According to a 2011 survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, 64% of Americans don’t have enough cash on-hand to handle a $1,000 emergency. If you don’t have money put away for emergencies, you’re walking a financial tightrope.

Building an emergency fund is one of the most important ways to protect yourself against financial disaster. It’s an account with money set aside strictly for emergencies and when bad things happen. Experts say when people fail to have an adequate emergency fund in place they often turn to debt.

Because stuff happens

Bad things can and do happen in life. It doesn’t always have to be something totally catastrophic but if you go long enough, some unexpected surprise, incident or problem will leave you with a large bill. If you’re lucky, the problem is relatively straight forward: Your car could break down, the heater in your house could go out, or you might need a new roof.

Then there are the really bad things. You could lose your job and be out of work for two months or you could need an operation and have to cover a $5,000 insurance deductible.

You can’t anticipate when these things can happen but you can prepared for them financially by having money set aside. William Hammer, Jr., CFP, Vice President of Wealth Management for Vanderbilt Partners, said an emergency fund can prevent an emotional struggle from becoming a financial one.

“It’s not that the odds of something terrible happening are that great. It’s that the hardships could be devastating if you don’t have the money. An emergency fund is a piece of mind,” said Hammer.

Aim to have six months living expenses put away

Most financial advisors recommend you have at least six months worth of living expenses or income in your emergency fund. This should be what you need to cover bare essentials such as the mortgage, utilities, food, insurance premiums, childcare costs and everything you need to keep your life running.

You don’t need to include retirement contributions, money for fun on the weekends and other discretionary spending. If your mortgage, utilities, food and all the basics add up to $3,000 per month, you’ll want to aim to have $18,000 in your emergency fund.

Mari Adam, Certified Financial Planner and president of Adam Financial Associates, said while six months is ideal, it can be a little out of reach for most people. She said three might suffice for many and if you can’t meet that, then “something” is always better than nothing.

“Even one month is better than nothing. You need to have something put away to handle emergencies. Some people say they can’t save up six months worth, so they get frustrated and quit,” she said.

Adam recommends putting your emergency fund in an online savings account and setting up automatic transfers to slowly build it to the level you need. You also need to be disciplined and not give into temptation to pull money from your emergency fund to take vacations, indulge in splurges or use it for non-emergency expenses.

If you don’t usually invest in a Roth IRA, Adam said another alternative might be to start building an emergency fund in one. While a Roth is a retirement account, you’re allowed to withdraw contributions at any time for any reason. You can typically put up to $5,000 per year in a Roth and your money can grow tax-free and be withdrawn tax-free in retirement.

“Maybe you put it in a Roth and hopefully you don’t need the money. You’ll have some emergency funds in place and you’ll also be building a retirement fund,” said Adam.

Going without an emergency fund is an open door to debt

When you don’t have an adequate emergency fund, you risk having to turn to debt in a time of crisis.

The N.F.C.C. survey found that 17 percent of respondents said they would borrow money from family to cover the emergency. Another 17 percent said they would neglect existing obligations, 12 percent said they would sell or pawn belongings and 9 percent said they would get a loan from a cash advance store. All of these options can lead to snowballing debt and financial problems.

“Most people will turn to credit cards or a home equity line of credit, if they’re lucky enough to have one when you consider where home prices are at,” said Adam Koos, CFP, President and Founder of Libertas Wealth Management.

The problem with relying on debt is you start accruing interest on whatever problem you had. If you’re tapping a credit card with a 20% interest rate to cover that $1,000 car repair and carry that debt for a year, that problem will now cost you $1,200 instead. Koos said you can “be your own credit card” by saving up the money to begin with.

Adam said whereas many people relied on home equity lines of credit to serve as an emergency fund, fewer people have that option nowadays. Plummeting real estate values across the country means that fewer people have home equity to borrow against.

