Upon graduating from college, you find a job and a place to live; it is also a perfect time to learn how to set up an automatic savings plan for life. If you develop the habit of saving now automatically, it is more likely to last for your entire lifetime.

The setup: Most companies now offer direct deposit as a way to receive your paycheck. And they allow you to pick which account the money goes into. They will also let you divide up your paycheck, either by percent or whole dollar amounts, and the company will deposit the money into different accounts. Read your company’s policies about payroll deposits before calling your HR department to ask for this setup.

If you have never saved on a regular basis before, start with five percent of your paycheck, and have it deposited directly into your savings account. If this seems too high, start with two percent and put it on your calendar to move it up in three months. Do not select the option of having a set amount taken from your paycheck, because you want the amount to grow when you receive a raise or bonus.
Have your savings account at a different bank from where your checking account is, and make sure to close the ATM card or any other access you have to the savings account. You only want direct deposits into this account and no easy way to take money out.

Why this works: This is a psychological trick that you play on yourself. It comes down to the idea that you don’t see the money, so you are less likely to spend it. Because it doesn’t exist in your checking account, you are less likely to act on an urge to spend it on something in the moment. This way, you can set it and forget it, and you will not have to remember to save something at the end of the month – because you most likely will not have any funds left over to save.

We’ve all been lured into a store with the promise of an unbelievably low price, only to find out that a mail-in rebate was involved. In many cases, the rebate makes the offer seem so good that we decide to make the purchase, but we really shouldn’t count on that discounted price until our rebate check is actually in our hands.

Rebates are similar to gift cards in that manufacturers expect a certain portion of them to go unused. Even out of those that do get returned, some will have incorrect or incomplete information rendering them ineligible for a payout. Rebates may also get you to spend more, since your reduced price on the rebated item may lead you to believe that you have some extra money to spend.

It sounds obvious, but reading and complying with the rules of a rebate will make it much more likely that you actually get paid. I take rebates into consideration when making purchasing decisions, but I consider it both ways. First, I look at the price assuming that I’ll never see a dime from the rebate. Then I look at it as though I will certainly get the rebate. In the past, I’ve passed up a slightly lower price, including a rebate, for an alternative that wouldn’t entail the hassle and risk of the rebate. I feel okay doing this for, say, a $5 difference on a $100 item, but would be more inclined to go with the rebated item if the difference were greater.

Rebates offer a price incentive, but it comes at a cost. While the work of getting a rebate is usually fairly simple, waiting for your money can be a pain. If you are too busy to handle a rebate in a timely manner, or if there’s some other factor that may prevent you from receiving your money, comparison-shop as if the rebate didn’t exist. That way, if you do end up getting the rebate, it will be like a little bonus that you could use to treat yourself to a small indulgence or apply in an even better way such as debt reduction or another investment.

Running a small business is hard work. Between generating new clients, managing employees and vendors, did you schedule a backup of your hard drive?

I didn't think so.

These 16 online resources and low-cost services can make life easier (and cheaper!) for the small business owner, freelancer or startup.

Project Tracking

To-do List: Tadalist.com

While I prefer an old-fashioned legal pad for my "To-do" list, I also use a very basic list online with "Ta-da" lists.

Ta-da List – Basic Task Tracking

Cost: Free

Software Project Management: The Trac Project

If you do any sort of software or web app development, The Trac Project is a fantastic way to track revisions, bugs, and timelines for your project. This works great especially when you're working with a developer who is remote.

Cost: Free

Customer Support

Customer Satisfaction: GetSatisfaction.com

Happy customers return. Happy customers also tell their friends about your product or service.

Tracking customer complaints and feedback is made easy with GetSatisfaction. Not only can users get help from other users, your company can sign up to help users in an official capacity as well.

Registering yourself at GetSatisfaction and responding to customer questions is saying, "I care about you!" to your customers. Check out their company-customer pact.

Cost: Free

Customer Ticket Tracking: helperoo.com

For customer ticket tracking, nothing is worse than getting bogged down in email. Use a simple ticket tracking system like helperoo to help manage customer support requests.

Cost: Free

Freelancers

Finding Contractors: GetAFreelancer.com

Need a new logo or perhaps some fresh content? There are thousands of freelancers on the web who do great work at a great value for your business.

GetAFreelancer isn't as slick as guru.com or other freelance websites, but it's still my favorite. There are thousands of quality freelancers that peruse postings here. Their escrow service is simple and widely used on most GAF transactions.

I've hired dozens of freelancers from GetAFreelancer and had only one bad, minor experience. Overall the quality of vendors here is top notch. Be sure to check a vendor's feedback before putting any money in escrow.

Cost: $3 to post a project

Office Basics

Office Furniture: Craigslist.com

New furniture can be a rip-off.

The good news is that quality office furniture and supplies are always in fresh supply on craiglist.com - I don't think I've ever paid more than $80 for a desk. And I've had some nice desks all courtesy of craigslist.

Cost: From free to dirt cheap

Office Supplies – Staples.com

That was easy.

No, really. Ordering business supplies, paper, post-its, paperclips, toner, whatever is dead simple with Staples online. Just make sure to spend more than $50 to get free shipping.

At least in Seattle they use local delivery services so sometimes your orders show up the next day at no additional cost. Save the trip out of the office as well as get the best prices online.

Cost: Spend $50 or more for free shipping

Financial Management

Bookkeeping: QuickBooks Online Edition

Cheaper month to month than buying a full edition of QuickBooks, the online edition can be accessed from anywhere you can get an internet connection.

Handy when working from a coffee shop or beach, the online edition will seem familiar to anyone who has worked with QuickBooks before.

If you hire a bookkeeper, giving them a remote login to QuickBooks is easy through the online edition as well. Integration with payroll services (see PayCycle below) is seamless.

