Saving money is like dieting?

When people go on diets, they usually do it in one of two ways. First is the crash diet where you cut way back on calorie intake and exercise like crazy. Usually this will work if you need to lose a little weight fast, like if you have a friend's wedding in two weeks and need to lost 5 pounds to fit into your dress. This kind of dieting will usually work short-term, but its tough to keep up.

The other option is less of a diet and more of a lifestyle change. The goal is not really to lose weight quickly, but to lose it gradually and to maintain a healthy lifestyle permanently. To do this, you may eliminate junk food, quit smoking, exercise more, and learn to cook more healthy dishes.

I think there is a similar distinction when it comes to saving money. Some people may face a sudden expense or layoff and be forced to cut expenses and save every penny they can. Others will re-evaluate their priorities and change their lifestyle so they can cut out what they don't really need and have more money to do what is truly important to them.

This is what I went through last summer when my wife and I had our baby girl. My wife quit her job to take care of the baby and we had to find ways to cut our expenses and save money (our income was cut in half!)

But we managed to pull it off and that's where I got the idea for my eBook, Saving 101. It's an easy read, and I hope you will take advantage of all the work I did putting it together.

More info on the Saving 101 eBook.