How do you save money?

JOEJOEJOE

Eat at home as much as possible, you save the cost of a tip, sales tax and expensive soft drinks/beer/etc.

Eat out only for social occassions, not just because you are too lazy to cook!

If you have a good group of friends, Plan more social activities at people's homes.

Only buy clothes when they are on sale (on offer).

If planning a trip, consider the cost....spending $1,000 to travel somewhere to see a band is a bit absurd if you are trying to save money or get out of debt.

Finally, remember that the cost of debt is very expensive. If you rack-up $5,000 of debt, the annual interest on said debt could be $1,000....its as if you are paying a 20% surcharge for your debt-financed purchases.

florence151

Stopped smoking about 4 years ago and saved over $7,000.00. Using that for the summer PJ tour in Europe.

mickeyrat

what is this "money" that you speak of? :shock:

dimitrispearljam

stay all day in..need 5000euros for this euro tour...

AtlantaJammer

Ive helped out a bunch of people by telling them they should do something Ive been doing for almost 10 years now. I get direct deposit for my pachecks. I get $150 deposited into a savings account and the rest into my checking. Thats $7,800 a year for me. You can do less or more depnding... After just a few weeks, you dont even miss that extra money, cause you dont really see it. Ya get? I also, refuse to use any of the money I get deposited into my savings unless its for vacations. Or if its an absolute emergency, which fortunately I havent had to yet. Should give it a try...

ZiggyStar

Buy red wine by the carton
Buy beer when it's on special
Buy my weed in large sizes
See movies on cheap Tuesday for $9
Download music, movies and software

decides2dream

AtlantaJammer wrote:

Ive helped out a bunch of people by telling them they should do something Ive been doing for almost 10 years now. I get direct deposit for my pachecks. I get $150 deposited into a savings account and the rest into my checking. Thats $7,800 a year for me. You can do less or more depnding... After just a few weeks, you dont even miss that extra money, cause you dont really see it. Ya get? I also, refuse to use any of the money I get deposited into my savings unless its for vacations. Or if its an absolute emergency, which fortunately I havent had to yet. Should give it a try...

auto-saving is such a great, fairly painless idea. when it gets deducted automatically/immediately, you don't even miss it. my husband and i both contribute 15% of our gross pay to our 401Ks thru auto-payment direct from our paychecks. so, don't really even 'see' it thus, don't miss it. paychecks get direct deposited so that they earn interest immediately. we use credit for almost all purchases so that is like getting an interest-free loan every month, while our money sits in our account earning interest until we pay our bill, in full, each month. i now keep very accurate records of our expenditures, our monthly outlays...to see exactly where our $$$ is going and where we can conserve or splurge. we recently went over our budget fully, made some significant changes to save more and will go over the budget say ever 6 months or so to track if we are on target for our goals. and sure, we've cut back considerably on many luxuries, and others...simply scaled back a bit. as with anything, it's all about balance.

know1

pjfan31 wrote:

I like hearing how people save money. A while back, I heard some tips, and I've gone from spending every cent I earned, to saving. So here's what I do, (Keeping in mind, most of my income is disposable)

-Put $300 a fortnight into a high interest savings account
-put all my coins in a jar. It's amazing how quickly it adds up
-and about a month ago, I heard a tip to save every $5 note I got. So now I do that.

There is one simple, correct answer for this and it only has one word: BUDGET.

Simply put, "spend" your money (including accounting for savings) on paper at the beginning of the month and stick to it. For big expenses that come up once a year - just "spend" that money each month - i.e. put it away and don't touch it - and then you have it when that expense comes due.

Another example - I drive a paid for car, but I "spend" a car payment to myself each month so I can buy the next one in cash.

iluvcats

I brew my own coffee, use online coupons when I buy shoes online, don't buy a new car, and check dvds for free from the library. I was dying my own hair and it started getting brassy again. Last month, I got my roots touched up (really looked great) and a hair cut for $63 plus tip at my local "Hair Cuttery."

facepollution

It's shocking how you can spend money on seemingly nothing, but it all adds up. I worked out that I was spending £15 a month on diet coke from the vending machine at work! I've cut my spending down considerably over the last few months, I almost forgot what it was like to be able to pay for something with money I actually had, rather than just throwing it on the credit card.

