If you’re looking for some easy tips to get started on saving money in the New Year, you’ve come to the right place!

Today Cheryl from Swap Savers shares five easy ways you can improve your financial situation in 2009.




Many of these I’ve talked about before, so I’m going to add in a few useful links that provide additional information where appropriate.

Use Coupons – Coupons can save you a significant amount of money during the year. You can find coupons for almost any product or store/restaurant in a multitude of locations such as the Sunday paper, printable on-line coupons, magazines, email coupons sent to when you register with a manufacture or restaurant, coupon dispensers (in-stores), and coupon swap boxes in the library or workplace just to name a few places. You can definitely save well over $1,000 by using coupons on an everyday basis.

Check out my new Coupons page for useful information that relates to couponing. Also, each week I match up the best sales and coupons at CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, as well as highlight some of the best grocery store deals, to make saving money with coupons easy for readers!

Go Green – You can save money and the environment at the same time by practicing “green” routines. Some examples are conserving energy or water, walking instead of driving, using reusable bags (my supermarket pays 5 cents per bag), and recycle cans.

Going green can even earn you perks at stores like CVS and more with RecycleBank. Or consider signing up with a service like Freepeats to pass on your gently used baby and kids’ items. Lifetime memberships are just $1 during the month of January!

Savings Account – If you don’t already have a savings account, you should open one. There are a variety of savings accounts with different interest rates and rules. Shop around to find a savings account which will offer you a high interest rate and also allow you to access the account without a hassle or fees. A savings account is a risk-free, easy method to earn money. You can directly deposit your paychecks to your savings account and then transfer the money you need to pay your bills to your checking account. By doing this, you will be more aware of the amount of money you are spending and earn interest in between bill payments.

I’m a huge advocate of paying yourself first! Pay close attention to my tips on ATM cards. You definitely don’t want this to be an easy-access account.

Create a Budget – The main goal of a budget is to prevent you from overspending so figure out a budget which works for you. Ideally a budget will help you to achieve your short and long-term finical goals.

Budgeting is a topic that I’ll be covering on Deal Seeking Mom soon, but in the meantime you can check out my unfinished series at Transcription Talk. We’re reviving that blog, so I will be finishing the series, and ultimately I’ll be reworking it to be useful to my readers here as well.

Create Realistic and Concrete Savings Goals – The main reason people are unable to accomplish their goals is due to the fact that the goals the people created were unrealistic and/or intangible. When you are creating goals you should make sure to include specific numbers and timelines with measurable quantities. You should also have realistic expectations. Start out with achievable, short term goals which you can later turn into long-term goals. For example, “I am going to deposit $5 into my savings account every Friday.”

This is an excellent tip. Small steps taken one at a time are more likely to develop into long-term habits, so try breaking your goals into bite-sized action steps.

Swap Savers is a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons & rewards.  Check it out!

What are your goals for saving money in 2009? How do you plan to achieve them?