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I used to have a lot of bad habits, and then I looked at my wallet. The amount of money that I had been spending on vices and compulsive purchases astounded me, and it was enough to convince me to kick bad habits and start money-saving ones. Now I’m a new man: a non-smoker, a frugal consumer, and a shopper who cannot not research for online deals and discounts.

What are bad habits that one might want to kick to live frugally? What are some of the little ways to save money? Here are a few of my personal examples. Some of them might seem obvious, but everyone needs a bit of reminding now and then.

Stop smoking. I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Needless to say, that set me back more than a hundred dollars a month. It was difficult to quit cold turkey, of course, and I thought that my lungs will burn with longing, so what I did was look up websites that offered advice and support through chat rooms and community forums.

Don’t shop when hungry. Any hungry shopper faces a great temptation. The lure of the here and now, the prospect of immediately gratifying one’s self, is too much sometimes. I can relate. Before I used to go grocery shopping in the morning, before lunch, and I would be picking out all kinds of canned goods and potato chips from the shelves. Now I go to the grocery after I have eaten, so I wouldn’t think too much of looking for food and spending without a sense of proportion.

Cook at home. I used to eat so frequently at restaurants that I remember having spent about a thousand dollars a month on meals. That’s why evenings tired me; the dinners out also made me gain weight and lose a lot of potential savings. Now, I simply cook at home. I’ve bought a couple of recipe books so I can cook fine meals at home. I also eat leftovers and sometimes even bring my lunch to work.

Research first before finalizing travel plans. There are a lot of online deals being offered by travel companies and agencies. I used to ignore these and traveled rather capriciously – whether the trip was for business or for leisure. Now, I actively search out deals and check the Internet before deciding on anything: I check bookings, cancellations in travel clubs I’ve joined, special package offers, and budget airline tickets. I also usually stay at cheap hotels that have loyalty programs for frequent guests.

Avoid too much loyalty and shop around. I used to be so intent on getting the best and most popular brands – be it for fashion, for cars, for cellphones and for computers. Now, I first study what online deals there are available. Can I get something cheaper but just as practical? Am I paying a premium for the name of the manufacturer? Shopping around may take some time, but it also saves a little money.

David Stack is a computer programmer and web developer, and a weekend writer. He has been operating Coupon Saver for over a year now. Get more gift coupon codes, free shipping and promos by visiting Promotional Codes.

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The Mileage Tax Deduction Can Save You a Lot of Money

How often are you driving for work, as a volunteer or perhaps even moving? Would you say that nearly all of your driving is done for one of these reasons? If not, consider, the times you leave the office for business reasons, or if you work from home, leave and return home for business reasons. What about those trips you take if you haul the kids’ baseball team somewhere – or help out at your church?

All of these miles that you drive are deductible for tax purposes. As of July 1, 2008, the standard rate is also increased to $0.585 per mile ($0.19 for volunteer and moving miles). The IRS does require logs of miles to be kept for your records – and in case of an audit. You may find that by keeping logs up-to-date, at the end of the year you will have significantly more miles accounted for deduction purposes than if you are more lax in your record keeping.

The cost of driving a vehicle has skyrocketed in the past few years. Gasoline costs alone carve into business and household budgets in ways you could not have expected in the past. The driving you do to earn a living is a significant cost and Congress has recognized the importance of this deduction as a vital means for people to continue to pursue their incomes.

The tax code requires only that expenses are ordinary and necessary. It is not required that you show that the specific reasons for the expense are also ordinary and necessary – only that the expenses are both. So, for example, if you work from home and will be needing new paper for your printer in the near future, but decide to pick it up while you are out grocery shopping, both the expense for the paper itself, and driving to where you purchase it are deductible – wow!

Since the mileage expense to drive to the office supply store is ordinary and necessary, the mileage is deductible – in spite of the personal purchases you made while shopping. You have just converted an otherwise non-deductible trip to the store into a fully deductible business trip. There are many other opportunities available to you that you may not have thought about to take advantage of this deduction.

