'Pay-to-Use' Helps You Save Cash

With the souring economy, people are realizing that they really need to find ways to save more money.

One way to do that is to initiate a "pay-to-use" program, which is fairly simple. When you use, say, an appliance that you own, you pay a predetermined amount to your emergency fund.

For example, if you did not own a washing machine or dryer, you would have to go to your local laundromat to wash and dry your clothes. In order to use the machines there, you would have to pay for each load you washed.

When setting up a pay-to-use system, you simply pay yourself for using the machines you already own, rather than the laundromat owner. ...