If money is tight and you need to scale back your budget, here are some strategies to start saving right away. Putting even one of these ideas into practice should give your finances some breathing room, but if you adopt most or all of them, as long as your income remains steady, worrying about your budget will hopefully become a thing of the past.

1. Clip discretionary spending. Take a hard look at your budget. Can you cut back on cable or dining out? It sounds basic, but those expenses add up. A LivingSocial “Dining Out” survey of 4,000 Americans found that the average household frequents restaurants and fast food outlets 4.8 times a week. If that sounds like a lot, maybe it is. A Visa survey of 1,005 adults found that on average, American consumers are eating lunch at restaurants almost twice a week, spending about $10 each time. Either way, a moratorium on dining out may save you close to $100 a month – or perhaps much more, depending on your habits. Meanwhile, ditching cable could net you an extra $90 monthly – the average bill for a U.S. household, according to The NPD Group, a market research company.

2. Negotiate. If you don’t want to get rid of cable or your cell phone (another budget crusher), you might be able to talk down your current price, especially if you give your provider’s customer service representative the notion that you’re considering bolting for the competition. Even if you can’t leave your electric company for an alternate provider, ask if the utility has a program to help you lower your costs.

3. Grocery shop smarter. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average family of four with teens spends $1,258 at the grocery store. An adult male or female spent between $300 and $400. So if you’re spending more than that, you could probably do a lot better. Strategies that are often cited (because they work) include: Don’t shop when you’re hungry, take a shopping list, look at the unit price as well as the actual price tag, bring coupons, and shop at deep-discount grocery stores.

4. Preplan your week. Much of what we spend is a result of not thinking about what will be coming up throughout the week. We often have no clue what to make for dinner, so we rush out and grab fast food. We forgot about the birthday party or wedding on Saturday and rush out to buy a gift, spending way more than intended. And when it comes to grocery shopping, preplanning meals and clipping coupons should save you money.

5. Lower your gas expenses. Sites like gasbuddy.com and gaspricewatch.com will find the most inexpensive gas in your neighborhood. And, of course, you can always combine errands, take public transportation or a bicycle, and drive less. According to the California Energy Commission, commuters would save an average of 30 percent on their fuel costs if, instead of driving alone to work, they carpooled, took a bus, rode a bicycle or walked. Considering that the average household spends $2,912 on gasoline, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a 30 percent savings could equate to more than $70 a month.

6. Reconsider your insurance. You may be in the market for a downgrade. For instance, if your car is getting up there in years and you’ve paid it off – and especially if it hasn’t retained anything close to its original value – both comprehensive and collision insurance may be a waste of money. Collision insurance protects your car if you’re in a wreck, liability protects you if you damage another driver’s car, and comprehensive insurance covers your car if it’s damaged by something other than an accident. Usually you buy collision and comprehensive insurance together, but you don’t have to. As your car’s value goes down, you may want to reexamine your policy.

7. Give up a vice. Sure, we’ve all heard the cliché about giving up your daily latte, but you may have a different vice. The average consumer spends more than $1,200 a year on beer, according to Survey Analytics. And according to the American Lung Association, the average retail price of a pack of cigarettes in the U.S. is $5.51. So do the math. If you’re a pack-a-day smoker, you’ll save $167 in one month if you give up this vice, and in a year, you’ll save a little over $2,000. Take an honest look to see if you have something, from a serious vice to a relatively innocuous habit (like soft drinks), that you can cut back on.

8. Pay down debt. True, your debt may be the reason you can’t save money. But according to the personal finance site nerdwallet.com, the average household has $7,123 in credit card debt. If you owe a lot and can pay off any revolving debt – without turning around a few weeks later and incurring more – you’ll eventually save money.

For instance, say you have $500 in debt, and just to make the numbers easy, you pay 10 percent interest on your credit card. If you don’t pay the balance off, you’ll accumulate $50 in interest, and the next month, you owe $550. And if you do nothing else, the next month, you’ll owe $605. The bottom line: Get rid of your debt, especially the fast accumulating kind, and you’ll have more money left over every month.

9. Get your finances better organized. This isn’t just budgeting – it’s looking at when your bills need to be paid and having a system for keeping your financial life on track.

Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, points out that we’d probably all save more money, pretty quickly, if we stayed on top of our finances. For example, a late credit card payment means you’ll pay a late fee, all because you misplaced the credit card statement.

