Save Money in 2012: 5 Essential Resources to Save Big in the New Year

Photo Credit: danielmoyle

Last year, I wrote a very popular article entitled Money Saving Tips for Families in 2011. Because my money saving advice generally stays the same year to year, I’m going to encourage you to go back and read that article, but sub in 2012 for 2011.

In addition though, I thought it might be beneficial for me to write up an article about what resources I consider to be most essential to save money in 2012.

They aren’t very sexy and in fact, you might already have these covered, but it’s a good refresher for everyone (including myself!).

:: Sinking Funds: This is another terms for savings account. You aren’t really saving money if you aren’t putting the money you save into some kind of savings account! It’s great to pay $50 for $200 worth of groceries, but when you take that $150 saved and plop it down on a pair of boots, you can’t really say you SAVED $150 dollars. More like, you shifted $150. Which is actually FINE. I encourage saving where you can, so you can spend where you want.

However, if you don’t have a cushion to fall back on, every single time you have an emergency, you are going to find yourself back in debt and scrounging for pennies once again!

I encourage long term savings goals, short term savings goals and assigning sinking funds to each goal so you can monitor your progress closely on each individual goal.

We house our sinking funds over at ING Direct. Here’s a little screenshot of what our sinking funds look like over at ING:

At a glance, I can see exactly where we are with all of our short term and long term savings goals. When we complete a goal, I can just go in and change the account name to our new goal.

We also have a checking account through ING Direct which has been SUCH a wonderful and positive experience.

:: Teamwork: The next best resource you can have in your back pocket to save money in 2012 is TEAMWORK! This involves you and your spouse coming together and working on your finances as a team. This doesn’t necessarily mean the workload is split 50/50. I know from my own experience that in some cases, it helps for one person to be more in charge of the bill paying and bookkeeping. It does mean that both parties are in the know though. It means that once a week or once a month, you sit down with your significant other for a meeting about your finances. Total honesty and transparency is necessary and this keeps the whole family on track and knowledgeable about how the finances are shaping up.

2 heads are definitely better than one!

:: Budgets: Some kind of budget plan is absolutely essential to saving money in 2012. You have to put yourself on a budget! There is software available if you aren’t excel spreadsheet savvy, or you can even just do pencil and paper. No matter what, you need to make a budget and work your hardest to stick to it. If this is your first time putting yourself on a budget, you might find you need to tweak your budget to suit your needs and to reach your goals.

Here are some resources for budget planning:

• Mint.com
• Quicken
• The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
• Outright.com-(this is more small business oriented)

I don’t care how much money you make, unless you are a on budget, you aren’t spending or saving wisely.

:: Knowledge: The next best thing you can do for your money in 2012 is educate yourself! Don’t just assume that you know all there is to know about budgeting, personal finance and money in general. Here are some books I highly recommend:

• The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
• The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year– Currently available for pre-order only, but I received an early copy to review and I highly recommend it!
• The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs
• The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams
• How To Save Money in 7 Days (this is MY free ebook)

:: Amazon Prime: This one might seem a bit strange! When I think of how much having Amazon Prime has saved my family this year though, I can’t help but include it! Amazon Prime is a service offered through Amazon.com for $79 a year (start off with a free 30 day trial).

Amazon Prime offers you FREE 2 day shipping on items that have the Prime symbol next to the price on Amazon. I can’t tell you how many times I want to order something online but the shipping fee has made the cost prohibitive. I MORE then make make the $79 spent on Amazon Prime each year.

I buy diapers, groceries, stock my gift closet, books, office supplies, etc etc etc. And I don’t pay a penny for shipping…ever! I post a LOT of Amazon deals here on Family Friendly Frugality, and I’m not going to lie, I pretty much make the assumption you all have Prime because it’s SUCH a smart financial decision!

So those are my money saving tips for 2012. What are some of your tips for 2012?

What are some of your goals?