Family Law

Rebuilding Savings after Divorce

By Erin Kelley

After all the marital property ? and money ? is divided in divorce, many people must begin to rebuild their savings accounts. This can be difficult, as budgets are often stretched further than ever after divorce.

In order to build up savings accounts, it is important to examine your spending habits and find new ways to save money. Some relatively painless ways to cut costs include:

Make a list before shopping ? and stick to it

Many dollars that could be saved are spent on impulsive buys at the supermarket. If you know what you need before you leave the house and vow to buy only what you have on your list, you can save money on your grocery bill.

Clip coupons

Cents off coupons can really add up to big savings if you find coupons for products you would buy anyway. Some stores also have double and triple coupon days to multiply the savings. Check to be sure the coupon will really save money over a generic brand, and buy generic if it makes sense.

Pay bills on time

When you pay bills late, you not only potentially damage your credit score; you also are likely to be charged a late fee. Many bills can be conveniently paid online. You may also opt to have payments automatically deducted from your checking account before the due date in order to avoid paying late fees.

Don?t pay for services you don?t use

This may seem obvious, but we often pay for bundled services that we don?t even use. Examine your usage, especially of phone features and determine if you can save money by purchasing only the services you need, even if they are purchased separately.

Get the best deal

Of the services you decide to keep, shop around and make sure you are getting them at the lowest rate. Recent reports indicate that by informing a cable company you are shopping around, you may be able to slash your bill without changing providers.

Pack a lunch

Having lunch at a restaurant every day can be expensive and really reduce your potential savings. Making a sandwich at home can be much less expensive and often healthier too.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on February 24, 2009 (boomark / email).