How to solve your

money problems

Savings efforts

This quite naturally brings us to talk about the necessity of making efforts at saving. Know that "there's no better source of profit than saving" (Publilius Syrus).

You must beware of tendency to wasting — a tendency which the mass-media and advertisement try to preserve and amplify. Only consume what's strictly necessary, in the most economical possible way. Keep any object that can still be used again, even though it's not working perfectly or on the cutting edge of technology.

You must also adopt a more frugal or even somewhat ascetic lifestyle. Take pleasure in freeing yourself more and more from material needs. Diogenes the Cynic, who had renounced wealth and honors, lived in a barrel and only had a bowl as his flatware. On seeing a child drinking in the hollow of his hands, Diogenes sighed: "This child teaches me that I still possess something superfluous", and then he broke his bowl. Of course, it's out of the question to advise you to follow Diogenes's example literally, but only to incite you to cut down your more or less futile needs as far as possible. Train yourself to have an indifferent, suspicious and even hostile attitude towards advertisements, displays, shop windows, and door-to-door sales.

Even though you have to buy certain things, think in terms of smart purchases. If you can wait, buy only during a sales and promotion period — you could then make considerable savings. Don't buy products which has had a lot of advertisement, otherwise you'll not only pay the actual price of these products but also the expenses for the "ad". Give your preference to unmarked or even off-labeled products on condition, of course, that they're of proper quality.

Don't hesitate either to negotiate or even to bargain. Don't be shy. If you can't get a discount, maybe you can have something extra, some kind of bonus — a mouse for the purchase of a computer, metallic paint for the purchase of a car, a roll of film for the purchase of a camera, and so on. At least you'd have gained that!

Check to see if you don't pay too much for your car insurance, your house insurance, etc. There exist important rate differences from one insurance company to another. Play on the competition, or at least only pay for your specific needs, which can be less expensive than those of others.

Cancel your subscriptions to reviews and magazines which you don't read and to which you regularly re-subscribe out of sheer habit. Don't either buy books that you're not absolutely sure that you're going to read.