Craig Guillot is a business and personal finance writer from New Orleans. He covers insurance, investing, real estate, retirement and debt. His work has appeared in such publications and web sites as Entrepreneur, CNNMoney.com, CNBC.com, Bankrate.com and Investor’s Business Daily. He is the author of “Stuff About Money: No BS Financial Advice for Regular People.“

If you’d like to retire early with a cushy nest egg, you might have to do more than just create a savings plan. In fact, the secret to getting richer may have as much to do with an Oprah-esque philosophy (visualize your dreams!) as it does with a Suze Orman one.

What does visualization have to do with saving?

Acccording to a new study titled, “Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self”, published in the Journal of Marketing Research in 2011, one of the reasons many people fail to save enough for retirement is that they have trouble visualizing what they’ll be like when they’re older. “To those estranged from their future selves, saving is like a choice between spending money today or giving it to a stranger years from now,” the authors write. In effect: We can’t relate to the person we’ll be 30 years from now, so we aren’t that concerned with saving a ton of money for the future.

Gen X and Gen Y need visualization more than other generations.

The problem with this, of course, is that it leaves us under-saved for retirement. Nearly two out of three Gen Yers (born 1983-1991) saved nothing towards retirement last year, according to a 2011 survey by Scottrade. Among those who do plan to save, the reality isn’t pretty: 21% plan to save only one to two percent of their income this year.

Gen X isn’t doing much better. Nearly half of the members of this group are at risk of not having enough money to maintain their current standard of living in retirement, even with Social Security factored in, according to a study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “Many people fail to save what they need to for retirement,” write the authors of the above study on increasing savings. This is especially troubling these days, “Since we’re living longer, we’re now at a greater risk than ever of outliving [our] money or undergoing a sudden decrease in quality of life,” they write. Translation: If we don’t save more for retirement, we’re going to be old and broke or, at the very least, working well into our 70s.

The key to staying connected to our future selves.

The question is: How do we reduce the disassociation between who we are today and who we’ll be in the future, so we can learn to save more? By visualizing our older selves, the study reveals. In the study, the authors showed  young people drawings of themselves that were “age-progressed” to make them seem much older. After being exposed to these drawings, the participants made “more future-oriented choices,” one of which was to save at a higher rate.

In fact, the subjects who saw drawings of their older selves contributed twice as much to their retirement accounts as those who were shown drawings of themselves as they looked in the present. These findings are bolstered by a 2009 study titled, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow: Individual differences in future self-continuity account for saving,” which found that the more connected a person is to their future self, the richer they tend to be.

Of course, you likely don’t have a drawing of your older self to stare at each day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the findings of this study to help you save more. Hal Herschfield, one of the authors of the study, recommends spending a few minutes visualizing an older version of yourself before you make major financial decisions, like how much to contribute to your 401(k) or how to allocate your investment assets. Not only should you think about what you’ll look like when you’re older, but “you should imagine the vacation you’ll go on, the time spend with grandchildren and other lifestyle things. It’s most important to do this before any big financial decisions,” he says.

“The Secret to Saving More: Picture Gray Hair?” was written by Cheap Chic.

Fact: Our grandparents and great-grandparents were better at saving money than we are.

Photo Credits

While there are many reasons for their success, there are three core principles of personal finance that we can learn from them. These principles are tried and true, and something that many of us have lost sight of.

Economic trends may come and go, but saving money never goes out of style. Let’s take a moment to rediscover three principles of personal finance that have withstood the test of time:

Ingenuity

Our grandparents were shrewd and they were frugal. While it’s easy to joke about this generation being full of “cheapskates,” ingenuity goes beyond just being resourceful: It is at the crossroads of creativity and dexterity.

How we can apply this to our lives today:

-If something breaks, try to fix it yourself.

-If a newer and “better” version of something comes out, wait to buy it until your current model no longer works.

-Put away the checkbook and try to solve problems creatively.

-Teach yourself skills that expand your practical knowledge.

Accountability

The Greatest Generation took control of their finances because they were accountable for every penny they spent. The popularity of credit cards has diminished the need to keep track of every expense, as it has created a “swipe and reconcile later” attitude. Our grandparents were attached to their money because spending it was a tangible experience.

How we can apply this to our lives today:

-Use real-time tracking to keep your budget under control.

-Analyze your spending on a daily basis. Looking at credit card statements that are 30 to 45 days old will not help you take control of your finances today.

