you was from my book, Thrive in Five. In Thrive in Five, I suggest improvements you can make to your finance situation in just 5 minutes a day for 1 full year. I ask you to take a hard look at how you do things and to make small changes with big impacts.

Each chapter is a month in the year.

January – Analyzing Your Bills
February – Reduce or Eliminate Expenses
March – Saving More
April – Organization
May – Clutter Cleaning
June – Selling or Donating
July – Credit
August – Debt Reduction
September – No Spending Month
October – More Income / Planning Ahead
November – The Holidays
December – Money Drains

Because I wanted you to focus on your savings, I gifted you March for Financial Literacy Month. If you want to make big improvements with small steps, do get the book!

Jill Russo Foster

 

Another day to catch up on saving money

Financial Literacy Month is almost over! I can’t believe it myself.

This has been a jam packed month. I’ve really worked hard to push money saving ideas your way so you can afford to retire, have an emergency savings account, or just take a vacation without touching your credit cards. Today and tomorrow should be used to catch up on anything that you haven’t completed or something that you need more time to research. You should take extra time on retirement planning.

Tomorrow while you’re catching up, I’ll introduce you to another important step you should take soon.

catsup You could win free financial coaching. Learn more here!