3 Ways to Make Living On a Budget Easier- from Mint.com

Would you like to save more money, but the thought of tracking your expenses makes your head spin?

You’re not alone!

If you’re looking for a more painless way to save money, one option is to reduce your spending by better understanding your habits and focusing on troublesome areas.

Here are three ways to make living on a budget easier.

Get to Know Your Spending Habits

The first step toward saving more is gaining an understanding of your current spending habits.

You can make this easier by using free budgeting software, like Mint, which tracks your spending habits for you.

Mint’s charts and graphs that allow you to compare your spending month-to-month or year-to-year to help you easily identify your spending trends.

Once you have an accurate picture of your spending habits, identify those areas in which you consistently overspend.

Some common trouble spots include spending too much on eating out, buying clothes, electronics and tools, and overspending on gifts for family members.

Find Opportunities to Save

Once you have identified some key areas where you tend to overspend, select the category that provides the greatest saving opportunity.

Proactively work to save money in this area rather than tediously tracking every penny you spend.
For example, you may spend too much eating at restaurants. Think about some creative and painless ways to save money in this area.


Offer to host happy hour at your house, eat at the bar rather than in the main dining room of a nice restaurant, have a picnic, share a meal, prepare meals ahead of time at home, eat a snack before going out, and take advantage of weekly specials or happy hour deals.

Get your friends involved, they probably need to save some money in this area as well.

Make a Game of It

Another area where many overspend is buying clothes. Have fun saving money; make a game out of it.
If you love to shop, challenge yourself to find the absolute best deals available.

Some ideas for saving money on clothes include shopping at discount stores, thrift shops or consignment stores.

You can find incredible designer clothes in upscale consignment stores at a fraction of their original price.
Plan ahead to buy new clothes that complement your current wardrobe. Take care of your clothes, and change out of good clothes once you get home to extend their life.

Avoid buying trendy clothes that may be out of style next season. Consider following trends with less expensive accessories and load your base wardrobe with more classic styles.

Don’t pay full price for clothing – watch for online deals and end-of-the-season sales.

Regardless of your problem areas, continue working to decrease spending in the area you have targeted.

Read more articles on Mint.com.

4 Ways to Use Credit to Get Out Of Debt- From Mint.com

If you are having trouble paying off credit card debt, you need help.

Paying off a large balance can be one of the most difficult challenges in personal finance, but there are some resources and strategies that can help you.

Here are a few of the credit tools out there that make the task of paying off your debt a little easier.

Balance Transfer Credit Cards

One of the tools for getting out of debt can be credit cards with 0% APR balance transfer offers. Once an applicant is approved for a card with one of these offers, he or she can transfer their existing balances to their new account.


The cardholders will no longer incur interest on their existing balances, but most of these offers will add a 3% balance transfer fee to their new balance.

These offers last between six and 18 months until the card’s standard interest rate applies.

The benefit is that cardholders no longer incur interest charges on their new balance, and all of their payments count against the principal.

And with no interest charges, the balance can be paid down more quickly.

On the other hand, some cardholders can see this temporary break from interest payments as an excuse not to pay down their debt until a later time.

This strategy only works if the cardholder is extremely disciplined and committed to paying down their credit card debt.

Interest-Free Financing Offers

Like balance transfer offers, many credit cards offer new applicants the chance to save money by offering 0% APR financing on new purchases.

These cards allow customers to continue to receive the convenience and security of their credit cards, without being charged interest on all their purchases.

When these savings on interest are used to pay off debt, the result is that cardholders can pay off their balances more quickly.

Low-Interest Credit Cards

After cards with 0% APR promotional financing offers, credit cards with low interest rates are the next best way to reduce interest payments.

For example, some credit cards had an APR of just 6.25% at publishing time. Nevertheless, applicants will have to have excellent credit in order to be approved for the best offers.

Credit Card Repayment Calculators

Thanks to the CARD Act of 2009, banks are now required to issue monthly statements that show cardholders how long it will take them to pay off their balance if they only make the minimum payment, and how much cardholders can save if they pay their balance off in only three years.

Read this and other articles from Mint.com.