-Only ask or accept credit when it is truly necessary; learn to live within your means.

Humility

Because The Greatest Generation lived through The Great Depression, they learned to be truly grateful for everything that they had. Experiencing disastrous financial times made them painfully aware of the potential for future hardships. Our grandparents combined their grateful attitude with an unwavering work ethic and then used those skills to gain financial security and independence.

How we can apply this to our lives today:

-Drop the self-entitlement attitude: You only deserve what you have worked hard for.

-Be thankful for what you already have.

-Carefully analyze your “wants” versus “needs”.

-Combine a grateful attitude with an unwavering work ethic.

-Pay attention to your emotional attachment to spending money. Ask yourself, “Will purchasing this item really make me happy?”

While our grandparents and great-grandparents may have been better at saving money than most of us, it’s not too late to follow in their footsteps. With a little foresight and consciousness, we can begin down the path towards financial wisdom.

Morgan is a freelance writer and blogger living in Southern California with her two daughters and flock of backyard chickens. You can read more of her at The Little Hen House.

A federal student loan repayment plan based on income is attractive in a not-so-great economy. This is especially true if you are unemployed, or your income is less than in years past. The question is: How do you know if you qualify, and will your payment remain low?

Qualifying for Income-based Repayment

Everything you need to know about the formula for qualifying for income-based repayment (IBR) can be found on this income-based calculator. If your income level changes, or you experience a life change, such as marriage, divorce, or childbirth, you can recalculate your potential payment to see if you qualify for a reduction. Income-based payments change every year based on your current financial situation.

The income -based calculator is used to determine if you can afford to pay off your loans in 10-years. If you can’t afford to repay your student loans in 10 years, your loan payments may land anywhere between zero dollars to a little less than the 10-year payment. If you are on the plan and your income rises, your calculated income-based payment would be higher than the 10-year payment. Thus, you would revert to the 10-year payment plan for that year because your payment is never allowed to exceed the 10-year standard repayment amount. No matter what your payment is, in most circumstances anything you haven’t paid off in 25 years is forgiven. Additionally, individuals working in public service positions may qualify to have their loans forgiven after 120 payments.

What’s the best part of income-based repayment?

Your calculated payment amount is based on your income level, not the amount of the loan.

For example, you are single and you have an adjusted gross income from last year’s tax return of $40,000, you  qualify for a payment of $295. As long as $295 is less than your 10-year repayment amount, you can make this payment regardless of whether your student loan debt totals $40,000 or $140,000. (To learn about couples and income-based repayment, checkout Married Couples and Student Loans.)

Economic Deferment or Forbearance

One of the best benefits of income-based repayment is that if you qualify for economic deferment, a temporary reprieve from payments, your interest is paid for you on your subsidized loans for up to three years, just as if you were still in school. If you choose forbearance due to a situation that doesn’t qualify for economic deferment, such as an emergency home repair, research whether deferment or forbearance is the right choice. If you are considering deferment, make sure you compare your IBR payment options first. A $0 or $5 IBR payment based on your income keeps the 25-year time clock running, and the clock is put on hold for forbearance.

Drawbacks

Smaller payments and guaranteed payoff times sound like a dream, so what’s the catch? There are two big drawbacks to income-based repayment: A payment below your interest charges and the potential rise of your payment. How do these drawbacks affect you?

Let’s say that last year you were temporarily unemployed and you qualified for a $0 payment for part of the year. You have $40,000 in unsubsidized loans that accrued interest at 6.8%, which added $2,720 to your loan balance. While your payments will never go above a 10-year standard repayment amount, you may have to pay back this interest if your income rises, which brings us to the second drawback: Your $0 payment might rise to over $480 dollars.

Dividing under lenders

Now let’s say you borrowed federal student loans from three lenders. You owe $5,000 to bank A, $10,000 to bank B, and $10,000 to direct loans. Your monthly IBR payment is $200 ($40 to bank A and $80 to Bank B and $80 to direct loans).

