Believe it or not, the government is one of the easiest groups to work with when it comes to getting assistance in setting up payment arrangements or even getting reductions in some fashion. What it takes, however, is overcoming the fear of the government, picking up the phone, and making the call.

The IRS is pretty easy to work with. The people they employ exhibit great customer service processes, as they know that many people are scared of them unnecessarily.

The first thing you have to do is either agree with the amount they say you owe or dispute it. No deal with start if you dispute the tax until they’ve investigated everything and sent you a letter, but you have to have a good reason for disputing the balance. It might be higher than you expected it to be because of interest and penalties; there’s nothing you can do about that for the moment.

Once you’ve come to grips with the fact that you owe the money, it’s time to set up a payment agreement. As long as your tax liability is less than $25,000, they are willing to work with you on some kind of amount. Don’t try making them look bad by offering to pay $10 a month on a high balance; they always have the right to demand that you pay it all in full, and they will garnishee your wages. Make a good faith effort in determining how much you hope you can pay them on a monthly basis, and then make sure you make that payment monthly. If your income changes and you need to lower the amount, you can always call them and make adjustments. And any time you can pay more, that’s always accepted.

When you set up a payment arrangement, you’ll get a monthly letter from them indicating how much you have to pay and how much tax, interest and penalties you still owe. If you’ve paid off the taxes and still have a balance due to interest and penalties, you can call the IRS and ask them if there’s something they can do for you. If you’ve consistently paid them without missing a payment, they’ll wipe out the penalties, which is pretty nice of them. I’ve never heard of them wiping out interest, but it doesn’t hurt to ask if they have any leverage on lowering it.

If the balances are small they should be easily taken care of. After all, it doesn’t pay to have a physician upset with you because you didn’t pay on a $30 bill. Other than just paying them there’s nothing you can do about those types of claims. However, there are some things you should be doing if your bills are, or possibly could end up, being pretty high.

The first thing you need to do is find out how much services are going to cost. There’s a push in the country for what’s called pricing transparency, which means both hospitals and physicians have to tell you how much something is going to cost, within reason. For instance, if you’re having an x-ray or lab test done that’s easy to know. If you’re having a surgery it could be more difficult depending on the severity of the surgery because both hospitals and physicians bill based on time, and each patient is different. So, a surgery that’s expected to last 2 hours can easily go to 4 or 5 hours if there are complications that the physician didn’t know about up front. Still, if requested, patients should be given an idea of how much medical services are going to cost them.

The second thing to do, if you have insurance, is to verify with the insurance company that your procedure is going to be covered. Many patients think it should be the doctor’s office or hospital that checks on this for them but it’s not. You’re the one who’ll be getting billed for it on the back end, which means this one’s on you if you really want to be protected.

The third thing you need to do if you discover the bill is going to be high is to try to see if you qualify for any kind of discount based on income. If you have insurance you’ll have to wait until it’s been billed so everyone knows what your balance is going to be. However, every public hospital has charity care options which could end up with you paying a reduction of services or even getting the entire bill covered. You need to know that many hospitals will require, if your bill is really high and your income is really low, that you attempt to get Medicaid coverage first, and they’ll help you with that. Don’t be too proud; as long as you’re being helped your account won’t be send to collections.

When all else fails, try to set up a payment plan with the hospital or physician, then stick with it. In today’s economy, they’re not trying to get you paying outrageous amounts that they know you’re going to fail on. Offer them something legitimate, for instance $100 a month on a $10,000 bill, then work as hard as you can to keep up on it. If you think you’re going to fall behind, call them up and explain your issues.

The best thing about working with those trying to get you to pay hospital or physicians bills while they still have them is that they’re willing to work with you a lot more than traditional collection agencies. They’re nice people overall; give it a shot.

Sure, you can stop buying non-essential items and cut out the little treats – and this will save you some money… but it probably won’t have a big enough impact to considerably improve your situation.

So what can you do?

In this guide, we’re going to run through 10 great tips to help you cut your costs, leaving you with that little bit of extra money each month (which, if you’re feeling particularly frugal, you could save).

