MONEY TALKS

Keeping more of the money that comes into your life is a lot more than just reading hundreds of useful savings tidbits. Each savings idea is like a little recipe to create money, but in order to follow a recipe, it helps to know how to cook first. So let's start by learning some savings fundamentals.

Savings fundamental number one: The best way to save money is not to spend it. And the best way not to spend money is to not buy things you don't want or need. That sounds stupid, but work with me here. Because many, if not most of the things you spend money on now probably fall into that category. We live in a world where our "needs" are largely the figment of someone else's imagination, and that someone else lives in executive suites and on Madison Avenue. In other words, what you think of as your reality may not be so real! There are fundamental physical truths, like gravity, that we know are real because we've experienced them. But we were all raised in a false societal reality created for other people's profit that has nothing to do with what's real. It's imaginary, and it's probably in direct conflict to a different, better reality that you can create by simply deciding what makes you happy and fulfilled.

Education

131. Money for nothing. Billions of dollars of grants, scholarships, work-study programs and low cost loans are available every year. Don't pay a company to find them for you, because there are places you can search for free. The Internet is a great resource for this. Websites to check out include Fastweb and FinAid, but there are many others. Just do a search for “college scholarships.” You can also get lots of helpful advice from any college admissions office.

132. FAFSA first. FAFSA stands for “free application for federal student aid,” and it's basically a standardized form that will help you find out what kind and how much aid will be available to your student. Colleges and universities use it as a basis for the tuition packages they offer, and nearly every scholarship, work-study and other dispenser of student aid also uses it. Bottom line? If you've got a kid going to college, you're going to need it, so fill it out as early as possible, especially since some grants are first come, first served. You can get the form from any college, or you can fill it out online at FAFSA.

133. Beat the local bushes too. You can look at all the scholarship search websites and library books in the world and still miss college cash. Why? Because the $300 scholarship offered by your local Rotary Club isn't in there. Neither is the local Elks club $250 essay contest or any number of other awards local civic, cultural and religious groups may be offering in your neighborhood. Individually, the local stuff may look like small potatoes. But free money is free money: someone's got to get it; might as well be your student!

134. Buy textbooks online, used or both. Used to be you were trapped paying outrageous prices to the monopoly known as the campus bookstore. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, you can buy new and used textbooks online and save serious bucks. Do a search for “used text books.”

Keep in mind: The key to saving money is to do things that are painless for you. Otherwise, you'll never be able to stick with it. And what's painless for you might be ridiculously hard for me, and vice-versa. We've all got things that we are willing to trade our money (and therefore our lives) for. The trick is to find the ones that are really yours instead of blindly following the fake reality created for you by Madison Avenue. Reshape your reality by rediscovering what's important to you and choosing to part with your resources to experience it. Then ignore the ever-present background noise designed to keep you enslaved to debt.

Find more money advice at www.MoneyTalks.org.