Weighing the Pros and Cons

Income-based repayment is not the only option for paying off your loans. It is wise to compare the income-based payments with federal consolidation loans and standard repayment plans. The good new is: If you change your mind about IBR, you can always switch repayment plans the following year.

Reyna Gobel is a freelance journalist who specializes in financial fitness. She is also the author of Graduation Debt: How To Manage Student Loans and Live Your Life.

Many companies are nearing the end of their open enrollment period soon, which that means it’s time for you to finalize your choices about your benefits.  One of the options many employers offer these days is a Health Savings Account, or HSA.  An HSA is just what the name implies: A savings account specifically for your health care costs. Although similar to other savings options, such as the Flexible Spending Account or Health Reimbursement Account, an HSA has rules of its own (see this post for more on the specific differences).  Here are some guidelines for who can open an HSA and how it should be managed.

Who can open an HSA?

You can open an HSA if you have a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) as your only insurance and are not claimed as a dependent by another person. What counts as a high deductible?  In 2012, the levels are:

-$1,200 for a single plan

-$2,400 for a family plan.

Why open a separate savings account for health expenses?

The primary reason to open an HSA (if you’re eligible) is that you can place money in it pre-tax, which gives you an effective discount on everything you spend.  Think of it this way: If you pay a tax rate of 20%, then you have to earn $125 to pay for a $100 service.  But if you are paying with your tax-free HSA, you only have to earn $100.

What can I spend my HSA on?

You can only spend HSA money on “qualified health expenses,” which includes most major medical, dental, or vision expenses. Over-the-counter medications were once covered, but no longer count as of January 2011. You can also pay for certain health insurance premiums with your HSA. These include:

-COBRA premiums

-Health insurance while you are receiving unemployment compensation

-Medicare Part A, B, and D premiums

-Retiree health plan premiums

-Qualified long term care insurance premiums

How much should I deposit in my HSA?

Just like any savings account or retirement account, it depends on what you plan to do with it.

Do you expect to get health insurance with a lower deductible soon (including Medicare)? What has your historical spending been? (Use a service like Simplee or Cake Health to find this out quickly.) What health expenses to you expect to have in the next year?

There are two kinds of HSA consumers. Let’s call them “Health Savers” and “Health Planners.” Which one are you?

Health Savers don’t have high medical costs at the moment and have some extra cash to spare.

For them, an HSA is like a rainy day fund. It doesn’t hurt to put a little extra in an HSA. Because the money is yours, it rolls over year to year and you won’t lose it if you don’t spend it. The money rolled over will also still accrue interest.

Don’t go and deposit your life-savings in an HSA though. There is a penalty to withdraw funds for anything that is not a qualified health expense, so if you think you may need the money for something else, it may be better to hold off because you can always deposit it later. There are also limits to how much you can contribute each year (see below).

When you become eligible for Medicare, you can no longer contribute to an HSA. However, the money you have already deposited is yours and you can still draw it out to pay for medical expenses, tax free.

Health Planners know that they have some medical costs around the corner, so an HSA is more of a planning tool. A good rule of thumb is to save the amount of your deductible, plus the co-pays or coinsurance for the services you plan to get. There are annual limits to how much you can contribute. For 2012, the levels are:

-$3,100 for a single plan

-$6,250 for a family plan

If you have dependents, you can pay for their health care expenses with your HSA too, even if they are not covered by your HDHP.

Finally, don’t worry if you don’t know exactly how much to save, or if you don’t get your HSA just right. Think of it as money you were going to spend on health care anyway, only it’s saved in a place where you won’t be taxed. So, if you need to draw on other savings, or if your HSA rolls over to the next year, it’s OK! Like most budgets, Health Savings Accounts will never be perfectly balanced.

Tomer Shoval is the CEO and Co-Founder of Simplee, a free online personal health care expense management tool. Connect with him on twitter, facebook or email.

Basic household items like toilet paper and laundry detergent can be purchased in most major retail stores. And in many cases, these items can be purchased in bulk to cut down on costs.

But, what about baby gear? There is no shortage of large retailers selling these items,either, but buying in bulk (except with diapers and wipes, of course!) isn’t really an option. So, when it comes to popular baby gear, who has the best prices overall?

