Simple ways to find money for investing

Are you ready to get serious about your retirement? If you are finally ready to start setting aside money to put into your retirement and your future, you really need to focus on frugal living so you will have plenty of money set aside. It is hard to predict what type of problems you will have in your elderly years and with inflation and taxes on the rise, you will need to save almost double to triple of what your parents and grandparents have saved for their retirement.Here are some simple ways you can find money for retirement:

Get rid of credit card debt
Any debt in general is not good but credit card debt is simply wasteful. The new credit card laws now show you how much money you can save by paying more than the monthly payment toward your credit card. Take notice of your credit card statements and focus on paying more than the minimum amount or even the "suggest" amount that will pay off the balance in 3 years. While you are young, you do want to start setting aside money to your retirement, but it will be easier for you to put more money in your account if you can get rid of your debt. Once you get those credit cards and other debts paid off, make a special effort to try and keep your debt under control so you aren't using more than 30% of the total balance of your credit cards. Try to only have one credit card and only use it when you really need it instead of using it as a crutch.

Reduce eating out and unnecessary costs
Add up how much money you spend by going out to restaurants each year. Those trips to Subway and McDonalds count as eating out as well so you need to add them into your unnecessary costs when you are taking a look at where your money is going. What about the amount of money you pay towards cigarettes, alcohol, and even soda. These aren't really necessary expenses and they add up in a hurry. Cutting these things out of your life will help you to come up with more money that you need in order to start saving for your retirement.

Drive, don't fly
When it comes to taking vacations, is it really cost effective for you to fly, rent a car, and a hotel room? Stick to some frugal vacations by staying in lower cost motels versus the first-class hotels. Check into the cost of how much it will cost you to drive and if it will save you money compared to flying. Usually driving is a lot cheaper from flying, you may just need to add in an extra travel day to your vacation.Subscribe to a few travel websites like Travelocity.com along with Expedia.com as they often run deals on first-class hotels for a low cost.Travel in the off-peak season in order to get better rates and to save more money on gas.

Watch your spending
Be careful about overspending as it's easy to do and it can get you into trouble. Use a good software program like Quicken as it helps you to track your expenses. You should also look into getting a health savings account for your medical bills so it doesn't go into your Quicken file. Keeping an eye on where your money is going will help you figure out where you can cut back some of your spending in order to focus on putting more money towards your retirement. Do a month-to-month analysis of your spending so you can get a better idea to where your money is going.