1. Budget
First and foremost, if you’re planning to save some money, you will need to get your budget in order.

Your budget is a monthly (or even weekly) plan of your finances that can help you maintain control over your money. To create your own budget, you’ll need to do the following things:

• Write down all the money you earn / receive on a monthly basis, followed by the money you spend on essential costs (such as utility bills, food and secured debt payments).
• Once you have these amounts, subtract your expenditure on essentials from the money you earn – and you will be left with a figure.
• This figure is known as your ‘disposable income’, and it is the money you have available each month to spend on your unsecured debt repayments along with non-essentials.

Please note, though, that some of your disposable income can also be used for savings.

If your disposable income is actually a negative number, you should seek professional debt advice as soon as you can, as it means you can’t afford all your financial commitments.

2. Discount Vouchers
More and more retailers, including supermarkets, are providing discount vouchers to their customers. Discount vouchers can be printed off the internet and found in newspapers – but regardless of where you find them, they can save you money.

The key thing here is to only use your discount vouchers on items you were planning to buy in the first place. There is no point buying something you don’t need just because you can get it cheaper than usual – as you won’t save any money by doing this.

3. Shop Online
If you’re planning to buy something, why not search for it on the internet before hitting the shops, to see if you can find it cheaper?

Competition for retailers is tough online, so many have to lower their prices so you’ll choose them over other traders. In most cases, you can buy items cheaper online than you can on the high street – even if you’re only saving a small percentage of the item’s value, it all adds up!

4. Share a Lift
If you know someone who heads the same way you do on the way to work, why not share a lift? You could drive one week, and your colleague could drive the next… you’ll save a fortune in travel costs!

5. Save The Pennies
If you ever come home from the shops with a pocket full of change… don’t just leave this lying around, because it will gradually get spent (probably on non-essentials). Instead, put this spare change into a pot, and don’t open this pot all year.

Then, when the end of the year comes, count the money inside and use it to pay some bills, for example, or to cover your food costs for a while!

6. Switch Lights Off
Cutting back on your non-essential costs is pretty easy and you will see a difference immediately. However, as well as doing this, you could try to reduce your essential costs, too.

This is easier than it sounds, and something as simple as switching the lights off when you’re going out of a room can help considerably. Getting into the habit of doing this will see your electricity usage fall and fall!

7. Alternative Entertainment
If you’re serious about reducing your expenditure, this tip and the next will really help drive your bills down!

Rather than watching TV / hiring DVDs one night, why not find an alternative form of entertainment that takes up less energy / money? Playing board games, reading a book or just talking won’t cost you anything, and can be a great alternative to the TV!

8. Get Active To Keep Warm
Ok, so the past two tips could help you lower your electricity bills… but what about your gas bills?

Well, it’s just as easy – when you get cold, put more layers on and/or do something active! Simply walking around your house, doing a few exercises or cleaning your lounge can warm your body up in minutes… in fact, you might even find yourself getting too hot!

The point here, though, that is if you can warm yourself up, you won’t need to pay for your heating system to do it!

9. Consolidate Your Debts
This tip won’t necessarily save you money, as such, but it can certainly help make your finances easier to manage.

If you’re carrying unsecured debts, such as credit cards and personal loans, instead of making several payments each month, you could consolidate your debts and make just one payment to one creditor.

You can take out a debt consolidation loan, use this to repay all your debts in one go, then repay your loan by making single monthly payments over a longer period of time – which should allow you to reduce your monthly outgoings.

Bear in mind: debt consolidation does have its potential drawbacks and won’t be right for everyone. Repaying debt more slowly can mean you’re paying more in interest in the long run, for instance. To find out more about it you could visit this site: Gregory Pennington.

10. Recycle
Last but not least… one of the best ways to save money at home is to recycle anything you can.

So, once you’ve finished with a jam jar, wash it out and use it to store your spare change in – which will, literally, help you save money! Alternatively, you could use your old jars as storage for bits and bobs – meaning you won’t have to go out and buy storage containers.