I did a cost comparison of nine common baby items at Babies R Us, Target, and Amazon (this list shies away from baby ripoffs). The price leaders are in bold, and for my methodology, see below. You might be surprised at which retailer came out ahead.

Retailers: Babies R Us/ Target/ Amazon

-Chico Keyfit 30 Carseat: $189.99; $179.99; $174.99
-Delta Sedona Classic Crib: $249.99; $229.99; $269.98
-Desitin Diaper Rash Ointment (4 oz): $5.99; $5.24; $5.33
-Bumbo Chair :$39.99; $33.99*; $39.74  (*diff brand)
-Chico Cortina Stroller: $179.99; $152.99; $153.55
-JP Lizzy Classic Tote Set diaper bag: $85.99; $73.10; $86
-Carter’s Wrap Me Up receiving blankets (4-pack): $16.99; $12.99*; $16.99  (*slightly larger blanket)
-Johnson & Johnson Head to Toe Baby Wash (28 oz): $6.79; $4.99; $4.97* (*price is actually $9.94 for two-pack)
-Graco Direct Connect baby monitor (two receivers): $89.99; $89.99; $85.13

Totals: $865.71; $783.27; $836.68

Who is the big winner?

Target came out as the overall price leader, with these nine items costing a grand total of $783.27. The tally at Amazon rose to $836.68, and at Babies R Us it was $865.71. Target had six low price leaders while Amazon had three and Babies R Us had none (before coupons).

If you factor in buying these 10 items at Babies R Us with a 10% off coupon (which are often available) the total drops to $779.14 and Babies R Us becomes your price leader. This should give you an idea of just how closely these retailers price their products.

The competitive pricing is good and bad. It makes it easy to tip the overall winner in favor of the store you prefer by using coupons, free shipping offers, and rewards programs. Except it also means there is no single,true price leader. Constant price comparison and shopping multiple stores is a must for true bargain hunters. In my opinion, shopping at second hand stores or getting baby stuff for free is an even better way to save on common baby items.

Methodology: I compared online prices at Babies R Us, Target, and Amazon on Nov. 10, 2011. Prices are for the exact same products, unless otherwise noted in italics. I did not include shipping charges as it’s possible to waive this fee with a coupon or bulk purchase. I did not take into account coupons, which are often available at Babies R Us, and occasionally, at Target. Additionally, I did not factor in the Amazon Mom discount, which offers an additional 30% off diapers and some other baby supplies. Prices vary in-store.

Julia Scott writes the money-saving blog BargainBabe.com. She is due in January.

For those of us who’ve grown up always having cable or satellite service, paid television seems as basic an expense as groceries or electricity. But depending on what you watch, cutting the cord in part (or whole) can help cut expenses - but not your most vital TV services. You can watch HD Big Brother, House M.D., Survivor or American Idol for the cost of a $50 rooftop or balcony-attached antenna. Watch TV via internet streaming for as little as $0. And if you need a reminder regarding the value of the major networks, the top 20 primetime shows for the week of May 9^th to May 15^th were on free, broadcast television. 

Still, if you watch more than broadcast television, you’re going to have do some research in order to avoid missing much programming. You’ll need a combo of internet and free television options, because watching TV without cable service isn’t as simple as placing one order and clicking power on your remote.

Know Your Options

For starters, there’s equipment. If you use an antenna for local television stations, you’ll want to plug in your address at Antennaweb.org.  Just as with a satellite dish, says Consumer Electronics Association Director Megan Pollock, reception varies by the direction your home faces and interfering objects (such as if your apartment faces a tall cement building). If you don’t want to install an outdoor antenna (and antennaweb.org indicates you should get good reception), try an indoor antenna. Purchasing an indoor antenna is pretty goof-proof, too, since you can keep the box and return it if your signal isn’t clear.

When you browse channels to check reception, don’t just look for the expected local networks, such as PBS, NBC or Univision. Each channel can split their digital signal to create multiple channels of programming in a process called “multicasting.”  According to American Broadcast Association spokesperson Dennis Wharton, you could watch your favorite primetime show via the primary NBC signal during primetime Thursday night on NBC, while NBC uses its secondary signals to broadcast a 24-hour sports, weather channel or a re-run of a classic sitcom.

