In the old days, so your grandparents may have told you, everyone lived within their means, nobody ran up credit card debt, and the world was a happier place. Maybe not 100% true, but the fact is that more and more of us seem to be drowning in credit card bills, mortgage foreclosures and loan repayment demands nowadays. If you’re only paying the minimums on your cards and struggling to fulfill your other financial commitments, you’re probably wondering how on earth you’re going to pay off all your debt.

You’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a very straightforward way to clear your debts quickly and systematically. It involves paying them off in order of interest rate, with the most expensive ones first. Start by listing all your debts, noting the rate you’re paying on each. Now look at your budget to see how much you can spare for debt repayment each month. Cut down on some of your non-essential expenses such as eating out, clothing or subscriptions to free up as much cash as you can.

Let’s say you have three credit cards. Take the one that carries the highest interest rate and pay as much as you can into it, while still paying the minimum charges for the other two. Keep doing that every month until you’ve paid off your highest-interest card. Then take the second most expensive credit card and pay the minimum plus whatever you were paying on the first card until that one is paid off too.

Carry on paying the minimum on your third card. When you only have the third card left to clear, you can direct all the money to it. When the last card is paid off, you’ll be free of credit card debt, provided you haven’t started running up charges on the others again.

The aim is to keep the total you pay towards your credit cards constant every month. As you pay each one off, you’ll be able to restore the balance to zero on the next card more quickly because you have fewer debts to service.

So why should you prioritize your higher-interest debts? Quite simply because when you borrow at a high rate of interest, the amount you owe grows faster than it would on a less expensive loan. The longer your loan period, the more interest you pay on any debt. If you can reduce the loan period – or in this case, the time it takes to clear your credit card balance – by paying more each month, you dramatically cut the amount of interest you need to pay. Therefore, you save money by getting rid of the more expensive debt more quickly than your other debts that have a lower annualized percentage rate.

Millions of people around the world have managed to escape from their debt nightmares by using this easy repayment method. It does require a bit of careful financial planning, some personal sacrifices and a lot of discipline on your part. Try it – you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you too can be debt-free.

If you’re looking for some creative ways to lower your spending every month, take a closer look at some of the small things you pay for regularly. You’re sure to find several expenditures you can eliminate or at least trim. Together, all these small reductions can add up to large savings that you can use to pay down debt, plug a gap in your income, or save for something more worthwhile.

Here is a selection of relatively painless cuts that can make a real difference when you’re on a tight budget:

* Take your own coffee to work. OK, you know this one, but it’s worth repeating. Instead of paying $3 or more at your favorite coffee chain, brew your own coffee, pour into a commuter mug, and you’re ready to face the day.
* Bring lunch from home. You can save a lot by preparing sandwiches, salads, tuna and crackers, soup, roast chicken and vegetables, or whatever you fancy, to work instead of eating out. It doesn’t need to be every day – perhaps you can eat out with co-workers every Friday, for instance.
* Bottled water. Fill plastic water bottles from the faucet and keep in the fridge rather than pay for branded spring water.
* Don’t use the dryer. Line dry your laundry and save 50c to $1 per load.
* Cancel the premium cable. Cut your cable subscription back to the basic service and you’ll pay a lot less.
* Do your own nails. Stop having manicures and pedicures at the beauty salon and start taking care of them yourself. Or you can have a girls’ night in and do each other’s.
* Use your local library. If you enjoy reading, borrow books from the library instead of buying new ones. You can get magazines and DVDs there too!
* Read the news online. You can read many newspapers and magazines for free on the web, so go ahead and cancel your subscriptions.
* Cook an extra meal and freeze. When you’re cooking, double up and make enough to store in the freezer. Now you don’t need to call for pizza when you get home too late to cook.
* Make your own cards. Do you like crafts? If so, make cards for Christmas or other holidays, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, etc. Get the kids involved too for an extra personal touch.
* Take a picnic. When you go to the beach, to a sports event, or on a family outing, pack a cooler with drinks and delicious food or snacks.
* Cancel your gym membership. Unless you’re a dedicated gym rat, stop spending good money on a membership you hardly use. Go running instead, or get a used exercise bike for home.
* Do your own lawn. Another way to get some exercise while also saving money. If you can, spend a couple of weekend hours cutting the lawn and clearing away. Tidy up the flower beds and prune the roses too while you’re out there.

For most of us, financial planning for the future means putting away money for retirement, our children’s education and perhaps a life insurance policy so that our families are taken care of in case we die. If you have a child with special needs, financial planning takes on a whole new dimension, however.

You need to plan very carefully for your disabled child’s financial future, both in case of your own death and for their everyday needs while you’re still around. The way you go about setting up financial provisions for a special needs child has a direct impact on their ability to receive government benefits and services, so make sure you read these points and then seek expert help:

Get the right advice: Not all financial planners and advisors or attorneys have experience with special needs children and the regulations that govern their financial circumstances. Make sure you’re dealing with someone who has handled plenty of situations like yours, since the wrong advice can prove expensive.

Draw up a will: If you die without making a will, your estate will be divided up among your beneficiaries, which can include your disabled child. With as little as $2,000 in assets of their own, children and adults with special needs risk becoming ineligible for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income and other government benefits and services. It’s therefore best to leave the money to a special-needs trust that administers the child’s assets.

