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.

Seeing your sky high electric bill these days is almost enough to cause a heart attack. You may have tried everything you can think of to save on electricity back but still can’t get the numbers low enough. There may be additional electricty saving steps you can take to reduce your use that you haven’t come across. Finding new ways to conserve energy can be easy, but it will take the effort of your entire family. here are a few ideas:

1. Reduce your heating or cooling needs. In summer, raise your thermostat setting above 80 degrees, and use fans, both the ceiling and floor fans. They help stir the air and add to comfort. Be sure the ceiling fan is circulating air down, not up. In winter, up is fine when you want to move warm air from the ceiling down to the floor level. Using a fan can save more than $600 per year.

2. When you’re not home, turn off the air conditioning. The constant running means it’s working harder. You can raise the temp so it doesn’t run all day, and turn it back on when you get home.

3. Be sure to keep your air conditioner’s filter clean by cleaning it at least once a month. A dirty filter will make your AC work less efficiently and that requires more power. Be sure to also Clean registers in all rooms as well as the intake register. Close the registers in all rooms not in regular use. And speaking of clean, you can take a cool shower just before bed to help you feel cooler.

4. Cover your outside condenser with shade, and you can save up to 10% on electric. Just make sure shrubs or grass don’t block the unit’s air flow.

5. Examine your ducts for leaks. Older ductwork can leak more. In the attic, check how hot it is there. Use insulation to save up to 40% of colling power. You might also consider installing an attic fan, since by reducing your attic temperature by just 10 degrees, you can save as much as 10% on your electric bill.

5. Put compact fluorescent light bulbs everywhere you can. An old-fashioned incandescent light is just a mini heater that emits light. Fluorescent bulbs are cooler, and more popular than ever as money savers, so prices are coming down. They give off only 10% heat for 90% light compared to incandescent.

6. Paint your home a light color on the exterior, to reflect heat. Dark paint absorbs up to 20% more heat thereby increasing cooling needs.

7. Watch your appliance use. Use full loads in the dishwasher and laundry, or air dry clothing on a clothesline in good weather. You can also air-dry dishes the old fashioned way, and skip the high-power heated drying cycle. Also, replace old appliances with Energy Star, which use much less electricity.

8. Consider a tankless water heater. Traditional water heaters keep water heated all day long regardless of use, but a tankless heater heats water only as you need it. This can save as much as 25% to 50% of your utility bills!

9. An obvious one is to turn off electric appliances, electronics and other power hogs when not in use. Even when plugged in, “ghost load” power that keeps LED clocks and fast-on switch powered costs as much as 10-15% extra.

By saving just a few watts of electricity here and there it can really add up, plus you can see your success immediately right in your monthly bill! Make it a goal to cut your bills by 20%, and see if you can’t do that with simple changes. Saving energy helps you save money, and that’s something you can really bank on.

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!

As we all look for ways to save money, there are amazing places you can find new money saving ideas and put them to work in your own personal finance plan.

The important thing to remember is, you aren’t just trying to save money, you should also plan to put that money into a savings account so you are really saving you money, and not just saving here so you can spend more there! That’s not how to build wealth – you want to save and invest for true wealth.  Start with basic budgeting, and from there you build to pile of cash you have to save and invest to biuld wealth.

So where can you find the best saving money tips? Ideas are everywhere. But the bottom line is that there are really only three, just three, ways to save money: (1) spend less, (2) make more, and (3) bank the difference between your expenses and your income. That’s it – literally everything you read on the web or anywhere else about how to save money will include one or all of those three things. Once you get those ideas under your belt, you’ll be inventing great ways to save money all on your own.

Let’s talk about the first item, Spend Less. The goal here is that you should try to to spend less than you make. Think this is too hard? Have more expenses left at the end of the month than money to pay for them? Try a little experiment. Next time you head to the store, just put back one of every four things you initially want to buy. think you need the item? Try doing without, just for this trip. yo ujust saved 25% on your shopping trip! Seriously, if you think you need that jar of spaghetti sauce, for example, think about what you have at home you can still use, or what else in your cart you can use. It may be hard to do, but even if you try, you’ll see how many things you really dont’ need to buy.

Next, you’ll want to think more about making more money. We’ve posted here on this blog in the past about how to make at least a little more money at home in your spare time. But the important thing is, as you reduce your spending, and increase your income, you’ll start to see a little extra money flowing into your life. Read other posts on this blog aotu making money, to get some ideas.

Last, when you’re saving money by spending less and making more, you can put that savings into a bank account and watch it grow. It might grow slowly at first, but if yo ustart putting $25, $50 or $100 in the bank each month, as well as money yo’uve saved by spending less, and any extra money you make, this is exactly how wealth is built. This is the money you will learn to invest in the near future and start to build some financial security for your family.

Even though you might be looking for new ways to save money, there are really only old ways, but put to good use by new thinking. To have the most options, we recommend you open a no-fee brokerage account today with www.TradeKing.com
so you can then invest your savings in safe investments like CDs, money market accounts, or mutual funds with more safe investments.

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!