Beyond antennas, increase your viewing options with Blu-ray players, Xbox, AppleTV or Roku. Each device functions as a programming hub similar to a cable box. You’ll utilize a wireless internet connection you purchase from your phone or internet company to stream programming from different web-based services such as Hulu, Amazon Video, Itunes, and Netflix. Also similar to cable and satellite, the programming you can choose from to create viewing packages varies from device to device. For instance, if you want HuluPlus - which offers a selection of broadcast and cable shows for $7.99 per month - you’ll need a device that supports HuluPlus. If you subscribe to Netflix or Amazon video to watch movies, you’ll want a device that supports these services.

Consumer Electronics Association Director, Megan Pollock subscribes to MLB.tv to get Red Sox games that normally aren’t available in her local area – at least without an additional subscription package on cable. When she prices out her cost for her programming package, she includes this subscription, which is $119 per year. When she’s not at home, she watches programming on her Ipad using free apps.

Where you may sacrifice by cutting cords is premium cable television shows. Giving up seeing shows on premium channels such as HBO or Showtime at premiere dates is the largest sacrifice you’ll make. As of now, there isn’t an alternative way to view these shows within a day or two of theor original airing. You can rent seasons on Netflix, or peruse iTunes, Hulu, Amazon video and other services for episode availability; however, you can usually just see the shows at later dates. For instance, Pollock watches shows a season behind utilizing Netflix and talks about the show with other coworkers who are also a season behind.

Being a cord-cutter may not be for everyone – but saving money is. If you choose satellite or cable service, negotiate your rate, choose only services you watch regularly, and ask for specials on movie channels and premium packages. (I call my cable service every six months to get on a new special.) Also, consider which tv you watch the most. You can always eliminate one tv’s cable box by using an internet-streaming device or watching local programming via an antenna. The best bundle for you maybe a combination of both cable and alternative viewing options.

Reyna Gobel is a freelance journalist who specializes in financial fitness. She is also the author of Graduation Debt: How To Manage Student Loans and Live Your Life.

A question I almost never get asked: “How much should I save per month?”

For most people, the second question is, oh, ten times as important as the first one. I’m going to explain why in words and then in pictures.

In words, here’s the answer. Every month, some money is added to (or subtracted from) your account due to factors beyond your control. Your stocks go up or down. A bond fund pays a dividend. In short, market stuff happens. Also every month, you add some money to your account.

If the amount of money you add is bigger than the effect of the market stuff, then your savings rate is more important than your investment performance. If the market drops and you lose $200, but your monthly contribution is $1000, then your balance at the end of the month is still $800 higher than it had been.

At some point in life, if you’re lucky and diligent, you get to the point where the monthly fluctuations in your investments dwarf the new money coming in. But it takes surprisingly long for this to happen, as demonstrated by a beautifully simple graph created by Chartered Financial Analyst, Rick Ferri of Portfolio Solutions.

This graph, as explained by Ferri on his blog, represents two people who work at the same steady job with exactly the same pay. One saves 5% and earns 10% annual returns. The other saves 10% and earns 5% annual returns. It takes over 25 years for the one with the awesome 10% return to come out ahead.

There are two key lessons here, says Ferri. One is: on your first day of work, save 10% of your gross pay and keep doing so forever. “Mathematically, if you work for 45 years starting at age 20 and you save 10%, then it gives you the number that you need to retire on comfortably,” he says.

The second lesson: if you hit the middle of your career and are still making stupid investment mistakes like market timing, day trading, and performance chasing, cut it out. “Some time in your early 40s, you need to have gotten all the bad stuff out of your system,” says Ferri. “You need to have learned how to diversify, how to keep your costs low.”

We’re all Generation Y now

But how many people do you know who started saving for retirement at age 20 and haven’t been unemployed, or taken a 401(k) loan, or gone off to India in search of themselves, before they hit age 45? In their 2011 retirement confidence survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 70 percent of Americans believe they are “a little” or “a lot” behind schedule.