Set up a special-needs trust: The trust will manage the child’s assets, even after they grow into adulthood. This way, you can leave money in your will to the trust – and fund it in other ways too – without jeopardizing your special-needs child’s government benefits or having to worry about taxes. You need an experienced attorney who specializes in this field to establish the trust, as it can get quite complicated. The Academy of Special Needs Planners can help you find qualified professionals in your area.

Choose a guardian and/or trustee: A trustee needs to be someone who is good with finances and can handle tax returns and investments, or delegate these matters to an expert. It may or may not be appropriate to pick a relative as a trustee – this can also be an attorney or other competent professional, although you will have to pay for the service.

A guardian, who will look after the child’s personal interests if you’re unable to, should be a person who knows the child and has a good relationship with them. In many cases, a family member or close friend is the most suitable for this task.

Decide how the trust will be funded: It is common for the proceeds of a life insurance policy to form the basic funding for a special-needs trust. As mentioned above, you can also leave money in your will to the trust rather than directly to the child. The funds in the trust should be invested quite conservatively to avoid any loss of principal while ensuring growth at least in line with inflation.

Tradition says that weddings have to be big and extravagant, cost a lot of money, and involve at least a year of planning as well as an enormous amount of stress. But in this economy, many couples are realizing that it really doesn’t need to be that way. You can have a fabulous wedding without breaking the bank or having a nervous breakdown, if you know how.

With the average wedding costing over $20,000 these days, there’s plenty of room to save a whole lot of money without skimping on the romance and fun of the day. If you’re willing to be flexible and think outside the box a little, you can even put together a fabulous wedding in a matter of weeks. Here are some tips to help you have a stress-free and happy event with cash to spare:

Cut a deal with vendors: Many companies that provide goods and services for weddings are willing to give discounts of 10-30%, especially if you’re getting married relatively soon (within 2 or 3 months). Vendors such as caterers, bakers, photographers, hotel banquet facilities and florists generally prefer to fill a slot for a lower price than not at all.

Don’t be put off if they won’t give you a straight discount. You might get a better result if you tell them what your budget is and ask if they can put together a customized package to suit your requirements.

Go off-season: The most popular months for weddings are May to October. That means you’ll be able to find excellent deals and bookings that suit you during the rest of the year. Don’t be afraid to be unconventional – your family and friends will be pleased that your wedding doesn’t clash with other social events.

Remember that Saturday is a very busy day for weddings, so hold yours on a Thursday, Friday or Sunday for big savings and a wider choice. Maybe you could get married in the morning and hold the reception at lunchtime or in the afternoon, to avoid the evening ‘rush’.

You don’t have to invite the whole world: Do you really need 400 guests at your wedding? Think about having a smaller, more personal reception for your family and close friends only. Then you can throw a big bash another time when you have more money to spend. With a smaller-scale event, you can afford to spend a bit more on food to make the day even more special, while still saving money as well as time and trouble.

Make it simple but elegant: You don’t need every last thing to be personalized and monogrammed to have a stylish wedding. Likewise, it’s not essential to have a seven-course meal and the most expensive wine. Pick a stunning dress off-the-rack and have it altered to fit you perfectly, and you’ll look a million dollars on your happy day. Perhaps you can hold the event at home, or a relative’s house, to avoid paying for venue hire. You can save a bundle on the flowers too, by using local flowers in season instead of imported hothouse varieties.

One of the simplest ways to save money is to waste less. We all need to use water for drinking, bathing, cooking, cleaning etc., but there are many painless ways to cut down on our water consumption. If you live in a rural area you might get your water from a well and therefore don’t have to pay a water bill, however you’ll be paying for the electricity needed to pump the water out of the ground.

Besides saving your hard-earned cash, cutting down on water use means that you’re conserving a valuable natural resource and helping to preserve the environment. Here are several easy tips for reducing your water consumption. If you live in a place where there are water restrictions, you might know some of these already:

* Take a short shower rather than filling the tub for bathing. Turn the water off while you’re applying shampoo and soap.
* Use a normal shower head rather than the outsize type that has been fashionable for a while now.
* Alternatively, you can fill a bucket with water from the shower or bath, and use a plastic cup or measuring jug to scoop the water out and pour over your hair and body. With this method you only use the water you need.
* If you have to run the shower to get it hot, catch the cold water in a bucket and use it for flushing the toilet, watering the garden, and so on.
* Do the same in the kitchen with a pitcher. Then you can put it straight in the refrigerator for drinking, or use it for coffee, cooking, pets or watering plants.
* Keeping the tap on while you brush your teeth wastes a lot of water. Run the water again when it’s time to rinse, or fill a glass or mug and use that to clean your mouth and your toothbrush.
* Avoid rinsing dishes under the faucet. Fill a basin, or the second sink, with water and dunk the washed dishes instead.
* Look out for dripping pipes, toilets and taps, and get them repaired as soon as you find a leak.
* If you’re renovating make sure you install low-flush toilets, which use far less water.
* Do your laundry when you have a full load, and not before. Also, don’t wash items that aren’t actually dirty.
* The same applies to running the dishwasher.
* Use a bucket for washing your car or motorbike. Hosepipes waste gallons of water!
* Get a watering can for your garden, or use a low-flow hose attachment if you have a big yard.
* Catch the runoff from the roof in a water butt or old barrel placed beneath a drainpipe. The water is ideal for cleaning your car, watering plants or filling pets’ bowls.
* Keep your swimming pool or hot tub covered unless you’re using them. That way you minimize the need to replace water lost through evaporation.