Lauren Groupman

We have a financial savings expert here to help with those new years resolutions.

A new year so hopefully you've paid off your credit cards from the holidays and you're finally able to start a savings plan to keep those financial resolutions.

We're here to help us is lauren groupman, a savings expert, mother of six, and the author of bestselling book, recovering spender and saving expert.

Welcome to the show, lauren.

Lauren groupman: thank you so much for having me, lisa.

Lisa: well, thank you for being here and let's get right to it.

Why is february a good time to start a savings plan?

Lauren groupman: well, we've just come off of christmas spending and then people make new year's resolutions and then they drop them in february.

I like to help people get back on track and it's really all about paying down debt and learning how to budget and actually stick to it.

Lisa: i love it.

And it's so helpful for so many people out there.

Do you have any suggestions to help people get control of their finances?

Lauren groupman: right.

Have you ever wanted a debt free cheerleader, somebody to kind of help you along?

Well, i found this great free mobile app called nimble by nationwide.

And nimble is created to help users pay off debt at a pace that fits their lifestyle.

Getting out of debt really has never been easier.

In just a matter of moments and with a few questions, the app understands your spending, it helps you, coach you along and support you.

Nimble is a great resource for anybody who wants a personalized plan for paying down debt based on your lifestyle.

I definitely recommend that you check out nimble.

Lisa: good tip.

What should people do to save more, would you say?

Lauren groupman: well, i always recommend that people put a portion of their savings ... of their spending of their paycheck into a savings account, but you have to have the right savings account.

Smarty pig is a great savings account.

Smarty pig is a goal-based savings account that can help you pay for life's goals through saving, not debt.

And it's totally free and fdic insured.

It's high yield, it has referral bonuses.

And i always recommend that people put a portion of that into a christmas savings accounts that you're saving money for things so you stop going into debt.

Lisa: now can you share some other tips to help people save more?

Lauren groupman: yeah, so like i said, i have six kids and so they're always needing something.

I like to get cash back on things that i am buying anyway.

I use the unlimited cash back bank account by green dot bank.

And this is all about putting cash back in your pocket as you buy things you're going to buy anyway.

It offers an unlimited 3% cash back on online and mobile purchases and a free savings account that pays 3% annual interest.

I absolutely love this because it's like i can spend like normal and save up like crazy and i'm making some cash back to put back in my pocket for things that i'm buying anyway.

Lisa: sounds great.

I love that too.

Now do you have any more financial tips for families as well?

Lauren groupman: well, i've seen in the years that i've been teaching this, that food is pretty much the second place where people overspend the most.

And so by learning how to do simple things like meal plan, cook at home, freezer cooking, all of those kinds of things, you can really see a huge savings in meal planning and in your grocery budget, sometimes up to 50% of savings just by this simple tip.

Lisa: all right, and where can people go for more information about smart saving?

Lauren groupman: yeah.

They can find all of this information at tipsontv.com.

Lisa: awesome.

Thank you so much for