In other words, regardless of our age, most of us are more like the 20-year-old on Ferri’s chart than the 45-year-old. The best thing we can do to increase our retirement nest egg is to (snooze alert) save more and spend less.

That’s what Carl Richards told me as well. Richards is a certified financial planner and author of the forthcoming book The Behavior Gap. I asked for his take, and rather than respond in prose, he sent me this original sketch:

(My sister-in-law thought it was hysterical. I don’t see why.)

Don’t get me wrong. Investment choices are important, especially once you’ve accumulated a sizable chunk of savings. I like helping people choose their investments, and I enjoy checking my own spreadsheet to see how close I am to my goals and whether I need to rebalance. Investing is fun, scary, and mysterious; saving more money, well, that’s boring at best, and painful at worst.

And that’s exactly why it’s so important—for me as much as anyone—to listen to what Ferri and Richards are saying.

The silver lining of saving more

Last question: is it better for your 401(k) balance to go up because you’re saving more or because your investments are performing well? Or does it matter?

It matters. Improving your balance by saving more is better. Once you retire, you’ll be using your savings to pay expenses. The lower your expenses before retirement, the easier it will be to cover them from your nest egg. And when your savings rate goes up, your expenses (as a percentage of your pay) have to go down, right?

Maybe the secret of a comfortable retirement isn’t about savings rate or investment performance: it’s about redefining “comfortable.” Oh, and ignoring your brother-in-law.

Matthew Amster-Burton is a personal finance columnist at Mint.com. Find him on Twitter @Mint_Mamster.

1.  Use the least amount of detergent possible. Any extra soap makes the machine work overtime rinsing all the suds away.

2.  Always wash on a cold cycle. This reduces energy intensity.

3.  Only use warm water for pre-soaking heavily soiled clothing.

4.  Always use cold water in the rinse cycle. Warmer temperatures for rinsing don’t clean any better than cold water.

5.  Only wash full loads. You waste energy, and to a lesser extent water, when you wash smaller loads, since you use as much (or nearly as much) energy as you would for a full load.

6.  Use the shortest washing cycle. This can result in energy and water savings. Longer washing cycles may seem like they clean more deeply, but are not really necessary except for the most soiled clothing.

7.   Switch to a front-loading washing machine.

8.   Purchase machines with the Energy Star label. This will save you a third off your energy bill and cut your water costs by more than half.

9.   Keep the lint trap clean. A dirty lint trap means your equipment is working harder and spending more energy.

10.  Line dry on racks. The ultimate drying cost-cutter.

Finally, buy generic brand detergent - or save even more by making your own. Here’s an easy recipe for home-made laundry detergent:

DIY Laundry Detergent (Makes approx. 500 loads)

You will need:

1 bar of soap (any brand)

1 cup of Borax

1 cup of washing soda (not baking soda)

A large pot (2 gallons minimum)

A grater

A long spoon

2 empty gallon jugs or containers (empty milk cartons work well as do empty water jugs with spouts)

Step 1:

Grate the bar of soap into your large, empty pot.

Step 2:

Add one gallon of water into the post with the grated soap. Cook on medium heat until the soap has completely dissolved.

Step 3:

Add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda to the soap/water mixture.

Step 4:

Bring the soap, water, borax, and washing soda mixture to a boil until it thickenns.

Step 5:

Once the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat and add one gallon of cold water. Stir well.

Step 6:

Pour the mixture into your gallon containers and allow to cool for at least 24 hours. You may want to use a funnel to help guide the hot mixture into the containers.

A few words of advice:

The mixture will coagulate and become very thick. If you prefer a runnier consistency, try using half a bar of soap instead of a full bar.

Use half a cup of the detergent for each full load of laundry. The detergent will not create suds like commercial detergent does. This does not mean your clothing is not being cleaned well. This homemade detergent cleans beautifully. It is also compatible with HE washers.

Feel free to add a cup of baking soda for extra odor removing properties and/or a cup of white vinegar to break down stains and grease.