TravisTheSky

Here is my life on US $1150 per month:

$850 for rent with all utilities

$39 for my internet service

$1.66 almost-free phone service

$150 organic food

$50 for vitamins, supplements, water filters, coffee, and green tea

$20 for non-food groceries and clothing

$5 pet supplies

$35 for public transport and everything else

Keep it simple! I have no car, no mobile phone, no iPod, no TV service. I never eat fast food or restaurant food. I only drink water, or water flavoured with coffee & tea that I brew at home. When my most recent airbed collapsed, I decided not to buy the third new one in less than 2 years. It is free to sleep on the carpet.

blackredyellow

decides2dream wrote:

AtlantaJammer wrote:

Ive helped out a bunch of people by telling them they should do something Ive been doing for almost 10 years now. I get direct deposit for my pachecks. I get $150 deposited into a savings account and the rest into my checking. Thats $7,800 a year for me. You can do less or more depnding... After just a few weeks, you dont even miss that extra money, cause you dont really see it. Ya get? I also, refuse to use any of the money I get deposited into my savings unless its for vacations. Or if its an absolute emergency, which fortunately I havent had to yet. Should give it a try...

auto-saving is such a great, fairly painless idea. when it gets deducted automatically/immediately, you don't even miss it. my husband and i both contribute 15% of our gross pay to our 401Ks thru auto-payment direct from our paychecks. so, don't really even 'see' it thus, don't miss it. paychecks get direct deposited so that they earn interest immediately. we use credit for almost all purchases so that is like getting an interest-free loan every month, while our money sits in our account earning interest until we pay our bill, in full, each month. i now keep very accurate records of our expenditures, our monthly outlays...to see exactly where our $$$ is going and where we can conserve or splurge. we recently went over our budget fully, made some significant changes to save more and will go over the budget say ever 6 months or so to track if we are on target for our goals. and sure, we've cut back considerably on many luxuries, and others...simply scaled back a bit. as with anything, it's all about balance.

And auto-saving can be increased easily... We started this with $50 a week. Not a ton, but basically $200 a month into savings. In a few months, I upped it to $60 (you're not going to miss $10 right?), then just gradually increased it. I'd skip times around the holidays or whatever when money is tight, but now we are up to $90 a week.

This money goes into an online savings account that takes a few days to get money transferred from, so it's not easy to splurge on stuff with.

We also do $100 extra every two weeks (I get paid every two weeks, wife weekly) into our bank savings account. This money covers any out of the ordinary expenses or splurges that we decide to make instead of putting it on a credit card.

I do need to increase my 401k contribution though...

chiquimonkey

brown bag lunch for work, make coffee at home. cook meals at home, only eating out if with friends/family. i changed my cable plan since i wasn't watching most the channels i had, so i saved $40 a month on that alone!

coupons, LOVE coupons! always look for discount codes online if you are buying anything online and clip 'em for groceries. add as much to your savings as you can for an emergency. and i don't have any credit cards, cut them all up when i was done with them. if i can't buy something with cash outright, it doesn't happen (exception being my car but for everything else it applies!)

Digital Twilight

chiquimonkey wrote:

and i don't have any credit cards, cut them all up when i was done with them. if i can't buy something with cash outright, it doesn't happen (exception being my car but for everything else it applies!)

and Pearl Jam Tickets

chiquimonkey

Digital Twilight wrote:

chiquimonkey wrote:

and i don't have any credit cards, cut them all up when i was done with them. if i can't buy something with cash outright, it doesn't happen (exception being my car but for everything else it applies!)

and Pearl Jam Tickets

haha well i do buy those outright....i have an emergency PJ fund

81

don't have pets...they can be expensive...

pay down debt faster. all i have any more is my house mortage. i increase my monthly payment so that in essence, i've doubled by principal portion. i don't have the numbers in front of me, but it will save a ton over the life of the loan as well as pay off the house some 10 years or so faster. that's the current plan at least

the nice thing about being poor, you don't seem to worry about money as much.

Thoughts_Arrive

I'm gonna save you fucker, not gonna SPEND youuuu!

Thoughts_Arrive

I take my lunch to work (est cost of $2-3 per day), whilst others buy fast food daily (average $6.00 per day).
Bring your own lunch prepared at home!

81

packing is pretty cheap..... although you can eat cheap out sometimes. subway 6in sub for 3bucks, no chips with water to drink

local grocery store, you can get a bowl of soup and a bag of chips for 2.57, drink water. pretty cheap.

today is turkey and swiss from home.

megatron

stopped drinking.
i'm loaded now...well not really but it seems like it in comparison