Saving More With Free Software

I have found that there is quite a bit of money to be saved for my personal computer through free tools and open source software. By using free tools and software such as free anti virus software other free programs you can prevent the need to spend money or recurring costs for your needed protection and abilities on your computer.

After having paid for anti-virus software every year for many years I decided I would much rather save that money. This led to me trying some of the free anti-virus programs. I tried both AVG and Avira but I prefer Avira, it is very light weight and although it displays a pop up advertising its paid version every time it updates it is a very good anti-virus program. I decided to switch to the free Avira instead paying for anti-virus every year. Beyond saving money on anti-virus I have found some other free utilities that can help keep my computer clean and performing at its best. Malwarbytes and Auslogics Disk Defrag can help keep your computer free of malware and spyware and keeping your hard drive defragmented for peak performance.

As for productivity software I have found that for a spreadsheet program or a word processor Open Office is a great free program to replace the cost of Microsfot Office. I have even had success using the online Google Docs. The savings from these isn't much but when added to my savings plan it will add up in the long run. Every extra recurring dollar I save can help add up over the years. Why should I pay for service that I can get for free.

Property Taxes are Back Again

The time has come once again for me to pay my local property taxes. As always I am given the breakdown of reduced cost if I pay early, something I will most definitely take advantage of. My goal this year is to pay my taxes with my credit card and earn rewards parts for it, of course I will pay off my credit card and this large purchase with freed cash from budgeting and relief cash from my savings nest eggs that I have been slowly building.

I will not be using my credit card as a loan in order to pay my taxes this year as I have done in previous years when my spending and savings habits were poor. From past experience I have learned that if I need a loan I should get a loan, available credit isn't a loan. The interest rate on a loan is much lower than that of a credit card unless it is a pay day loan. I would treat credit card debt and pay day / high interest loans the same and create a plan to pay them off as soon as financially possible no matter what. Any time that you cannot afford to pay for a necessity such as your taxes and you must use a credit card in order to get by I must recommend that you follow what I have learned and before you make the credit card purchase you create a complete repayment plan in order to pay off the debt as fast as possible. I personally use the free website Dueminder.com which is a great tool to help me manage debt and prompt repayment for those times when I just cannot pay cash up front. Depending on the credit card every day past the payment due date or scheduled period end date begins the process of interest compounding against me, which in turn means I end up paying more than I should have for say something I wanted to pay less of, such as taxes. Budgeting a savings plan to meet the yearly goal of your estimated taxes can save you money in credit card interest as well as help you earn cash back on credit card rewards.

Free Financial Tools and Advice

I've found that the best way to improve personal finance is through proper use of tools, advice, and improved knowledge. What better way to improve wealth than free tools and advice that actually help me control my money and spending.

You may have seen their commercials on television, I have found Feed The Pig is a great free starting point for savings and money advice. I signed up for their weekly savings tips and am glad I have done so. Not all of the information is always relevant to me but every week or so I get knowledge encouraging thoughts on advice for my taxes, savings, debt, and more. I love free financial advice to my email in-box on a regular basis, I am glad I found and use this site and service.

A few of the powerful but free tools that I am currently using for debt management and money management are: Mint.com and Dueminder.com. In my search to find more tools that I can use to improve my finances I have come across a few more free sites that may prove to be fantastic financial management and planning tools Wesabe.com, Geezeo.com, and Simplifi.net. Although currently I haven't done anything but visit the websites and view the demo, I may give each one a try and see any one fares the best for me. The choice to use any one of the above mentioned money and personal financial management sites above is the first step in allowing you to take back control your own money.

Remember that in order to control your spending I have to understand what it is I am spending my money on. I use my free online money management tools to allow me the ability to see trends and transactions that help me identify where my money is disappearing. With this knowledge I correct spending habits and enjoy the benefits of having more money left over at the end of every month. It is this extra money that I find, that I use to boost my investment in my future wealth.

My Health Savings Account May Really Pay Off

Every year it seems that health insurance costs have gone up and my employers health insurance gets just a little worse. At least that is what I thought three years ago when my company switched from standard health insurance to a high deductible insurance plan with an Health Savings Account (HSA) option. At first I didn't see the value and only contributed the minimum amount to my HSA which surprisingly my employer matches 100%. I regret not maxing my HSA from the start just like I regret not doing the same with my 401K, however at the beginning of this year I decided to maximize my HSA and I am glad I did.

