Being a homeowner comes with a ton of responsibilities. One of the most important…making sure that the mortgage is paid in a timely fashion. However, if you’re like most homeowners, your mortgage is your largest monthly expense. Though proper budgeting can help you to make your payments each month, there are other things that you can do to save money on your mortgage payments so that you can start putting that income to other expenses. Below are just a few options you may have available to you:

1.  Refinancing

One of the first options for saving money on mortgage payments is refinancing. The concept of refinancing is applying for a new loan. This allows you to pay off the old loan with the new one. The reason this is beneficial to homeowners is that the new loan comes with new terms including lower interest rates, shorter (or longer if you need more time) loan periods, and more. There are several programs available for individuals interested in refinancing their loan including government assisted loans FHA streamline loan. For military personnel and their families, there is the option for offers like a Lowvarates.com VA streamline refinance loan. Each loan type and program offers different advantages to qualified benefits.

2.  Add Extra Money to Your Mortgage

Your mortgage is compounding interest, which means that interest is charged each month on top of the principal interest accrued. By adding even an additional $25 a month to your mortgage, you can begin paying more towards the principal balance on the loan. As the principal balance decreases, you’re reducing the amount of interest you accrue each month, thus paying off the loan faster.

If this is an option you’re going to take, make sure that you have contacted your lender to find out if there are penalties for prepaying your mortgage. When submitting extra funds, be sure that you specify that the money is to go towards the principal and not the interest so that your lender knows exactly what you’re trying to do.

3.  Make One Extra Payment Every Year

If you can’t swing paying an additional amount each month, you could decide to simply make one extra payment each year. If allowed by your loan term agreement, you can make an extra payment at the end of each year. Depending on the type of loan you have, doing this every year could allow you to pay off your 30 year mortgage in just 22 years.

4.  Put Extra Cash on the Principal

If you have a lump sum of extra cash that you can afford to use, putting it towards your principal balance can help you pay your mortgage off faster. For instance, income from a part time job, income taxes, bonuses at work, cash back rewards from credit cards, and whatever other income you receive can help put a dent in the overall balance. Remember, you want to make sure when you send in extra money that you specify putting it towards the principal balance and not the accrued interest.

5.  Find Homeowner Insurance Discounts

Though your homeowner insurance payments are separate from your mortgage payments, it can still be beneficial to find savings in this area. The more you can save on insurance, the more income you can put towards paying down your mortgage. There are plenty of ways to save on homeowners insurance, including shopping around for better offers, investing in a home security system, and upgrading certain components in your home to improve its integrity and safety.

Having various avenues to help manage your mortgage payments is ideal to prevent falling behind on payments and ruining your credit. Remember, because your mortgage is a binding contract, you’ll need to review it or contact your lender to find out if there are any penalties you should be aware of. You want to prevent adding extra costs as you pay down your mortgage and save money in the long run.

If you’ve got the know-how and the courage, and make the right moves, investing in distressed debt can pay off handsomely.  It can actually present you with the best of both worlds — you get consistent cash flow through the repayment of debt, and you also benefit from asset appreciation.

Risks are High

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  The debt is considered distressed, because many people don’t believe it will ever be paid back in full, if at all.  There’s a chance the business repaying the debt could stop paying entirely if the business collapses.

However, as the saying goes: “high risk, high reward”.  And with the risk of complete loss of capital, comes significant potential upside if the bet pays off. But if you don’t have the knowledge, capital, or very long term view to take on distressed debt, perhaps a better approach now would be to learn how to spread bet as this is an accessible and high return way anyone can start investing.

Investing in Turnarounds

If you believe a business is going to turn itself around, get out of the bad situation it’s in, pay off its debt, and go on to thrive, then your return can be very significant. But even if the worse happens and the business ends up in bankruptcy, since debt is given priority over share equity if a bankruptcy does happen, this does help to limit your downside too. So this can mean that in a wide range of circumstances, your return on capital through debt can be better than if you invested in the actual shares of the business.