Here’s another way you could ‘recycle’ if you’ve got children… when your older children grow out of their clothes, don’t throw them away, but keep them and pass them down to their younger siblings. You could save a fortune by doing this.

Simple things like this, however small, will soon add up and help you cut your costs in no time!

How to Get Out of Debt Part III

Here is the finale on our series, Part III, of getting yourself out of debt. If you haven’t read the first two parts, click here to view How to Get Out of Debt Part I, How to Get Out of Debt Part II.

6. Time to make some phone calls. I’m not going to recommend that everyone cut up all of their credit cards unless they’re in serious trouble. If you’ve been keeping current on all of your payments while getting deeper into debt, you at least have a chance to help yourself out. Call all of your big credit card companies (Visa, Mastercard, Discover) and ask for a rate reduction. If you’ve kept up on payments, most of them will offer you a reduction, which can save you a lot of money in fees, and in some ways immediately reduce your payment amount.

Next, if you need a quick infusion of cash and have a car payment, call them and ask if you can delay payment for one month. Most auto loan companies will give owners upwards of 10 times during the life of a loan where they can delay payment a month, though you will pay a very small fee and your loan will be extended a month for each delay. Still, it’s a nice way to get a one month jump on some funds that might help you get over, or caught up, on some delinquencies.

7. Get a part time job. Yes, I know this one everyone hates. The thing is that there’s only so much one can hope to save while trying to cut expenses, and a nice part time job might add at least $200 to your cash flow during the month, often much more. Of course if you work a full time job with lots of overtime this might be hard to do, but for most people, that’s not a concern.

Here’s the thing. There are different kinds of part time jobs. If you can write, you might be able to find some freelance writing work that could earn you some nice pay and you won’t even have to leave the house. Maybe you can find something that fits a particular skill you have. In Loral Langemeyer’s book The Millionaire Maker, she often makes that a part of her recommendations for clients who work with her, and many of them have found that it turns into a better career than the one they’d been doing, makes more money, and they enjoy it more.

Following these tips will get you out of debt, though it’s not an easy process and could take awhile. However, alleviating the worries of whether or not you will ever be able to overcome your debt will be a big benefit to you once you see what you’re up against, and you’ll love the feeling of independence that you’ll end up giving yourself.

See more:
10 Steps to Overcoming Credit Card Debt

How to Negotiate A Credit Card Settlement

How do you plan to get ahead? Ways to Increase Your Income

How to Get Out of Debt Part II

Continuing with our miniseries on getting yourself out of debt, we tackle the concept of payment plans. Click here to read How to Get Out of Debt Part I.

5. Set up a payment plan; yes, the dreaded “budget” word. Luckily, you’re already partially there because you’ve listed all your debts. If you have one and know how to use it, list everything in a spreadsheet program because this will make it easy to track, or at least set everything up. Here’s what you want to do.

First, figure out which bills are due when. Base it off either your one week or two week payment schedule; if you get paid once a month, you can skip this part. Set up a schedule where you know when you’ll pay which bills for at least six months.

You’re probably wondering why. Earlier we figured out what your net income was for 26 weeks. However, most people budget for twice a month payments, which means you actually get two extra weeks of payments a year. So, what you’ll find is that, if you extend your budget for six months, you’ll gain a pay period, and thus earn yourself a little benefit and boost which you’d have never known about if you hadn’t budgeted.

Something else you’ll do with your payment plan concerns your credit card payments. There are three schools of thought on this one. The first says to tackle the card with the highest interest rate first. The second says to go after the cards with the highest balances first. The third says to go after the cards with the lowest balances first. Let’s take a look at each of these.

The cards with the highest interest rates add more to your balances on average than other cards. Going after these balances saves money because it saves on the amount of interest you’re getting charged for.

The cards with the highest balances are the ones that make you feel beaten up and overwhelmed. If you go after these balances first, as you see them coming down your stress level will decrease.