“You get a late fee, a negative mark on your credit report, your credit score potentially goes down, and you become a greater risk in the lender’s eyes,” Cunningham says. “And then there’s the gym membership that’s on automatic pay and you haven’t seen the gym in six months. How about habitually picking up fast food on the way home from work because you’re too tired to cook? Buying snacks on break out of the vending machine and paying twice as much for the same thing you could have brought from home? All of these could add up to over $100 a month or over $1,000 a year. Now that’s real money.”

Article Source: Geoff Williams for Money.USNews.com, http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/03/07/9-steps-to-drastically-reduce-your-spending

Your 30s can be a pretty significant decade. You might be transitioning from the more carefree days of a post-collegiate lifestyle and hitting major life milestones, such as buying a home, getting married, or having kids. Or you could also be planning major life adventures, climbing up the career ladder, or all of the above. Whatever your path, you likely face some significant money decisions, and the choices you make can end up impacting your finances for years to come.

A recent report released from the Pew Research Center shows that millennials, the oldest of whom are just entering their 30s now, face higher student debt and unemployment levels along with lower income and wealth levels compared to previous generations at the same age. At the same time, they are optimistic about their economic futures, with most (80 percent) saying they have enough money now or will one day to “lead the lives they want.”

To increase the chances that such an optimistic outlook comes true, here are six money moves that financial experts say you should consider in your third decade:

1. Save when you can.

“If you’ve gotten your salary up to the point where student loan debt is not wreaking havoc in your life anymore, but before you have a lot of responsibilities, that’s a great opportunity to super-charge your savings,” says Jean Chatzky, financial editor of the Today Show and author of “Money Rules: The Simple Path to Lifelong Security.” When parenting responsibilities and mortgage costs take off, for example, it can be hard to save more. “You want to take advantage of the opportunities you have to sock away some money so when the leaner years come around, you don’t beat yourself up,” she adds.

2. Create solid habits.

It’s also time to establish financial habits that will serve you well for the rest of your life. Kerry Hannon, personal finance expert and author of “Great Jobs for Everyone 50+,” says in her 30s, she maxed out her retirement savings accounts and even set aside a portion of her extra freelance income for retirement. “Those funds have served me well over the years as money to help pay for vacations and more. I still save outside of retirement accounts religiously in my 50s, too. It’s a habit I started back in my 30s,” she says.

3. Plan out your goals and priorities.

Trent Hamm, founder of the personal finance website “The Simple Dollar” and a U.S. News “My Money” blogger, says at age 35, he’s now reflecting on his career goals for the next 30 years. “What would I like to be doing with my time and my life? I don’t want the rest of my life to be a repetition of what I’m doing now and then an abrupt retirement. I have dreams and goals, and right now is the best time to get started on them,” he says.

For many people, a financial advisor helps with that. Bart Astor, author of “AARP Roadmap for the Rest of Your Life,” says your 30s is the ideal time to sit down with a financial advisor and talk, which is what he started doing in his mid-30s. He says he and his advisor met once a year to review savings and other financial goals, especially since he and his wife were meeting their goals. “When I hit 40, the plan showed that we should have about $188,000 in assets based on our salaries, and we had over $200,000, and boy, did that make us feel good,” he says.

4. Talk about money with your partner.

If you have a spouse or partner, then getting on track together and working out any disputes can prevent conflicts later, open communication is key. Talk about your finances and life goals with your partner, and align on how you will get there – together.

5. Be a good role model.

For those 30-somethings who are already parents, Beth Kobliner, author of “Get a Financial Life” and member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, says it’s important to model smart financial choices for the little eyes watching you. “You lose all credibility lecturing your kids about not needing every new toy or tech gadget if you, behind closed doors, have loud arguments with your spouse about not being able to keep up with your credit card bills,” she says. You don’t have to be a money genius, she adds, but it’s important to talk about money – making financial discussions as commonplace as soccer practice or Sunday dinner.

6. Shore up your cash reserves.

While many experts emphasize long-term investing and retirement savings, it’s also important to give yourself a buffer for unexpected needs and expenses. Real estate can be a great way to build wealth and you should start saving as early as possible for retirement, it’s the unexpected changes in life that often derail 30-something households – and you need to be prepared for the short-term too or a financial emergency.

Article Source: Kimberly Palmer for Money.USNews.com, http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/03/19/how-to-manage-money-in-your-30s