In times of uncertainty, control what you can control. We can’t control the stock market and what happens in our retirement plans, but we can control our cash flows. Instead of letting tariffs wreak havoc on our lifestyle, why don’t you consider lowering it yourself now and creating much needed savings nest eggs? Read more for ideas on how to apply a top-down and bottom-up approach to spending less and saving more to reduce financial chaos and ride out whatever storm may or may not be ahead of us. 

If you are spending time with family and friends this Spring season and hear grumblings about inflation or credit cards or student loans, I have the perfect response for you: Join the club. 

No, really. Invite your family, friends or whomever you choose to join a money club of your own creation...

Last week we got the inspiration to stay the course in our budgets, to adapt them to our changing circumstances. My grandmother, a representative of children of the 1930s Depression, as measured by a litany of reader comments, would simply adapt. In this case, adapt means buy less, downsize, downgrade, etc.

But unlike the children of the Depression, we're not required to adapt. There are credit cards.

I am going to let you in on the best-kept secret. When you start your first job, sign up to have 10% taken out of your paycheck and deposited into your retirement account. It's that easy.

Originally published as the "Save Yourself" column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sep 29, 2020