50 ways to trim your budget

One of best and most overlooked ways of saving for retirement is spending less money. Everyone is always giving tips on where to invest your money and tax saving tips but what about just putting away more. Here are 50 ways to trim your budget.

Are you saving too much for retirement?

"Forget the idea that you need millions to retire comfortably, as some would have you believe. One expert says you'll need less money than you thought..."

Saving While Spending

Here's an interesting program that I just signed up for. It's Bank of America's Keep the Change. What they do is everytime you use your debit card, they round up the amount to the nearest dollar amount and deposit the difference into your savings account.

For example, let's say your grocery total comes to $55.35, pay with your Bank of America debit card and they will debit you $56.00 and deposit $0.65 into your savings. So the more you use your debit card, the more you save.

Obviously you won't be able to retire on your Keep The Change savings but it could become a nice little bonus that you cash out every once in a while. Sort of like keeping your change in a jar and bringing it to the Coinstar machine when it's full.

I think the best part about this service is that it makes it easier to balance your checkbook. All of the debit card purchases become nice round dollar amounts.

Late Retirement Planning

Late Retirement Planning Lessons from 1980 Olympic Hockey Team: "Their dramatic turnaround in such a short time is a solid example of two things: 1) It's never too late to reach your goals, and 2) with the proper planning and strategy, you're more likely to accomplish great things. This couldn�t be a better vision to have in your head if you�re nearing retirement and haven't spent much time planning and saving for life after work..."

How many times have you heard someone say that if you starting putting away a nickel every week from the time your were 20 until you're ready to retire, you'd have like 8 million dollars saved for retirement. I obviously don't remember the actual figures but the important part was to start saving when you are young.

Another question for you, how many articles have you seen about playing catch up with your retirement savings? Well here's another one but this is the first one that I've seen mention the "catch-up provision". If you're 50 or older you can add an additional $5000 (in 2006) to your 401(k) or $1000 to your IRA.

Now if we all started saving in our 20ies like we were supposed to, then we wouldn't need to play catch up. But unfortunately, when I was in my twenties I spent all my money at bars and on vacations. Who would have thought that retirement would come so quickly?