The mileage tax deduction, like many others deductions, can be calculated for free at TurboTax Online. The only time you are asked to pay for the service is if you decide to print or efile. Or, if you still have questions, visit Elusen Tax Advisors! Elusen has years of experience planning and advising clients on their tax needs, and helping fend off the IRS however necessary.

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Alternative Fuel Vehicles is one of the fastest rising search terms on the internet today. It doesn’t take much to figure out why. Between rising fuel prices, environmental issues and the declining production of fossil fuels, running a private vehicle is moving out of the reach of many people. Add in the mortgage crisis and the pressure on the wallet is simply too big to cope with.

The move to alternative transportation is not new, though. There’s been a rising tide of people shifting to options like public transport, bicycles and the like, over the last few decades. There’s always been a segment of the population on too tight a budget to afford a car – students or social security recipients, for example, but slowly it seems that other groups have joined the boycott. Environmental groups have founded movements like “Critical Mass” that look to bicycles to get to work and rally on a regular basis. Inner city dwellers have discovered themselves in situations where private vehicle ownership is simply not practical – with public transport routes getting them to work faster than gridlocked traffic would allow. Some Universities in the US are now banning private cars for freshmen, and signing up for shared transport contracts with companies like ‘zipcar’.

The other side of the story, though, might surprise you. As well as more people using public transport and unfuelled (or alternatively fuelled) vehicles, there’s been a growing trend towards research that breaks out of the box entirely. Transport options like flying cars are not only being researched, but already exist. Three wheeled vehicles powered by a combination of pedal power and electricity (the Twike), or more standard hybrid engines (the Carver) are running on roads through Europe and the US already. Monowheels have been around since the 1600s, but huge numbers of variations have emerged in the last century alone. Gyrocopters are another solution not only in development, but already here! There are cars that can drive on water, as well as under it (although why they used a convertible I’ll never know), pods on legs, cars that fold up small enough to take with you on the train and all kinds of bizarre things happening to the world of transport – I’ve had some amazing fun just over the last few weeks alone hunting down some of them, and my mind has been blown away repeatedly by how creative some of it is!

Even the automotive industry admits the world of transport is changing. Their vision of 2020 in the recent IBM report doesn’t bear much, if any, resemblance to the status quo.

So what is in store for transport? Well, to start with, it looks multi-mode. You’re not going to rely on one type of vehicle for every kind of trip. You’ll pick whatever’s appropriate, and mix-and-match from there. A PRT (personal rapid transport) or NEV (neighbourhood Electric Vehicle) will take you to the train (or whatever that’s evolved into), which will take you most of the distance, and another PRT or NEV will be waiting on the other end, if it doesn’t drop you close enough to walk. If you do have a little runabout to get yourself around in, you might decide to hand the keys in on the weekend in exchange for a bigger off-roader for a family trip.

Sounds like a pain to get to work? Well, who knows. With telecommuting technology growing fast you may not have to show up anywhere but a local ‘office hub’ where you clock in to work for whatever company has you on the books at the time. Shopping? Well, since your fridge orders it all delivered, or failing that you go on the internet to do the same, you don’t have to worry about carting stuff back. Actually, with the growing trend to community gardens you probably won’t be doing as much grocery shopping anyway!

Transport is going to have to become part of the planning process – developments will need infrastructure for people to get around laid along with the foundations. Bear in mind, if there aren’t as many people needing space to put a private car, housing without car spaces can be built much cheaper, taking up less land and either giving it back as garden space or reducing the price (going the other way from the current mortgage crisis). Sound way too far off in the future? Guess what – it’s already underway. Lookup “Zero Carbon City” in the UAE and they’re doing just that.

Alternative vehicles are not part of the future. They’re here now, but even they are being superceded by the developments in alternative transportation.

Thinking of getting a new car? You might want to consider a short term lease!

Crystal N Woods
Analyst by day, NetCitizen by night, Futurist always: I’m delving into the world of alternative vehicles to bring you the funniest, fastest, coolest and most out there alternatives to the car that I can find. Visit me at http://alternativevehiclesreport.net and check them out!

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