It seems like a lot of people are concerned about how to save money in a depression, or how to protect what they have in the near term. I’m getting queries like “moving to the country to survive a depression” and “How to earn money in a depression”.

You have to remember, when we think of what we might face in terms of a depression, that we know very little of true depressions (hardly anything in personal experience terms). In the 1930′s, the depression hurt a lot of people because there was no social security safety net, no unemployment benefits, no welfare and food stamps. It was because of that lack that these safety net programs where instituted.

In addition, it’s well known that Herbert Hoover let the depression sink in because he refused to spend any more. Guess where we’d be if some conservatives had their way? Why would they want to repeat the mistakes of Hoover? True, we are building up a huge financial deficit. But there could be – could be – growth to get us out of it, if all goes according to Obama’s plan.

Nevertheless – if a family faces job loss or downsizing, foreclosure, if big banks fail and consumers hunker down and stop spending, we could be in for some tough economic times. Yet I tend to see this as a step on a path to a new way of thinking about how we live – just like social programs resulted from the Great Depression of the 1930′s.

Here’s where things could go, IMHO. We could start learning to live with less money. OK, after we default on our homes and credit cards, we learn that we don’t need all the latest doo dads to keep us happy. We plant gardens. We keep the cars we have running. We barter and trade with our neighbors – lawn cutting for piano lessons or something. We turn to our communities for swap meets and recipe trades and getting back to basics. We start to be creative again, not just consumers of someone else’s creativity, that is, we bake and cook instead of going out; we play games and go for walks instead of spending hundreds a month on cable; we go to the movie at the town hall with our blanket and picnic instead of paying $50 or more at the theater. We take a composting class or a bike repair course and learn a new language with friends.

We find that we don’t need the things we have been conditioned to buy. We find that yes, if we save instead of spend, we put some people out of work, but we reach out to those people and help them become useful in other capacities. We learn that this too is just a phase, on our way to a more sustainable, friendlier, less consumption driven lifestyle, where there wasn’t much substance behind all that garbage.

My feeling is you’d do better in a community, not the country, where people can share and educate and lend and play and work together to make things work. You are not well served by harboring fear or complacency, but rather we can do so much better by harnessing the same “we can do it” strength that we felt after 9/11. We are facing difficulty as a country, not alone, but together, and only with constructive effort and creativity – not fear-mongering and ignorance and infighting – will be succeed and build something better out of our challenges.

And believe me – there are going to be amazing investment opportunities. I’ll be posting some of those to keep a watch on in the coming weeks and months.

When the financial times get rough, everyone looks for new ways to make income. On this blog, we talk about Saving Cash, but that also means making more so youchave more to save.

A majority of Americans are insecure about their jobs right now, and rightfully so. The way to feel a little more secure is if you cut yoru costs, save the money, and also find ways to make more money and save that too. You can get a second job, possibly, but there are also options for working at home to make extra money.

Of course, nearly everyone would love to make a lot of money at home, be their own boss, and sit back and bank the dollars. Well, it just doesn’t work that way. But if you spend some time learning about what options are out there to make money from home, within three to six months, you could be putting aside a coupel hundred dollars a month. That’s a car payment, or at least some nice extra savings!

There are always plenty of scams too. Buying expensive courses is also not necessary. Here are a couple options for getting started making some cash at home, without any investment up front.

1. Sell your own stuff on EBay or Craig’s List. This is a classic, and believe it or not, people are still buying on ebay too! So, get rid of you junk, or offer to sell other people’s stuff, Ebay has excellent tutorials, and if you sell enough you might consider opening a store.

2. Sell other companies’ goods on your website. This is called affilate marketing. You are an affiliate of a merchant, build a website, and send traffic to the merchant, for a cut of the profits. Sites like Commission Junction and Ebay Partner Network help you get started. You will need a website however, but using a free service like Squidoo helps you set up sites where you can sell all kinds of affiliate goods to your visitors.

3. You can build a free blog that earns you money when visitors click on ads. Thius type of site uses Google Adsense, where Google places the ads, and you make money when your visitors click the ads.

4. You can create and sell items through sites like CafePress.com, which also provides you with a basic website for free to sell your own designs or those of other members.

These are just three starter ideas for building a business at home that makes money. We’ll post most in a future post about where to find more information and get your business in gear. Making money at home isn’t rocket science, considering how many people are making a living at it. Spend an hour each day and you could see extra cash rolling in in no time!

When you save water, you save money, but you’re also helping to conserve one of the planet’s most valuable resources. Learning how to save water is simple, and it’s one of the easiest ways to save money. It just takes a little discipline to stop turning on the faucet and just letting the water run.

When you aren’t careful about water use, pretty soon hundreds of gallons of water have gone down the drain along with your money. And did you know that when you save water, you can also save on sewer charges which are often based on how much water you’ve used?

Generally speaking, the amount of water used every day by a family of four can vary. For bathing or showering needs, that takes up about 80 gallons. Taking showers accounts for as much as 30% of the total water usage in an average home.

For washing laundry our family of four uses about half of that, or 40 gallons. For dishwashing they’ll use about 15 gallons, cooking and drinking purposes use another 12 gallons, and the biggest surprise is that four people can flush more than 100 gallons of water a day through toilet use. There are also many times that water leaks are responsible for water loss. Along with any miscellaneous usage, the total water use comes to about 250 gallon a day or up to 7,500 gallons per month. That’s money flowing right down the drain, literally! So, what are the best ways to save water? Here are a few to get started.

