The Remaining Expense Receipts

Hi,
Many people discover that drugstore receipts make up the majority of the remaining expenditures. Due to the significant increase of the number and type of items offered in drug stores, people tend to arrive at the check out counter loaded down with many more items than their prescriptions or health care products. Drug stores also offer discounted items. When buying items from another budget category, such as food, at a drug store discount, separate out that line item on your receipt so that your budget accounting is accurate. As previously mentioned in our food blog entry, be sure to check out weekly ads because drug stores also vary greatly in their weekly pricing for the same items.
Other expenditures:
1)In choosing a dry cleaner there are many things to consider. The biggest factor dry cleaners use to set their price is location. If they're in an high rent district, they have to pass their rental costs to their customers. Inquire to see if your dry cleaner offers coupon books. Sometimes dry cleaners reward their regular customers with a free dry cleaning offer after "x" number of visits.
2) There are a variety of ways to reduce your monthly transportation costs. Numerous people save significant amounts of money on a monthly basis by parking their vehicles outside the high priced downtown corridor. Many cities have a free ride zone at their urban center. Other expense reduction methods include employee ride share programs, and utilizing mass transit whenever possible. Due to volatile oil prices, gasoline may fluctuate up to .50 a gallon among stations in your locale. Take advantage of lower fuel costs.
3)Miscellaneous receipts: Use price comparison shopping the Internet and store ads.
Sometimes gently used items can be purchased at a significant savings. You'll be amazed to see the difference between the price of new textbooks at the school bookstore, compared the price of the same gently used textbooks listed by an online bookseller.
Tomorrow we will begin our discussion about different budget methods.
Until then,
Alan

The Red Zone

Hi,
Over the years, I've noticed that many of my clients with severe debt problems have fallen into one or more red zones. Today I'll talk about entertainment red zones. A common topic in the entertainment red zone is going on what I call "a credit vacation". Vacationing now, and paying for it in the future, results in compounding existing debt problems while creating new ones. It is important that people be aware that credit vacations can cause unforeseen future problems.
Let's examine the every day little red zones people might slip into:
1) Airports. Everywhere you turn, you pay exorbitant prices for goods and services. Parking, eating, drinking, gift shop items etc., cost you much more inside the airport than they do off site. Hopefully you're on an expense account and the above danger is a moot point.
2)Sports events. Sometimes we associate the cost of a baseball game with the price of the tickets. We don't factor in the costs of parking and concessions which many times can equal or exceed the cost of the tickets.
3)Transportation. Downtown parking is a red zone which can be avoided by parking in a commuter's lot and taking mass transit into the urban center.
These are just a few examples of common red zones. Identifying your personal red zones is a necessary step in planning your debt management strategy.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the pile of grocery receipts.
Until then,
Alan