Cost:

1 box of borax $5.00

1 box of Arm and Hammer washing soda $3.00

1 bar of Ivory soap $1.00

Total – $9.00 for 500 loads

Comparison:

Tide Liquid Detergent Original Scent 50 fl. oz. (32 loads) $9.00

500/32 = approx. 16 bottles of detergent

16 x $9 = $144 for 500 loads

Savings per year:

$144 – $9 = $135

Morgan is a freelance writer and blogger living in Southern California with her husband, two daughters, and flock of backyard chickens. You can read more of her at The Little Hen House.

You’ve just spent big dollars on a new iPhone. Maybe you shelled out hundreds of bucks to purchase a new laptop or the latest iPod. You want protection should your high-cost gadgets fail. But is the extended warranty (offered in addition to the manufacturer’s warranty) – that your local retailer provides your best bet?

The answer, often, is a resounding “no.”

Today’s saavy consumers are eyeing third-party warranty providers as a way to get extra protection for their electronics and other purchases without the extra costs of  in-store warranties.

Third-party warranty providers offer protection for pricey computers, smartphones and music players. Yes, you’ll have to pay for one of these warranties – but often you’ll pay less than what you would for a warranty from your local Target, Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

A Look at Some Popular Third-Party Warranty Providers:

SquareTrade: If you’re leery of the pressure that stores like Sears or Best Buy place on you to pay for their extended warranties after you’ve purchased a computer, tv or smartphone, you should know that you have alternatives – such as SquareTrade.

SquareTrade, which has been in business since 1999, provides its own warranties (that tend to run about 40% less than the extended warranties offered by major retailers).

For instance, a three-year warranty on the Flip Video UltraHD Camcorder runs $19.99. Best Buy offers a two-year warranty on the same product for $22.98. You can take out a three-year warranty on the Brother All-in-One Laster Printer from SquareTrade for $32.99. A four-year warranty on the printer from Best Buy costs $69.99.

But price isn’t the only benefit SquareTrade offers; there’s also online record-keeping. Once you take out a warranty with SquareTrade, you can always log onto your online account to see if that product is still covered. So if your dishwasher starts spilling water across your kitchen floor, you can log onto SquareTrade to see if your warranty is still in effect.

ElectronicWarranty.com: SquareTrade isn’t the only third-party warranty provider on the market. There’s also ElectronicWarranty.com, a third-party site that, as its name suggests, specializes in providing warranties for electronics. If you’re in the market for a new video camera, smartphone or laptop, ElectronicWarranty might be a site to investigate.

The warranties offered on this site can save you as much as 70% when compared to in-store warranties.

When you log onto ElectronicWarranty.com, you can request a free quote on video games, car audio and stereo systems, iPods and a host of other electronic equipment. The site recently offered a three-year warranty on an HP Touch Smart Desktop for $112.99. That compares with Best Buy’s three-year warranty for the same product at $329.99.

American Express Extended Warranty: If you own an American Express card, you can double the original manufacturer’s warranty on any product that you purchase with it. For example, if you use your card to purchase a laptop that comes with a two-year warranty, American Express Extended Warranty will automatically increase that warranty to one lasting four years.

The best news is that you don’t have to do anything to activate your extended warranty coverage. It’s a basic feature for any American Express cardholder.

Picking the Right Warranty:

The key to selecting the right third-party warranty service is to look carefully at their terms. That cheap three-year warranty on your new desktop computer may look great, but if it doesn’t cover the damage that your toddler does to it after spilling orange juice on its keyboard, then it’s not worth the money you’ve spent on it.

In-store extended warranties have a generally bad reputation. Critics complain that they’re too costly for the amount of money you’ll spend. Others say that consumers have the bad habit of forgetting that they’ve paid for these services when their computers, TVs and car stereo systems fail.

One way to protect yourself from paying too much for an extended warranty is to never make a warranty decision in the store when you’re purchasing your items.

Instead, do some research from your home. The odds are good that you’ll be able to find an extended warranty that costs less and offers the same or a better level of protection.

Dan Rafter is a freelance writer and editor with 15 years of journalism experience. Dan blogs via Contently.com.