1. Turn off the tap! Many people just let the water run at the sink while they reach into the fridge, lather up their hands, brush teeth. Get in the habit of shutting off the faucet when it’s not needed.

2. Make sure your toilet doesn’t leak. You’ll hear or see dripping. To save water, the easiest way is to put a brick or small jug filled with water into the tank to displace water and thereby use less for each flush. You could consider replacing it with a low-flow model.

3. Cut your shower time to ten minutes or less. Running long hot showers is a major cause of water expense. Let yourself indulge infreuqntly, but for other times make it fast! You can also use a low-flow showerhead. When you wash, get wet then turn off the water to soapy up. Turn the water back on to rinse. If you’re taking a bath, the tub doesn’t have to be full. Stop shaving in the shower too – that’s better done at the sink!

4. When you shave or brush your teeth, shut iff the faucet. Letting water run while brushing for two minutes wastes up to four gallons of water.

5. Only run full loads of wash to save water and electricity. If you must run a short load, reduce the settings to the smallest possible load size. Remember that the permanent press cycle uses 1/3 more water than a regular cycle, so use accordingly.

That should get you started saving water – Stay tuned for more ways to save water in a future post!

Everyone is getting on the coupon bandwagon, since we’re all trying to save money. Everyone knows coupons save money right? WRONG. The fact is, using save money coupons can actually hurt your financial attempt to save money! While it’s a good idea to use them sometimes, knowing when is a good time to use coupons will actually save more than using as many as possible.

First, using a coupon to buy a more expensive item than you usually would is going to cost you more. Of course. But that’s part of the reason manufacturers put coupons in the paper – so you will buy their more expensive, less desireable items. If you normally buy a store brand, you can figure that the store brand is probably just as good, and will cost you less, than the coupon brand even after you apply the coupon savings.

Second, notice how many coupons now require you to buy two of something? That’s cause if you’re going ot get double cuopons from your grocery store, the manufacturer wants to be sure they’re move twice as much inventory. So, even if you only need one item, you’re now being coaxed into buying two, at higher total cost. Yes, your saving on each item, a little, but you are out of pocket the price on a seconed item. That’s cash you don’t have in your pocket!

Third, if you are trying to save money on groceries, you are going to spend a heck of a lot of time managing and going through coupons to save just a couple bucks. some of these coupons websites say they help you cut time – but they don’t really, because you still have to go through the sunday paper, keep the coupons somwhere, rad through the lists on the weekend, plan your trip, and all of that takes up time. Ever had the experience that you spend three or four hours managing coupons, for a savings off three bucks at the market? Not worth it. Spend the hours buildinga web-based business like the coupon lady does, that’s where the real money is!

Fourth, not to mention, you are also paying for the Sunday paper to get the coupons in the first place. if you deduct the $3 a week or more for the paper from your coupon savings, are you ahead or not? Not to mention the tonnage of paper that is just getting recycled – hopefully.

Fifth, many coupons are for processed foods, foods the companies want to push, which are not as good for you, with additives, packaging, chemicals and more. If you want your family to be healtier, and your environment cleaner, you might focus iunstead on fresh fruits and veggies, fresh meats (not processed), household cleaners that are natural, and products that don’t come packaged in as much plastic as the food they contain.

No – instead of coupons, you can save money groceries shopping just by finding the least expensive store, stocking up on good sales, and not driving around to a lot of different locations or wasting time with coupons. Your real savings is your time which is worth far more than a couple dollars an hour. Save money, time and the planet, adn skip the coupons!

Going without a telephone is just out of the question today. Most households have land lines and cell phones. Even kids have cell phone lines to talk to their friends. But when everyone’s using a cell phone, the land line isn’t needed as much, and more households are making the switch to just cell phone usage.

There are a number of ways you can cut your cell phone bill, or your telephone bill costs generally. These cell phone bills can get out of control fast.

Many people just buy the unlimited plan, because it’s easier that opening a severl-thousand-dollar bill when you’re not paying attention. Here are a couple ways to cut your cell phone bill costs.

1. Look for real cell phone deals before you buy and get locked into a two year plan. Most carriers have similar plans, although some like Sprint have unlimited plans for a low flat rate. Be sure to explore all the cell phone deals out there before signing on the dotted line. You can find some good deals also with prepaid cell phones, because you aren’t locked in, and you pay only for what you need for calls and text. Pay as you go can be really good cell phone deals for younger kids especially, who don’t make as many calls.

2. At least save on the phones with free cell phone family plan choices. Many carriers offer the free cell phone family plan because they know you’re going to make thousands of dollars of calls with that free cell phone! so, if you have to stick with your current plan, at least get a free cell phone out of it.

3. Don’t upgrade your phone until the free options are available. It might take a few months, but your carrier will likely offer you a free cell phone after a while, when you commit to an additional two year cell phone plan. Again, you’re still stuck with the plan, but you can at least get a free cell phone out of it.

4. Get rid of features you don’t need. Every cell phone service comes with options, you ca pick and choose from. Use only the cell phone service you need. For example, try to avoid using the web on your phone, the data plans are truly expensive, and you don’t need it to text or make calls.

5. Take another look at prepaid cell phone deals. These cell phone services are now offering top of the line phones, as well as unlimited text and calls. You can cancel at any time, your cell phone number is portable, and you aren’t locked into all the minimum monthly fees either. Prepaid cell phone plans also vary widely like regular cell phones.

That should get you started toward getting some good cell phone deals to cut your phone bill starting this month!