Do you know how credit cards affect your FICO score?  Even if you make your payments on time you could still be loosing points each month.  Click Play To Watch or Read Video Text Below.

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Click Here To Download Your Copy of The Credit Card Calculator.

 

Money Saving Minute #007: How Credit Cards Affect Your Credit Scores and How To Pay Them Off (Text from video).

 

Credit cards can be your credit score’s best friend or worst enemy.  When used properly credit cards will give your scores a real boost.  But what is the proper way of using a credit card?  First, Credits cards should be used as a convenience or a way of earning cash back and rewards.  Credit cards should not be used as a crutch or treated as an extension of your buying power.

 

Second guideline of credit cards is pay them off each month.  If you keep a rolling balance you are paying interest and wiping out all of the savings that your reward points would have given you. 

 

Third, if you do keep a rolling balance keep the balance under 30% of the available credit line.  0 to 10% is best, up to 30% is okay but more than 30% may actually start costing you points.  Your utilization ratio or the amount you owe in comparison to the amount of the credit line, is 30% of your credit score. 

 

The fourth guideline, is the obvious one – pay the bill on time.  Even if it means only making the minimum payment, make sure that you make that payment prior to the due date.  Payment history is 35% of your credit score and late payment stick with you. 

 

Finally, don’t close accounts.  Keeping accounts open will give you more breathing room with your utilization ratio.  Also, length of credit history is for 15% of your credit score so if you close an account that you have had for a long history with you may actually hurt your score.

 

Now let’s talk about how to pay off credit cards.  Below this video is a link to download an excel workbook called “Credit Card Calculator”. 

 

With this workbook you can determine how long it will take to pay off a card or you can set a goal of when you would like to have the card paid off by and it will calculate how much you should be paying each month.  If you have several cards that you would like to pay off work on them one at a time.  Splitting up your available funds between all of your accounts will get you nowhere fast however still be sure to make the minimum payments on each account. 

 

Choosing which card to pay off first is a matter of weighing all of the factors.  You may choose to work on the account with the highest interest rate first.  You may look at paying off the card with the highest balance first because you are paying more interest each month or you may look at paying off the card with the lowest balance first.  Paying off the card with the lowest balance is many times the most effective because once it’s paid off you can use what was budgeted as the minimum payment for that account toward paying off the next account in line.

 

This has been money saving minute number zero zero seven.  It’s your cash and watching the The Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe so you don’t miss any money saving tips and click the facebook button below to share this with your friends.

Money saving minute #006: Your Household & Personal Budgets

How are you at budgeting your finances?  Budgeting doesn't mean giving up what you enjoy, it means knowing where you money is going.  Click play to learn more or read the text from the video below.



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Click Here To Download Your Copy of The Budget Spreadsheet

Money saving minute #006: Your Household & Personal Budgets (text from video)
     
Some people are very good at budgeting yet others need a little help.  Either way, having a budget in writing is helpful.  Below this video is a link to download an Excel workbook to help put your personal budget in writing. 

For those of you that are good at working with a budget this workbook will help you stay on track.  It will also help you achieve your saving goals by helping you track where you money is going.  Also, when two or more people are working within the same budget having a spreadsheet like this set up will help to avoid those little misunderstandings that lead to money arguments.

For those that are not so good at budgeting, or those that are confused as to how to start a budget, let’s talk budgeting 101.  Budgeting does not mean going without.  Budgeting simply means knowing where you money is going. 

Step one, download the workbook.  It’s free so it will fit into your new budget.  Step two, take a look at all of the categories but don’t fill in any numbers yet.  Step three, for the next 30 days carry a small notebook with you and track your spending.  Write down every purchase from grocery shopping to your lunchtime vending machine soda to the five dollars you put into the football pool.  Step four, gather up all of your bills as well as your last two paycheck stubs.  Step five, make a list of all of the non-monthly expenses that come up such as buying birthday gifts, vehicle registration and planning for your medical deductable.  Step six is to take all of this data and start building your budget.  As you are entering in your information look for things that you can do differently to help you save money but be realistic.  If changing a spending habit looks good on paper but you truly don’t have any intention of changing that habit then there is no sense in writing it down.  Finally, for those that struggle with budgeting due to impulse buying, check out Money Saving Minute #002, The 30 Day Rule.
 
This has been money saving minute number zero zero six.  It’s your cash and watching the The Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe so you don’t miss any money saving tips and click the facebook button below to share this with your friends.

Money saving minute #005: Save Gas, Save Money

This week's video asks the questions:

Gas prices keep going up;

  what can I do to get the most for my fuel dollar?

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Money saving minute #005: Save Gas, Save Money 

Gas prices are no joke but we all have places to be.  We can’t just stop driving, so what can we do to get every last mile out of each tank of gas?  The US Department of Energy’s website, fuel economy dot gov, lists out four tips to help drivers get the most miles for their money.  

First, drive more efficiently.  Aggressive driving such as speeding, rapid acceleration and braking waste gas and can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town.      

Second, keep your vehicle in shape.  Properly inflated tires may improve your gas mileage by up to 3 percent and having your engine properly tuned may up your MPG by up to 4 percent.

Third, Plan and combine trips.  Combining errands into one trip saves you time and money.  Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.  Also, if you have the ability to staggering your work hours so that you are not driving in rush hour’s stop and start traffic you will improve your gas mileage.

Finally, the US Department of Energy suggests selecting a more fuel efficient vehicle as your mode of transport.

For more information about how to get the most out of your gas dollar visit fuel economy dot gov.

This has been money saving minute number zero zero five.  It’s your cash and watching the The Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any money saving tips and click the facebook button below to share this with your friends.

Kip's Money Saving Minute #004

Switch Your
Bank Accounts

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or Read Video Text Below

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Do you have a good relationship with your bank?  Is your bank paying you interest on your checking?  More importantly, does your bank nickel and dime you with miscellaneous fees?  If you are losing money to your bank each month then it may be time to think about switching. 

When you find a bank that wants your business, switching is not difficult, but it does take a little time and planning.  This planning and time are the main stressors that keep customers with their current bank and consequently keep them paying unnecessary fees.  But really, switching is not that difficult.

1. Open the new checking account. The first step is the most obvious one.

2. Make a detailed list of all automated withdrawals and deposits from your current account.

3. Balance your checkbook. Make sure you’ve accounted for everything outstanding so there are no surprises during the transition.

4. Switch over all of your deposits then all of your withdrawals.  If you are concerned that a withdrawal may come up before your deposits catch up to your new account then you may want to temporarily link those withdrawals to a credit card – preferably one that pays you a bonus.

5. Leave the old account open with a small balance for a couple of months just to be sure that you have switched over all of your deposits as well as auto drafts.

6. The last step is to close the old account and if you have

This has been money saving tip number zero zero four.  It’s your money and watching the The Money Saving Minute each week will help you keep more of it.  Click to the right to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any money saving tips and please click the facebook button below to share this with your friends.