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.? :)