| $10000 Cash Personal Expenses |
| By Credit Federal |
Published
10/11/2007
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Debt Help
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$10000 Personal Expense Cash Savings
Frequently suffer money shortage problems? Looking for $10000 cash to cover personal expenses? You're not alone, and here's how you can increase your savings by $10000 per year by cutting your personal expenses.
If you have money shortage problems, you are far from being alone. In fact, 41 million Americans; that's one in five working families, can't afford the basics of life such as shelter and health care, just because they earn too much to qualify for food stamps or Medicaid.
Sadly, being employed denies many from receiving government aid such as medicaid, though their employer health insurance doesn't cover enough of their basic medical costs. It's almost not worth it to even go to work.
Our 'work support' policies need to be updated to support the millions of families with earners in low paying jobs and/or with insufficient employer health care.
This recent study examined conditions in nine states and the District of Columbia, and discovered government programs close about two-fifths of the 'hardships gap' (a measure of the difference between a family's income, including all aid programs, and the local costs of goods and services).
Families; the report cited, fall into the hardships gap because the low wage labor market provides meager pay and few employment based work supports for low and moderate wage workers. The report's authors recommend steps such as focusing on better wages and mandates for employers to provide employment based benefits, and simplifying the eligibility criteria and application requirements for work supports. It also notes that public policy has not caught up to the reality that even working families may need public work supports and; without public work supports, they and their families go without health insurance, adequate child care, safe housing or other necessities. Many of those in the hardships gap earn too much, or do not meet other eligibility criteria to qualify for work supports, although they are low income.
Two years ago, about one in five workers had jobs that paid less than the median wage of 1979 in inflation adjusted dollars and did not offer health insurance or a retirement plan. Employer based benefits are good for people with access to them, but most unskilled, low wage workers aren't offered or can't afford them.
The median monthly hardships gap for families in the states covered by the report was $1,524. After work supports, that gap decreased to $855. Therefore, the typical family with a hardships gap sees a savings of about $8,000 in work supports.
Meanwhile, what can you do if you are a low wage earned and don't qualify for aid?
One of the more immediate changes you can make for instant benefit, is to reduce wasteful personal expenses. It's very easy to waste money; and to waste a whole lot of it, a dollar or two at a time.
$10000 per year in extra cash. Personal expenses that get costly fast.
You could easily cut your personal expenses by up to $10000 per year, or even more. Here are unnecessary expenses:
Coffee: According to the National Coffee Association, the average price for a cup of brewed coffee is $1.38. Even if you buy coffee only on week-workdays, since there are about 260 weekdays per year that comes to almost $360 per year.
Cigarettes: Cigarettes can cost you more than just the actual cigarette price (increased health care costs and missed work days due to poorer health; carpet cleaning costs to remove stale smoke odor, etc). Yet even just considering only the actual cigarette cost, the average price for a pack of cigarettes in the United States is $4.54 (per the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids). Buying just one pack a day comes to $1,650 per year.
Alcohol: Alcohol prices vary, but assuming $8 per six-pack per week, that comes to $416 per year... and that's for drinking at home and not paying tips.
Bottled water from convenience stores: A 20 ounce bottle of Aquafina bottled water costs about $1. One bottle of water per work day costs about $260 per year.
Manicures: The Day Spa Magazine Price Survey of 2004 found that the average cost of a manicure is $20.53. A twice manicure totals about $492.72 per year.
Car washes: The average cost for a standard auto detailing package is $58. Do this every month and the cost is $696 per year.
Eating lunch out: Assuming you grab $5.00 worth of fast foot every work day; and estimating 260 work days per year, that comes to an annual cost of $1,300.
Snack attacks: The average vending machine snack costs $1. Buy just one snack item per work day and your annual total is about $260.
Unused memberships: Why keep paying for it if you don't use it? Gym memberships; for example, charge between $35 and $40 per month. At just $35 per month, that's $420 per year.
Interest charges on credit card bills: This can be the biggie. According to one survey, the median amount of credit card debt carried by Americans is $6,600. The average interest rate on a standard card is about 13%. Making the minimum payment each month, it will take 250 months (almost 21 years) to pay off the debt and cost $4,868 in interest.
Grand total saved per year: $10,722.72!
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