Lend-to-own Investment

An alternative approach is lend to own.  What this means is that if a company is entirely unable to pay off its debt, by owning the debt, it can give investors the leverage to take over the company. Even then if the company goes into bankruptcy, you’ll still be first in line to get repaid.  Whereas if the company survives, and even thrives, you may end up owning a profitable enterprise at a huge discount.

Plus of course, since you own the debt, by becoming the owner of the company, you don’t have to pay back that debt since the money is yours, so immediately, the financial health of the business improves hundred fold.

Of Course Things Aren’t Quite So Simple

But let’s not pretend this isn’t a hugely competitive market, with high risks, high capital requirements, and considerable complexity.  The process of investing in distressed debt is difficult and expensive.

One reason for this is since debt is of course not publicly traded, it’s not a liquid asset, so buying such debt can be a very difficult and time consuming process. Now as a retail investor, to be fully involved in this market is more than likely out of your reach, but there may be funds you can invest in, and other places to place your capital, where you may see the benefits of distressed debt investing, without having to dive fully into the business itself.

Sometimes we move because we have to go where the job is. Other times, it is because that’s where family is. But I suspect the underlying reason Americans move so often is because we just get tired of where we are, and long to see what’s over the next horizon. Whatever the reason, moving is never fun, nor cheap.

There are so many aspects of a move that make the process painfully expensive. Among those expenses are:

• Packing material
• A moving company, or…
• A moving truck with gas and insurance
• Help
• Replacements for all the items lost or damaged in the move

Hiring a moving company can be an expensive option, especially if you opt for packing, moving, and unpacking services. But with companies such as Allied Moving Company, that extra cost of money will make your move much more convenient and stress free compared to making that move without these services.

It’s also not a guarantee that doing the move yourself will be any less expensive. Trucks, gas, insurance, boxes, tape, and labor are all expensive add-ons. Time is also a crucial factor. Do the move yourself, and you will be looking at unpacked boxes for weeks. Let professionals do it, and your home will be move-in ready within hours. When you add it all up, you might actually save a little money by having professionals handle the move. Here are a few more tips to consider:

Plan Ahead

As you can see from the above list, there is an awful lot to do if you are going to do the move on your own. You can save money by planning ahead, and securing supplies early. If you start collecting boxes in advance, you will not have to go out and purchase boxes at the last minute. Figure out who you can get to help you move, and work out a fee well before you get into a situation where you have to take whatever you can get. By planning ahead, you can usually find a truck rental discount that can also save you quite a bit.

Pack as Early as Possible

One of the least fun aspects of moving is packing. No one likes to do it. And few people do it well. Packing is probably the single most wasteful part of moving when it comes to unnecessary expenses. That is because when it is not done well, things get lost or broken. Also, when waiting till the last minute, things get packed that should have been thrown out, or get thrown out when they should have been packed.

HowStuffWorks.com suggests that you should start packing up to 2 months before the move. You should probably start even earlier if possible. No one is suggesting that you pack your toothbrush in advance. That would be silly. But there are knick-knacks and thingamabobs that are precious to you, but serve no functional purpose. Box them up while you have plenty of time to do it right.

Take Advantage of Discounts

If you filled out your change of address card in advance, you can count on at least one piece of junk mail being in your new mailbox once you get there. Don’t throw it away. It is not really junk. It is a pack of coupons for all the local businesses in your new neighborhood. It is everything from pizza delivery to dry cleaning.

Once you’ve suffered through an expensive move, every bit of savings helps. That coupon kit courtesy of the chamber of commerce, is sure to have something in it that you can use. All of the businesses are desperate for new customers. And the best shot at new customers are people just moving into the area. They will do a lot to secure your business. Let them.

There is not really a such thing as a fun and inexpensive move. But by taking advantage of local discounts, packing in advance, and planning ahead, you can make it a lot less painful than it would otherwise have been.