A high deductible insurance plan is a health insurance plan with pretty much the same coverage of my previous regular health insurance plans except that it is lower in cost for me and a much much higher deductible that I have to be pay before my health insurance begins its copay coverage. I like to think of it as my insurance doesn't assist until I've paid a specific amount out of pocket first. This is where the Health Savings Account comes in, an HSA is a lot like an IRA with the way it works. You invest into the account which lasts forever so you don't have to use it or loose it like other medical related accounts. Similar to an IRA the HSA has tax benefits, the HSA has to be used for qualified medical expenses or you face penalties and taxes.

Since the beginning of this year when I chose to maximize my HSA contributions which are 100% price matched, I couldn't be happier with how fast my account has grown. It has reached over $4000 in value and climbing quickly. As for my health insurance I can't complain because I am still young and healthy and so far my medical costs are very minimal so long as an emergency doesn't happen, however, if it does I have more than enough cash growing in my HSA to cover my deductible for my insurance.

I'm Starting to Love my Credit Cards

I am beginning to love my credit cards more and more and I have even ditched the regular use of my debit cards. I am using credit cards more for two reason security and cash back rewards. In order to love and embrace credit cards you must first not be in credit card debt. Learn to control your expenses by identifying your problem expenses with Mint.com and begin to control spending, then use a tool such as Dueminder.com to calculate a plan to pay off your credit card debt quickly.

Now my number one rule for credit cards is to never carry a balance. Credit cards are not a substitute for money that isn't there. I will pay off my credit cards every month treat credit card purchases as if my credit card was a check book, keeping track and only making purchases when I have the cash to back it. With this method I can rack up points and turn them into cash. An added benefit I see for this is that credit cards are generally safer to me than debit cards when used for purchases both online and in person. If you have ever had your check card info stolen you know that even if you aren't liable it is your money that disappears when you are compromised. Wouldn't you rather it be the card issuers money that disappears when you are compromised, that way while you are waiting to get the money back you still have your money in the bank.

I will not use more than one credit card at a time. I am going to alternate my two rewards cards per pay period using one card and then paying the balance in full. Then switching to the other card and repeating. This will hopefully rack up as many rewards points as possible and keep a revolving payment history on my credit accounts for my credit report which I believe is better than a dormant unused account. Once I've accumulated a substantial amount of points I will cash them. An added benefit is that while I am using and and paying off my credit cards I am using the issuers money interest free allowing me to keep my cash I in an interest bearing account earning a little bit of interest before I pay off the credit card balance in full.

In recap for this to work I must have zero credit card balance. I must also maintain proper credit card discipline, a skill apparently not many Americans know or practice. Through the repeat practice of paying off credit cards every month and never riding a balance, I hope to establish a strong habit in controlling my finance. By paying off the credit cards every period I will never pay a cent in interest and I will in turn earn interest on the money I hold in my interest bearing account plus I will earn a small but additional income from rewards points converted to cash. This supplemental income may be small, it will be just a few percent of what I spend, but if I use my credit cards for as many purchases as I can I have the potential to return the equivalent to an extra few weeks pay per year which I can then invest in order continue my quest for wealth.

Ways I am Trying to Live Below My Means

I see it everywhere by everyone with financial advice. In order to gain wealth one must live below their means. The following is about my decisions and choices I have made in order to not only spend less than I earn, but also spend less in general. Through the use of a budget and the fantastic money management help from Mint.com I was able to begin to identify where my money was going. Mint.com is great because it allows me to see and study trends about every single financial transaction I make. Here are my findings.

The single biggest money pit I have found is my cell phone. I was blowing $120 a month on my cell phone through unlimited Internet and messaging plus all of the other bells, whistles, taxes, and hidden fees. I began to study my cellular bill to find ways to reduce this recurring cost. We all may think cell phones are a necessity and in some ways they are, however, are all of the added available features we use really necessary? I decided that I was going to reduce the amount of text messaging I do per month as well as cut off my internet. I am lucky enough to have a phone with built in WiFi, allowing my use of the internet from any wireless hot spot on my phone. Through the minimum calling plan, the smallest text messaging plan, and cutting off my cellular Internet I was able to reduce my phone bill by over $60 which is going to save me over $700 a year. I think that much is worth not using the Internet a few times a month, and controlling the amount of text messaging I do.

Another problem was subscription payments. It is a difficult discipline to really teach yourself the difference between a want and a need, but I decided that all magazines and other subscription services for entertainment and the like were a luxury I did not need. After some time I convinced myself to cancel all recurring subscriptions that couldn't directly benefit me on my attempts to gain wealth. If it couldn't help educate me or positively benefit me I didn't need it and immediately canceled my subscriptions. Cutting these off will save me about $300 a year. Between my cell phone and the subscriptions I essential am going to earn an extra $1000 this year by reducing my expenses.

