Re: Saving money
I've opened up a retirement account that pulls a bit of my earnings every month, and also contribute a decent amount to my 401k every pay period. That's pretty much very, very long-term savings, and I likely won't be touching that until I retire or die, but it's still pretty important to do.
Another thing you can do in the short-term is build up a budget by taking down a liberal account of each of your expenses (make sure to include a 10-20% of each paycheck to move into a savings account), adding them up and subtracting them from your total paycheck. This will help you trim off excess expenses (seeing it on paper can be a real eye-opener) as well as itemize everything and keep you from going over.
Paying bills online can help to save money, or it can burn you. A lot of places won't charge you a fee but some places do and it can be a pretty hefty one.
Avoid using ATMs for cash, that $2 a pop can add up like wo.
Keep a change jar and cash it in once it fills up, not at Coinstar but at a Chevy Chase bank or one of those other places that doesn't rob you of anything.
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