Four Painless Ways to Save $6,315 a year

Whether you’re saving for your next trip, for a new house, or trying to pay off debt, everyone could always use a little extra money in the bank. Though there are hundreds of tips on saving money, here are four that require very little effort and sacrifice.

1. Order Water: Total Savings $446/yr

The average American spends $2,974 per year on fast food and restaurants. With soda costing upwards of $2 and beer or wine costing at least $5 per drink, these little expenses can add up quickly. Ordering free table water with your meal will not only save you hundreds of dollars a year, but will also save you hundreds of calories per meal. You’ll also save by reducing the amount you’re paying tax and tip on top of. At a conservative assumption that 15% of total dining bills are comprised of drinks, the annual savings for this simple tip is $446 annually.

2. Use Your Library: Total Savings $1,377/yr

When was the last time you stepped foot into your local library? For most people, it has been far too long, even though they pay dearly for it through local taxes. Most libraries are very conveniently located and have a huge selection of books and DVDs. Next time you’re considering buying a book or renting a DVD, browse over to your local library’s website and see if they have it. Books can usually be checked out for a month at a time, and renewed for even longer. DVDs usually have a one week checkout, but that’s considerably longer than your local video store. Cancel your Netflix account and use the hold function on your library’s website as your queue instead. You will also find every major newspaper and magazine at your local library, so ditch those pricey subscriptions. Simply using your local library can eliminate the average $599 spent on books, $404 spent on Movies and DVDs, and $374 spent on newspaper and magazine subscriptions, bringing you a total savings of $1,377 a year.

3. Cancel Cable: Total Savings $1,395/yr

Have you checked out your cable bill lately? Even if you’re just subscribing to basic digital cable, your bill probably exceeds $70/mo after taxes and fees. Do you really watch all those channels? All of your basic national broadcast stations – ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, etc, are available free, over the air. Yes, they’re in High Definition too – FREE! But you need a DVR to record them so you can watch them when you get time, right? Nearly every TV series, on major networks and even most paid subscription networks (HBO, Showtime, etc) are available for free to watch online. You can watch it whenever you want, pause it if something comes up, and it’s entirely free. You’ll have more fun watching the big game at your buddy’s house or at the sports bar anyway, and you’ll save an average of $1,395/yr.

4. Buy Second-Hand: Total Savings $3,097/yr

Shopping seems to be as much an American past-time as baseball. Americans love to buy stuff. Stuff we don’t even need or use, sometimes. The fact is, most of the stuff we buy we only use for a little while and then let it collect dust in storage or the closet. Take advantage of this and reduce your annual shopping bill by at least 50% by buying second-hand. Check out your local thrift store, log on to ebay, check craigslist, your local classifieds section, go to a garage sale, or even check freecycle before you buy something. You will be surprised how many things people wear or use once and then decide to sell. From electronics to sporting goods to clothes, you wouldn’t even be able to tell between new and used, except that you paid a fraction of the retail price for it. Do us all a favor and sell all that stuff you don’t use, too. You’ll be making money all the while reducing the amount of trash in our landfills and the amount of energy and materials used in producing the product. You’ll be saving yourself over $3,000/yr by doing it too.

All figures are courtesy of Mint.com

Sharebuilder: Investing for cheapskates

A few weeks ago, incentivized by my mad dash to accumulate as many Delta SkyMiles as humanly possible to fulfill my skiing addiction, I signed up for a ShareBuilder account to do something good with the money I previously used to pay my car payment until I paid it off last month. I really am impressed with the service, especially the online interface. For the measley sum of $12/mo I get 6 scheduled investments. Thats $2 per trade! Add to that the fact that you can buy partial shares of stocks, it’s really a great program. I’m now investing $300 a month into 6 stocks on the third week of the month. The money is automatically debited from my savings account so there’s no excuse to skip an investment. After only one month, my portfolio is up 8% with some of the top performers being Vail Resorts and Chipotle Restaurants that were both up about 25%. Sadly, Google has not been doing so well, so that’s my biggest loser at about a 5% loss for the month. Though $300 a month isn’t much money, it’s a good start, and in addition to my Roth IRA should give me a nice pad for retirement or a good down payment when I buy my first home.

Online Bill Payment – Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

I hate paying bills every month. Finding the bills, stuffing envelopes, spending money on stamps, etc. I’m sure some of you are the same way. Thanks to the internet and the advancement of the banking industry, there is a better way.

Many banks offer online bill payment for free. I know Bank of America does and most of the bigger banks do as well. This does help quite a bit by saving the time stuffing envelopes and the expense of stamps, but you still have to track down the bill and enter it in to the computer.

But there is an even more convenient solution for many payees out there. Some companies will let you have your amount due charged to a credit card, which not only relieves you of the worry about whether you paid your bill or not, but lets you gain rewards points on the transactions through your credit card. Be sure to make sure there are no fees associated with these automatic payment plans – some companies charge a convenience fee for putting your bill on your credit card. Other companies will let you set up an automatic withdrawal from your bank account each month. Sometimes they even allow a withdrawal from a savings account saving you the hassle of transferring money to your checking account or not gaining interest on your balance.

Here’s a summary of how I pay my bills:
Cell phone – T-mobile: Automatically charged to my credit card
Cable Bill – Time Warner: Automatically charged to my credit card
Rent – Apartment Building: Automatic deduction from checking account
Electricity – Austin Energy: Automatic deduction from checking account
Car Loan – Honda Finance: Automatic deduction from checking account
Water – ista North America: Manually pay with Bank’s BillPay service
Credit Card – Chase: Manually pay with Chase’s online interface

As you can see, I now only have to pay 2 bills a month, and since both have statements available online, I don’t have to search through my piles of mail for the statements.