Next on my list was to reduce my utility bills, eliminate the storage unit I've had for years, and to reduce my credit card payments. Improving conservation can reduce your expenses. It makes sense to not be wasteful with things like water and electricity. A large burden on my yearly finance was a storage unit I've had since I moved years ago. Full of stuff I haven't touched or needed since I put it in there. My idea is to use Craigslist to begin selling things at no cost to myself instead of throwing it out or trying to sell it on ebay, beyond that I hate garage sales. Once I have sold everything of value and pocketed the cash I think I am going to donate what I can and throw the rest out. Once my storage unit is gone I will be able to save a good $600 per year. Last on my list was credit card payments. In order to remove all of my credit card debt and maintain lower monthly payments necessary to pay off the cards every month I am going to have to learn great spending discipline. It was time I learned the difference between plastic and money, because credit is not money. In order to spend less I needed to control spending. In order to control spending I took advantage of the tools available at Mint.com I researched where I was spending the most and did I really need to spend that money. In quite a few cases Mint.com allowed me to see that I had horrible spending habits. By reducing and controlling these habits I am hoping to be able to reduce my monthly credit card payoff amounts allowing me to more easily pay off my credit cards every month and even to pay off what debt I have in a more timely manner. I'm estimating that reducing my credit card spending and in turn reducing the pay off amounts I will probably end up saving at least $1200 a year or more assuming that I can reduce my monthly credit card spending by $100 or more every month.

Just an added note if you smoke, dip, or drink you should seriously think about quitting or drastically cutting back. Health concerns aside regular use of these is an incredible drain on your wallet. A few happy hours a week can actually add up to quite a bit of money spent over the course of a year. Drinking in a bar at night just once a week can rack up even more money necessarily spent. If you can't quit or are unwilling to, at least consider seriously cutting back or finding ways to spend less in doing so, controlling your expenses.

My goal is to use this extra money to eliminate all of my high interest debt and begin investing more, a serious advancement into my quest for personal wealth.

The Decision to go Back to School

I graduated from a community college in 2002 with an Associate of Applied Science degree and set out into the work force as an IT professional bright eyed and bushy tailed. I originally believed that a college degree was meant for getting your foot in the door and wasn't needed after you obviously had a good job and gained experience. That was 2002, it is now reaching the end 2009 seven years later and luckily I still have a job despite nationwide layoffs and cutbacks across the country, thank goodness I'm very good at what I do. I have watched numerous friends and colleges who were either very experienced or well education, usually never both, struggle to find employment after school or a lay off.

It is in this economy I realized the true importance of a strong education combined with great work experience. It wasn't just to get my foot in the door, it wasn't even so I look better on paper. A college education to me has become a necessity because it helps you to improve yourself. The more educated you are and the more knowledge you attain the better your ability to make decisions about pretty much anything and everything no matter what the topic.

With this I began the research of what to get my degree in. When I told folks about my decision to go back to college most asked if I would be getting another degree in the computer science field, and to that I had to replied "maybe". I couldn't really see the value in relearning the things I already knew after seven years in the industry. I was more interested in getting as much knowledge about everything as I could. I wanted to learn more about business, finance, history, writing, speaking, and even the dreaded math. And with this I found the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences, or BAAS, degree. A degree that until recent I had never heard of but as I kept researching I found that more and more schools offered it.

The BAAS degree was designed for people with technical degrees such as myself who wanted to get a Bachelors without having to "start all over". The BAAS major is a general Applied Arts and Sciences and the minor is individualized and custom tailored to my preferences for my field or pretty much whatever I choose. As I looked into the program more and more I loved its flexibility and the fact that completion of a BAAS degree opened the door for a Masters degree should I decide to continue my education in the future. A very possible goal after completion of my Bachelors.

Some may argue that a Bachelor of Science is better than the BAAS, however, for me it wasn't about what someone else thought was better, it was about what is best for me. I didn't want to go back to school in order to help me with my job, although that would be a well accepted benefit, I went back to school because I wanted to become more intelligent in my journey to gain wealth. I think that in order to gain wealth one must first gain knowledge.

If you are thinking of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences verses Bachelor of Science or BS degree remember to consider yourself and which would benefit you more in your lifetime. I like to think of the BS as a more specialized degree plan which may be what you want or need, where as the BAAS is a more generalized and broad spectrum degree plan covering more topics and allowing me to take more classes that I chose instead of classes strictly chosen for me. Because I already have a career and specialized a degree as well as specialized knowledge I wanted to spread my knowledge into more areas, you may be the opposite. The decision to go back to school is a bold but great move for anyone and I think the options should be considered accordingly.