Get It from the Government

5. Tax refund
   If you get a tax refund, use the money to increase your savings. To find out how to pay less tax so that you can get a tax refund or qualify for a larger refund, speak with your tax advisor or someone you trust. Two ways that many people reduce the amount of tax that they have to pay is by contributing to an RRSP and/or by donating more money to charity. If you set up an automated system where your RRSP or charitable giving is automatically debited from your bank account or deducted from your paycheque, these options can be easy and affordable.
6. Tax Assessment
   If property values have fallen significantly in your community, make sure that your tax assessment value is fair. If it’s not fair, apply for a re-assessment. In communities where property values have fallen substantially, this can save you a lot of money in property taxes.
7. Claim all expenses
   If you are self employed, do you do your own taxes or do you have a professional accountant with a professional designation like CA, CGA or CMA do your taxes for you? If your taxes aren’t being done by one of these professionals, you could be missing out on some big tax savings. If you think that these kinds of accountants are expensive, that may be true, but it is often more expensive to pay the government thousands of dollars in unnecessary taxes than to pay a good accountant a few hundred dollars to find these savings for you. If you are really thrifty, you can try out the accountant once to see if you are missing any deductions, and then you can go back to your old way of doing taxes and use the tax saving tips that you learned from the accountant.

Find It in Your Expenses

8. Look for an expense to cut and save that money
   Some people suggest that you increase your savings by cutting back on lattes or quitting smoking, these are good suggestions but there are also other big ways to save money. One way that a lot of people can save money—but something they often overlook—is to take a serious look at what they spend on their hobbies. Some people spend huge amounts on personal trainers, protein supplements, golf, skiing, and other sports. They don’t even consider how much they spend because they believe that they are spending it on something healthy or on something they love. If you have a pressing concern—like getting out of debt—cutting back what you spend on a hobby, even just for a while, may be a great option to consider.

10. Track your spending and create a spending plan
    Tracking your spending is the very best way to identify areas that you can save money. Written out in black and white, most people are surprised how much they spend and areas where they can cut back become very clear. All you need to do is track your spending for one month to get a good idea of where your money is going. Many people think, “Oh, I don’t need to do that. I already know where I spend my money.” The truth is surprising to most people; they really don’t realize how much they spend. You can’t say that you know how much you spend unless you have tracked your spending.

    Once you’ve identified where you are spending your money, and you see areas where you would like to reduce your spending, you need to set an amount that you think is reasonable to spend and stick to it. To stick to your spending limits, you need to create a spending plan, and then follow your spending plan by only spending the amounts that you set out to spend in your plan. This is a very simple thing to do and it is a very effective method to control you spending. It is often called budgeting. To learn how to create your own spending plan, click here.