2013年,6条聪明的理财省钱建议

4. 止血
If you're like a lot of families, you spend $200 or even $300 a month on cellphones, cable or satellite TV and Internet.

如果你和许多家庭一样，那么你每个月得花200美元甚至300美元支付手机、有线电视或卫星电视以及互联网费用。
Take a scalpel -- or an axe -- to that budget and see what you can cut. Call your cellular provider and your TV company -- cable or satellite -- and haggle. Chances are, they will cut you a deal.

分析一下这部分预算，看看哪些可以避免。打电话给你的手机服务商和你的有线电视和卫星电视服务商，和他们砍价。你很有可能因此减少很大一部分支出。
Try dumping pay TV altogether and watching movies and TV instead using an online service like Netflix, Amazon or Hulu Plus (partly owned by News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal), for less than $10 a month.

尝试放弃付费电视，用Netflix、亚马逊(Amazon)或是Hulu Plus等在线服务看电影或电视节目，这些服务每个月的花费还不到10美元。Hulu Plus部分属于新闻集团(News Corp.)所有。
If your family spends $200 a month on cellphones and pay TV, that's $2,400 a year. Over the course of 20 years, if you invested that money instead at 4%, you'd have an extra $70,000.

如果你家每月为手机和付费电视支付200美元，一年就要花掉2,400美元。如果你把这笔钱以4%的利息投资20年，可以净赚70,000美元。
Haggle. Cut.

砍价，消减不必要支出。
5. Hold a two-week auction.

5. 进行一场为期两周的拍卖
Turn your house into Sotheby's for two weeks. Go on eBay.com and Craigslist.com and auction off everything you don't need.

把自己的房子变成苏富比拍卖公司(Sotheby's)，为期两周。上eBay.com和Craigslist.com网站，拍卖掉一切你不需要的东西。
The spare cellphone(s) in the kitchen drawer. The second, unused lawn mower. The designer vase you never use.

厨房抽屉里多余的手机。没有用过的备用割草机。你从来不用的设计师花瓶。
Everything.

一切东西。
Set yourself a target. Double it. Then see how close you get. Get the entire family involved.

给自己设定一个目标。然后将目标翻一倍。然后看看你最终能实现多少。动员全家人参与进来。
Removing clutter is a great stress-buster, as psychologists since Ralph Waldo Emerson have noticed.

正如爱默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson)以来的心理学家所指出的那样，去繁存简是一个很棒的减压方法。
This project will raise some free money. A process like this also has a remarkable way of focusing everyone in the family on the true value of a dollar.

这个计划会筹到一些钱。像这样一个过程是使所有家庭成员关注钱的真正价值的绝妙方法。
6. Imagine you're dead.

6. 想像自己已经死了
Cheerful, isn't it?

你是高兴呢，还是不高兴？
This is why so few people think about dying. Yet from a financial perspective, they need to. Chances are you haven't prepared in case it happens.

正因为如此，很少有人想象自己马上就要死了。然而从理财角度说，人们需要设想一下这种可能。有很大的可能是死亡来临时，你还没有准备好。
This is not just about the elderly. About one in eight people currently aged 40 will die before they reach 65, according to government statistics.

并不是只有老年人应该这样做。据政府的统计数据显示，目前年龄在40岁的人中有八分之一都将在65岁前去世。
This means two things.

这意味着两件事。
First: Get life insurance, and disability insurance, if you have dependents.

首先，这意味着如果有人需要你供养的话，你要去投保人寿保险和伤残保险。
Most people have some kind of coverage through work. It is usually desperately inadequate. Both one- and two-income households probably need more. It costs about $250,000 to raise a child for 18 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Four years of private college is another $160,000, according to the College Board. Could your surviving spouse cope on his or her own?

大部分人都通过工作多多少少地有些保险。但通常极度不够。单职工和双职工家庭都可能需要更多的保险。据美国农业部的数据显示，将一个孩子养到18岁需要约25万美元。美国大学理事会(College Board)的数据显示，四年私立大学又需要16万美元。如果你去世了，你的配偶一个人能应付得来吗？
Second: It means make a will. If you already have one, make sure it is up to date.

其次，这意味着你要立份遗嘱。如果你已经立过遗嘱，要确保遗嘱是最新的。
Dying intestate -- without a will -- can be catastrophic for the family left behind. And few disasters can be so easily and cheaply prevented.

对于一个家庭来说，未留遗嘱就去世可能带来灾难性的后果。几乎没有哪种灾难能够立一份遗嘱就可以轻松便宜地防止。