Comparison Shopping

I'm becoming a bit fascinated now with all the ways I can save money.

The most recent efforts I've made are. . . comparison shopped my auto insurance policies and learned I could be saving $520 a year by changing from esurance to progressive. I would, however, need to pay the full amount for 6 months which would be about $820 twice a year. Still, I'd be saving $520 a year! Add that $520 to all those other areas I've adjusted and I'm up to about $23,000 in savings a year! (Wow, I'm stunned at how much fat there's been in my spending)

Another area I've researched is my bank. I pay a lot in bank fees. I've applied for a free checking and savings account at Charter One and should be getting the paperwork in the mail shortly. This is a savings of approximately $120 per year or greater.

This is a riot - I love it! I want to find more areas to cut back on.

I've been so strapped financially lately that I don't have the $820 right now. I can, however, set that amount of money aside and just make it the next priority payment.

Right now I have about $200 in a savings account and about $80,000 in a 401K account. I have $13,000 in credit card debt and I own two homes with a balance owed of $470,000. I owe $10,000 to pay off my auto loan and I have a second car which is paid off. The auto loan is at a 0% interest rate so I won't be paying that off early. I also owe $12,000 in student loans which are at a 4.5% interest.

I know that as long as I can see what is going on financially for me than I will be able to get back on my feet. The biggest problem for my husband and I has been that we are completely out of touch with our bills and have no idea what we even need to make on a monthly basis to pay our bills.

Having once lived with very little I am actually looking forward to getting this situation turned back around. The way I got into this position is that I felt I needed to put everything on automatic because I needed to focus my energy on building my business. Well, I built my business and it was crazy prosperous, then, one day, almost everything was lost in a flood. For the next three years the insurance company played their games and essentially put me out of business.

Regardless of past circumstances, I find myself in a position where I am needing to reduce my monthly debts, increase my income, get an emergency fund in the bank, and eliminate my credit card debts.