Tying the knot can be a costly endeavor. Some couples are willing to throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars in anticipation of having the “wedding of the year.” Usually the money isn’t even coming out of the bride or groom’s pocket. It’s their folks that go into debt to finance this extravaganza. And for what, I ask you? As an indication of the state of marriage these days, a report released in December 2012 by the Office of National Statistics in the UK indicated that 42% of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce and that 34% of marriages are expected to end in divorce by the 20th wedding anniversary.

So with cockeyed optimism aside, the question remains: why spend a fortune for a wedding that has less than a 1 in 3 chance of surviving? Wouldn’t it be smarter to pare down the costs from the get go and with some of the ‘spare cash’ lying around you can purchase a house or a horse or something that can appreciate over time. Making a sound financial investment such as gold is also a prudent move. Or maybe put the money in a special education account in hopes of spending it to cover your child’s nursery school fees which, down the road, will be more than what you are now paying for your entire marriage ceremony.

So let’s discuss how to make a really nice wedding at a fraction of the expected cost.

We can start with the invitations. This is the first area which can not only save tons of money but offers you the opportunity to use your creative talents. Free online invite services such as Paperless Post gives you allows you to select colors, fonts and styles that can be cutesy or sentimental. After designing the invitation just type in the email addresses of those you wish to invite and send them out. No addressing envelopes, no sticky stamps, no cost. RSVP’s come directly back to you. Set up an excel sheet and voila. An instant tracking system.

Let’s move on to the guest list. Here is where you can really cut costs. I know how much your parents want to impress their friends and simply must return the invite to all those people whose weddings they attended. But it really isn’t your parents’ wedding and I must admit that I am often quite relieved when I am NOT invited to the affair of a good friend’s son or daughter. To still make them feel special, however, several days after the wedding, your folks can take out 20 good friends for a small dinner at a moderately priced restaurant. To give your ceremony a cozy, close-knit feeling, do try to keep your guest list to about 100 couples at most.

Flowers next.  I know this may sound cheesy but today’s ‘fake’ flowers are so lifelike that I’ve seen many a person walk up to one and take a sniff. (They are always so embarrassed when they realize they have been fooled.) Fake flowers are portable and can be moved around from one place to another. And then, they can be taken home forever!! Flowers as showpieces on the tables have given way to more imaginative centerpieces such as decorative candles which add a romantic atmosphere to the tables. Of course, a beautiful single red rose standing proudly in a tall glass vase can never be duplicated.

On to the bridal gown. Most brides will not budge on the topic of their gowns. Many insist on the old fashioned look of the full flowing skirt which converges into the long train held by a bridesmaid or simply trailing along behind her as she walks down the aisle. Others are more modern and will go for a shorter dress, slim and sleek and fitting her to a tee. In either case, my advice is to rent or borrow. Buying a dress to be worn for one night is a terrible waste of money and what will you do with the dress afterwards? I know from experience that ‘saving’ the dress for the next generation may be quaint but it is really not worth it. I kept my wedding dress made of satin and lace for years in an air-tight bag and it still turned yellow!!! It did have some use, however. It became part of the costume collection used during adolescent drama productions.

The pre-ceremony reception can be pared down to a few hot dishes and a selection of salads. Some pastries and drinks round it out. Yes, that mound of chopped liver and brilliant ice sculptures have become passé and have been replaced by selection of multi-shaped crackers and humus dips.

Now to the dinner. It’s difficult to bring down the cost when it comes to food but there really is no need for two appetizers, a choice of 3 entrees and 5 different side dishes. Presenting a choice is a luxury and most guests are happy with the selection you make for them. Dessert is another story altogether. The rule is to never cut back on yummy desserts. These are what people will remember long after the last glass of champagne is downed. Choose at least four or 5 types of pastries- one hot mushy cake and at least 2 chocolate ones-and present them with some cut up fruit on the side and a bowl of chocolate syrup. Coffee and tea should be served separately. Don’t forget the fresh cream!!

There you have it. A fantastic wedding at a fraction of the price. Have a great time!!

Cina Coren is a contributing editor to DailyForex, a website that sponsors FX Academy, an online program for educating traders to the world of Forex.