4 Money Management Tips to Apply This Year

Unless you are financially independent, you are probably looking for some money management tips to help you get through this rough economy. You can easily cut back your spending by not buying coffee and meals every day, riding the bus or walking, and not going to expensive events such as movies and major sporting events. Everyone knows that, but you can do a few other things that can really make a major difference in your finances.

Save Money on Insurance

You may be spending too much for car, health and life insurance. Every time your policy comes up for renewal, you should do some shopping for lower rates. For car insurance, you can save money if you:

* Raise deductibles

* Only carry liability on older cars

* Pay the whole premium rather than make monthly payments

Money management tips for saving money on life insurance:

* Consider term life, which is much cheaper than whole life

* Review your situation each year because as your life changes, so do your insurance needs

* Reduce your coverage when your children move out or if you lose a spouse

Money management tips for healthcare insurance:

* Consider a policy that does not cover doctors' office visits, but only major medical conditions

* Raise your deductibles

* Do not buy specialty policies such as a cancer coverage only policy

* Do carry disability insurance to protect your income and pay for the best, longest coverage you can

Keep Your Mortgage Affordable

If you are considering buying a home, do some math to determine how much of a house payment you can afford. Most financial management experts recommend that you do not exceed 28 percent of your income for mortgage payments. Additionally, you must allow for homeowners insurance, homeowners association fees and property taxes, as well as bills for electricity, gas, trash pickup and water. Do not forget to factor in lawn care and occasional maintenance.

Control Expenses for Luxuries

You may not think some things are luxuries, but if you get the full package, they might be. For example, think about whether you really need media and unlimited hours with your cell phone package. If you have a computer at home, use that to read emails and surf the Internet.

If you do have Internet, decide whether you really need the highest connection available to you. Many times, a slower connection is less expensive and just as effective for emails and moderate surfing.

The same thing goes for cable or satellite TV. You probably do not need all the premium channels, so look at your subscription and consider cutting back. The advent of digital broadcast TV brought us many more channels that are quite entertaining.

Just following these four money management tips can save you hundreds of dollars per month: thousands per year. Most of them you can implement in just one day. That will allow you to start paying off debt or saving for the future.

Kenneth Borden experienced the pains of debt in his past. Now he blogs about debt consolidation for blogs and pages like Credit Guard.