If you’re wondering how to rebuild your finances in 2014, here are some money-saving strategies you can use. Now is the perfect time of year to start saving money and making smart financial decisions by taking a hard look at where you are with your money this year. Here are a couple examples to give you a perspective of how important saving money and rebuilding your financial house is.

The first is that the unemployment benefits ended at the end of 2013, so that lifeline has disappeared for over one million people. If this affects you or someone you know, you should start thinking about what you’re going to do to make numbers work.

On the other hand, even if you have a job it’s entirely possible that you aren’t doing as well financially because pay has not kept up with the rate of inflation. Many things are going to affect you deep inside your pocketbook this year, so what strategies are you going to use to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off?

Here are some of my favorite ways to think about money, but also some of my favorite saving money strategies I have heard from my listeners over the years.

If you’re looking for an easy way to save money, a “no drink rule” while going out to eat may be my favorite one. The rule is that everyone has to drink water and not order costly drinks. Just by cutting out drinks, you can minimize food bills by a third. Here’s why:  By the end of dinner, you could spend $40 to $50 just on drinks without even thinking about it. So let’s say you go out to eat four times a month, that’s roughly $200 a month, or around $2,400 a year. If you go out two times a week, that’s when you can see the real numbers add up. A woman called in and said she was easily able to save $10,000 a year simply by eliminating drinks while eating out. If you eat out four times a week and drink water, you could save $10,000 a year. That’s a significant amount and also why this money-saving idea is at the top of my list.

Glinkonomics is Ilyce Glink’s take on what’s going on in the economy this week.

WSB Radio’s Ilyce Glink Show – January 5, 2014

For more great money saving ideas, click the audio link below to listen to the full Ilyce Glink Show on WSB Radio, or go to iTunes and download the show to your handheld device.

Download the podcast via iTunes

Thanks for listening.

[amazon_link asins=’B072BTCMP6,1400081971,0609809954,0812925319′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’thinkglink-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e37ff880-e4f3-11e7-92da-b9482cd39590′]