8/28 Any tips on saving money? What do you do?
\_ My strategy was to be really cheap and worry about every dollar
spent. I bought a cheap but decent car with a bunch of rebates out
of college and haven't spent money on that in 5 years. I lived in a
cheap place. These things aren't good for getting women BTW.
I lived much the same way and had no problem _/
on this front. Bitter much?
I think depending on your income though these things probably end
up being kind of a sucker's way to save money. Given a certain level
of saving the best defense is a good offense... try to build your
income through good investments. That will pay off more than
cheaping on misc. consumerism although that comes down to the level
compared to your income. Stupid = buying $ cars and HDTVs with no
savings left. Oh and yeah I never carried a credit card debt.
\_ Have your income exceed your expendetures.
\_ This is pretty much what I do. Do what businesses and
(responsible) governments do: only borrow money to buy things
that will help you make more money. (e.g. car, house) Otherwise,
wait to buy it until you've saved the money to "pay cash". And
that's beyond 6 months+ expenses saved so that next time you lose
your job you don't have to live off credit cards.
\_ It's a pretty goddamn simple concept, but it's worked for me
well enough. I've gotten a lot of long-winded lectures on
complicated savings plans from people who are always living
month to month, while I've been able to save enough to pay off
my college loans on my grad student stipend without really
doing anything that complicated.
\_ Get a copy of Quicken. Go through your old bank and cc statements
(you should be able to get the last few months online) and put
them in, making sure you actually catagorize everything. You will
have to guess on cash transactions, but you should have some idea.
Make a budget with the budget tools in Quicken. Keep it for a
month or two, see how you do. Revist the budget with a better idea
of how well you can stick to it. Then stick to it.
\_ This is a good way to find out what you spend money on and how
much to budget, but not a really good way to ensure you save
the difference. As below, make sure you don't mingle your
'savings' with your 'checking'.
\_ A good way is to automatically deduct money from your paychecks
and send it to a brokerage or even a savings account. Start
small. Send $50 or $100 week off that way and you probably
won't even miss it. When you get used to that increase it.
\_ Vote for less tax! Less tax, more personal income, more savings.
You can start by registering as a Republican, and vote for the
Republican who cuts the most tax. Don't get brainwashed by
left-wing socialists and Democrats alike. You worked hard to
earn your money, you should keep it all. -jblack #1 fan
\_ What's your restaurant and entertainment budget? Cut that.
Travel? Cut that too. Toys and other discretionary? Ditto.
New cars? Forget about it. Clothing and other personal grooming?
Trim those to the bone.
\_ earn more, spend less! Simplicity!
\_ Stop buying lattes. Eat in. Make your own breakfast instead of
buying a pastry. Limit how often you drink in bars. These four
things saved me hundreds of dollars a month.
\_ I bet it lost you about 5lbs/month too, if you were overweight.
\_ Actually, I'm towards the bottom of the BMI for my height, but
that's probably more due to the 5 miles of running every other
day than anything else. But thanks for asking. By the way,
the "get rid of your car" advice is also really good, but
only operable if you work in certain areas. -pp
\_ Get rid of your car. The average car costs $400/mo. -ausman
\_ So if you work for 30 years with no car, that gives you
144,000 dollars more to spend on a place closer to work.
Not to mention the commuting time that you either get for
yourself or use to make more money. I'm pretty sure most of the
whinners who blather about not having the money to live closer
to work could do it with the money saved from not driving.
\_ People get work done with laptops on BART or on buses. Some
read novels. For me, I just nap all the way on the bus. You
can't do these while driving. At least you're not supposed
to.
\_ $400/month really doesn't make the difference between
"able-to-afford housing" and "not" for most people in the
Bay Area. Particularly since if you don't have a car,
getting around (usually) isn't free. Most people will need
to take public transportation, which can easily be ~
$100/month.
\_ don't forget about insurance. But this will only work in
selected areas like NY City.
\_ "AAA Says Average Driving Cost Is 56.2 Cents Per Mile For 2004"
http://csua.org/u/d6l
And that's 2004, when gas prices were lower.
\_ whatever John does, do the opposite. John has expensive tastes.
\_ Oh man, nice rep. :) -John
\_ what's with those expensive pens, restaurants, etc., etc.? :) |