Excerpt from Quick Steps to Financial Stability

- Alan Lavine and Gail Liberman

Copy: Trimming expenses and controlling your debt typically means more money for saving and investing. Yahoo!

But if you're someone who thinks cutting costs is painful, consider the following suggestions about ways to cut expenses from Alan Lavine and his wife Gail Liberman:

• Buy brand name goods at discount factory outlets.
   
• Do more haggling. People have always negotiated the price of their autos. Try it with that new washing machine, refrigerator or air conditioner.
   
• Increase insurance deductible. You can save a few hundred dollars a year by increasing the deductibles on your auto, homeowners, health, and dental insurance. Why pay the insurance company higher premiums when you might not use the services as much as you think?
   
• Take your lunch to work. At today's whopping prices, you can immediately save as much as $200 per month.
   
• Use your public library for publications and DCD rentals.
   
• Take vacations closer to home.
   
• Check the equity in your home. If it's more than 20%, contact your lender and see if you can eliminate costly mortgage insurance.

Al and Gail urge you to come up with your own creative ways to cut spending and free up more cash. If you've any good ideas on how to do so, email them to MWliblav@aol.com.

You can purchase Alan Lavine & Gail Liberman's latest book Quick Steps to Financial Stability (QUE Publishing 2006) online at www.moneycouple.com or at your local bookstore.

#