My favorite, however, is going after cards with low balances first. The principle behind this is that everyone works best when they can see successes. The quicker you can pay off a balance, the better you’ll feel, and you’ll be ready to tackle the next card.

Of course, the idea behind all three of these ideas is that, whichever one you select, you pay more than the minimum balance, at least 50% more if you can afford it, and stop using all of your cards except possibly one; we’ll come back to that concept. Then, when you pay off the low balance card, you take that payment and apply it to the next lowest card, and so forth.

The thing is, if you have a low balance with a high interest rate, this is a win-win. If your highest balance is also your highest interest rate, you’re heading towards trouble quicker, and you just might have to go after that one first, bringing the balance down to a safer level before going after one of your other cards.

Why do I recommend you keep one card going? The reality is that if you can use one of your credit cards for small purchases, what you’ll have to pay the next month is relatively low compared to having to pay cash for everything. You don’t use it for everything in a month, just a couple of things. If you put gas in your car weekly, maybe throw one of those weeks onto your credit card. Maybe one week in the month use your credit card for the purchases. This is extreme, but if you have the space on the card it might help for a quick fix, though we’re weaning you away from credit cards eventually.

See more:
How to Get Out of Debt Part III

75 Painless Ways to Save Money

8 Simple Ways to Save Money

7 Days of Money Saving Tips

How to Get Out of Debt Part I

Many times, when people are looking for ways to reduce their debt, they go looking to find someone else to help them with their problems. The truth of the matter is that every person is capable of figuring their way out of debt if they have a job and are bringing in some kind of money. Below are some tips to employ to help you gradually, or quickly, work your way out of debt.

1. Write down all your debts. This is always the first step, because, as Dr. Phil might say, you can’t address what you won’t acknowledge. Take one month’s worth of bills and write down what each is, as well as what the amount is that you’re expected to pay. As it pertains to credit cards, also write down the annual percentage rate. Also, write down how much you estimate you spend on things such as food, gas, entertainment, etc.

2. Calculate your monthly net income. Net income means how much you actually bring home, or have deposited into the bank. Hopefully, it’s the same amount every pay period; if not, then it’s going to be a total estimate. There’s a few ways of doing this. One, if it’s the same amount, multiply that by either 52 if you get paid weekly, 26 if you get paid bi-weekly, or 12 if you get paid monthly.

After you’ve done the first two things, see what the difference is between what you’re bringing home and what your monthly bills come to is. Hopefully, you’re on the positive side as far as income goes. If you’re close either way, there’s still hope. If you’re in the ditch, and your expenses outweigh your income, you’re in trouble, but there’s still hope for you.

3. Take a look at the bills you’re paying to see what may be there that you either don’t really need, or can reduce. For instance, if you have cable and have all the premium channels, you could probably get rid of some of those to reduce your bill. Maybe with your cell phone you can eliminate the internet for awhile, or reduce your text message plan somewhat. These are luxuries, not necessities, and you might miss them, but your wallet will thank you. Most people will find that if they really take a good look at things like this, they can save anywhere from $100 to $300 a month, depending on how much they were spoiling themselves.

4. Take a better look at expenses that aren’t monthly bills. You’re probably not going to be able to reduce your gas consumption because you’re not really going to save all that much money taking the bus to work unless you drive long distances, in which case taking the bus might make a lot of sense. However, reducing your entertainment budget might be a big deal, especially if you’re eating out twice a week, or every day for lunch. It’s almost better to increase your food bill a little bit to get things so you can take a lunch with you, and maybe eat out once every two weeks, at a less expensive restaurant, instead of weekly. If you’re really in trouble, extra spending to make yourself feel better will only hurt you.

See more:
How to Get Out of Debt Part II

How to Get Out of Debt Part III

Dr. Phil’s Tips to Eliminate Debt

The 12-step Get Out of Debt Program

Quickly Reduce Debt

With so many of us in debt in our society today, who isn’t looking for ways to reduce their debt quickly? Quick doesn’t mean easy, and reducing your debt usually will take hard work. This article should give you some ideas on how to save hundreds of dollars every month that could be spent paying off your debts. The goal should be to pay off, or significantly pay down, one of your debts each month. Once that debt is paid off, switch to another and work to reduce that outstanding balance. When you’ve finally made that final payment to your last creditor, you should find yourself sitting debt free. Here are some ideas on how to save a few hundred dollars monthly. Sometimes you can save even more than this depending on your determination and will to go through with the necessary steps to pay off your debts.