Cost: $24.99 per month

Online Payroll: PayCycle.com

You do not want to manage payroll on your own.

A cheaper option than a full service payroll service is PayCycle. Once you've setup all your employees, running payroll is pretty easy.

The interface is very user friendly, and nearly all tax payments can be made online. Having knowledge of payroll taxes is helpful here, but as long as you have all the government documentation you need, the setup isn't too difficult.

The monthly fee is for up to 5 employees. PayCycle can also handle contractor payments (including handling 1099's).

Cost: $24.99 and up

Business Savings Account: ING Direct

Keeping your business and personal finances separate is vital when tax time rolls around.

I've found ING's business savings account very simple to use for my business. Opening an account will take some paperwork, but once you've setup your account transferring between your business checking account and your ING online savings account is simple.

Cost: Free. APR is currently 3.15% (Aug. 19, 2008)

Start-Up Resources

Legal/Startup Documents: Docstock.com

Sometimes you need a lawyer.

Sometimes it's better (and cheaper!) to do basic legal documents yourself. Forget paying for generic legal docs, you can find non-disclosure agreements, LLC Operating Agreements, EIN Applications, and more docs like financial projections templates on .docstock for free.

For more useful startup documents check out this list.

Cost: Free

Web

Domain Registration: Google

While Go Daddy is the king of domain registration, the best value I've found is actually Google.

Yep, Google has a little-known domain registration service for $10/year that includes private registration. Private domain registration allows you to keep your personal information hidden.

Cost: $10

Computer Backup: Mozy.com

Backing up your computers is a must-do activity for any business. You used to be limited to ZIP disks and external hard drives. While external drives still have value, automatic backups are a snap using a cheap online backup service like Mozy.

Mozy will backup your system every night and keep the backups on their servers, so God forbid your office burns down; your data will be safe. For a few bucks a month, you can't beat the peace of mind off-site data storage gives you.

Cost: $3.95 + $0.50/GB per month

Cheap Web Hosting: dreamhost.com

Dreamhost has had its fair share of issues (downtime, billing issues), but it's still a great value and dead simple to use. Their 1-click software installers are genius. You can have a new website up and running in 5 minutes.

Cost: From $5.99/month for shared hosting

Website Content Management: WordPress

Use the Dreamhost 1-click installer to install WordPress for your website. Get a custom theme done for a few hundred bucks (hire a freelancer from Getafreelancer). Now you can update your website easily, and you saved thousands by not hiring a designer to build you a site from scratch.

WordPress is an open source content management platform that continues to get better as the community improves on it with each new release.

Cost: Free

Idea Storage: Evernote.com

Evernote is a hot new startup in beta that has an incredible ability to track your documents/photos/audio from the road. You are given an email address to send documents/photos/audio files too. Evernote then organizes the files and can even recognize text in photos to allow faster searching.

Have a great "back of the napkin" idea at lunch? Snap a photo and send it to Evernote. You'll be able to access it from anywhere as well as search the text in the photo.

Cost: Free (40 MB per month)

* * *

Do you have a frugal web service that helps your business thrive? Share your favorite frugal web service in the comments section below.

Covering portable storage as a viable moving option in a recent post, Using Portable Storage For Your Move] reminded me to discuss the use of storage units in general. Such units promise to give you the extra space you need for a low monthly fee.

In a few cases, these units are a great option. This is typically true when the unit is needed for a limited duration, such as during a remodel, move, or anytime when space is temporarily limited. As a place to store all of the junk that no longer fits in your overcrowded house, the storage unit is a terrible solution. Unless you live in a real estate market where housing prices preclude you from having enough space for basic necessities, a storage unit is often an out-of-sight, out-of-mind way to conceal your over-consumption.

When I was packing to move for a second time in two years, I realized that I wouldn’t miss any of the items that were still packed from the last move. Storage units can have the same effect. If you do use one for a short time, keep track of how often you access the contents. Anything that isn’t touched in a few months can probably be sold, donated, or discarded.

Storage units cost you in multiple ways. In addition to the monthly rental cost is the depreciating value of the contents. If you’re not using an item, selling it as soon as possible generally gets the highest price. The obvious exception would be collector’s items that appreciate over time, but such valuable items are likely stored in your home. Insurance for your storage unit as well as the costs to drive to and from the facility also add to the expense.

With few exceptions, renting a storage unit is a real waste of money. It can also indicate a poor financial mindset. Excess contradicts frugality. Simplifying your life and eliminating unused possessions (and the resulting costs they incur) is more in line with the lifestyle I hope you all try to achieve.

The process of batching, or storing up similar tasks until you can get many of them done at once, can provide a huge productivity boost. Paying bills is one such example. As I’ve mentioned in the past, batching bills can save you time by reducing how often you have to get out your checkbook, stamps, etc., or log on to your bill-pay website. In other cases, however, batching can make a task more difficult, and less productive.

As an example of when batching hurts efficiency, consider how you manage your receipts. Recording each transaction as it occurs takes very little time. Splitting transactions between multiple budget categories is also easiest when the transaction is fresh in your mind. When I get behind and allow receipts to accumulate, the process gets increasingly more difficult. As a result, I put the task off even further until I finally have a stack so overwhelming that I consider giving up and starting again from scratch.

Tasks that have relatively low overhead often should not be batched. Batching tasks that have a large amount of overhead makes sense. Doing as much work as possible, once you’ve committed to that overhead, can increase efficiency. For many other tasks, where overhead is low, batching actually decreases efficiency. If batching makes a task so difficult that it inspires bad habits, then it should certainly be avoided. Make a list of the tasks you do on a regular basis, then note which ones could benefit from a change in the amount of batching that you use.