Last updated : Monday, January 10, 2011

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How to Manage Your Finances Frugally

Managing your money effectively doesn’t require pricey organizational materials or advice from a highly paid financial planner who calls you twice a year.

It does require a focused effort to stay engaged with your spending and saving practices. Most financial blunders occur when you are not engaged with your finances or you do not have a system in place to monitor and track your money management activities.

Stick with the basics. Most consumers can manage their finances effectively with paper, notebook, pencil, calculator and a few file folders to store important documents like pay stubs, monthly bills, bank statements and canceled checks. However, there are many other great online sites that offer free tools like Mint.com and CareOneCredit.com for those who prefer to handle their finances electronically.

Access your free credit report. Use your credit report as baseline for how well you are managing your debt. This free tool allows you to identify what (if any) financial challenges you must tackle -- pay off debt, establish better payment habits to improve your score, clean up any reporting mistakes or cancel dormant cards. You are entitled to one free credit report per year from the three major credit bureaus. If you're looking to avoid sneaky sales pitches, go to annualcreditreport.com. Keep in mind that you don’t want to use any site that asks for a credit card number to access a free credit report or one that requires you to sign up for credit monitoring service. However, do expect to pay around $8 to get your credit score, which is not included with the free report.

Get Social. Utilize social networks like Twitter and Facebook to save money. It doesn't cost anything to sign up on these networks to find out about discounts and coupons. Once you join these sites, search for stores where you like to shop and become a fan or follower to receive updates on sales and promotions. Also, look for coupon sites and frugal shopper sites for money saving opportunities.

Seek Free Advice. You can spend a great deal of money by purchasing many well-known financial experts’ books and tools. Instead, go to the library to access these resources. You can also take advantage of the free internet service to visit popular blogs and social media sites that offer financial advice. Many libraries also host free money management seminars with local experts.

It shouldn’t cost a lot to manage your money successfully and following these tips will make sure you have more money to manage!

For more money saving tips, go to the At Home section.

Clarky Davis is a debt management expert with more than 10 years of personal and professional experience. As The Debt Diva she offers financial fitness education and "real world" money saving tips to help consumers trim their spending in just about every area of their lives. As The Debt Diva, Davis has appeared on "ABC News Now," "Fox Business," "Fox and Friends" and "Nightline."

 

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