• Eat Out Less Often – Fast food and traditional restaurants can be expensive when frequented often. Eating fast food for lunch each day can easily cost as much as $25 or more each week. Taking the family to a restaurant once a week quickly adds up, or should I say quickly deducts from your disposable income. Cutting out these expenses can save you at least $100 – $200 a month.
• Doing Without Cable – With today’s cable fees, often including phone and Internet access, monthly costs for these services are usually well over $100 a month. If you can do without your cable and maybe your Internet access, maybe even cutting out your home phone and only using a cell phone, you can save yourself a good amount of money. If you can’t live without cable, cut back on some of your cable add-ons, i.e. movie channels and sports packages.
• Drink Your Coffee at Home – With the price of a double-shot espresso somewhere in the range of $3 to $7 at the likes of Starbucks, Dunken Donuts, etc., you would save a large sum of money by simply drinking, or at least preparing, your coffee at home. You could save as much as $100 per month by drinking coffee at home.
• Kick the Habit – Quitting smoking can save you a good chunk of money, not to mention add years to your life. The average price of cigarettes in nearing $8 a pack, a pack a day can cost a whopping $240 per month, this one seems like a no brainer.
• Help the Environment – Carpooling or riding public transportation can save you a good deal of money on gasoline. Average gas prices are in the $3 range, and depending on how far your commute to work is each day, you may be able to save as much as $50 – $100 monthly.

These are just a few of the countless money saving ideas that many, if not all, of us can implement into our daily routines. Try some of these suggestions out for yourself and start saving today. Or, brainstorm on some more money saving ideas and share them with our readers. The important thing is that you take the initiative and start taking the necessary steps to reduce your debt and work towards becoming financial free.

Money Saving Tips for Debt Relief

With the economy as it currently is, many people are starting to find themselves getting deeper in debt by the day. Many are finding that they have much less disposable income and are having to go without certain items, including cutting back on their favorite hobbies and interests. Rising credit card debt and interest rate hikes have also prevented many from turning to their credit cards.

Before you get too deep into debt, you may have to start considering whether to declare bankruptcy, which will harm your credit report, or take out a debt consolidation loan, which may end up costing more money in the long run.  Another option is to take out a home equity loan, or home equity line of credit. A problem with this is that you risk losing your home if you default on the loan. The best advice is to try to develop a system to start saving extra money each month.

Below are a few ideas on how to save extra money that can be used to pay off some of your outstanding debt, while reducing your carbon footprint at the same time.

Saving extra money while reducing the harm done to the planet might give you more motivation to actually continue with these practices. Most are simple changes that can be made to our everyday lives and schedules. Some are a little harder to implement. Remember that saving money and reducing your debt is hard work and is a goal that must be taken seriously to achieve the most reward.

• Carpool – Gas prices fluctuate, but they have one thing in common, they continue to rise over time. Carpooling or taking public transit will save money on gas while reducing the amount of exhaust fumes released into the atmosphere.
• Timers – Placing timers on water heaters and thermostats reduces the amount of electricity used and therefore will save you money on your utility bill. The less electricity you use, the lower the demand on the resources necessary to produce that electricity.
• Recycle – While this won’t always save you money unless you actually collect the deposits on bottles or scrap metals, it drastically cuts back on the power and natural resources needed to produce these items. Recycle kitchen towels rather than buy paper-towels and look for other reusable items over disposable ones.

These are just a few ideas on how you can make a difference relating to your bills and the harm done to the planet. There are many ways to lower your impact and save money at the same time. Use these or others that you think of. The important thing is that you do something.

See more:

How Does Recycling Save Money?

Money Saving Ideas for Frugal Moms