having lived through a layoff.. one income suddenly gone, 2 kids, mortgage and car payment.. that keeps you from spending that "4k" or whatever.
It's hopeless. Some people have saving personalities, and some people have spending ones.
Me, I never know where to spend my money. Shopping is so stressful for me that I never spend my money.
Me, I never know where to spend my money. Shopping is so stressful for me that I never spend my money.
bunker
Lifer
- Apr 23, 2001
- 10,572
- 0
- 71
Originally posted by: Buttzilla
key word...single life
If I were single I'd always be broke.
"How do you save money"
By having a wife.
Sure, I could go out and buy stuff on a regular basis, but it comes with a cost I'm not willing to pay. Namely, her getting on my case about buying crap. It's not crap to me, but I can see how she would consider it crap.
The easiest way to save money is to play phsychological games with yourself.
My two favourite (and effective ones) are:
1) Budget an amount every month that is just for savings. At the beginning of the month transfer the money out of your main account and into the savings account (just like a bill payment). That way the money is out of reach. You are in effect paying yourself. The beginning is very important. If not, then the money will slowly disappear by the end.
2) Over budget for bills. Let's say your cable is $40 a month. Budget $65. That way you look forward to having the bills come and you have extra money at the end of the month for savings or spending.
My two favourite (and effective ones) are:
1) Budget an amount every month that is just for savings. At the beginning of the month transfer the money out of your main account and into the savings account (just like a bill payment). That way the money is out of reach. You are in effect paying yourself. The beginning is very important. If not, then the money will slowly disappear by the end.
2) Over budget for bills. Let's say your cable is $40 a month. Budget $65. That way you look forward to having the bills come and you have extra money at the end of the month for savings or spending.
FeathersMcGraw
Diamond Member
- Oct 17, 2001
- 4,041
- 1
- 0
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
- 6,404
- 0
- 76
Ho man, I do sometimes. Particularly Magic cards. Get me on eBay and I can blow through $200 in a day. Fortunately the market's for s%$# right now so it's hard to do that. That and I've pretty much bought all the cards I really want at the moment. Most I've spent on cards in one day is $43, but that was like half of what I spent that entire week. Anyway, aside from that I have no real desire to spend money on anything. 'cept food. I love food.
Kyteland
Diamond Member
- Dec 30, 2002
- 5,747
- 1
- 81
Try putting in to an account where you have huge penalties withdrawing it. Then you are not trying to save it, you are locking it away. Then 10-15-20 years down the road when you have leanred some financial responsibility you'll know what to do with it.
Edit: If your company has a 401k plan put as much as you can in there. You won't have any extra money for toys, but you will be saving it.
Edit: If your company has a 401k plan put as much as you can in there. You won't have any extra money for toys, but you will be saving it.
I am very good at saving money. The way I keep from spending it is to think about how much it will hurt to just let go of all that money.
I think I have a disease. I cant do anything but save. Buying things (for the most part) I have realized, does not make me happy at all. Im 17 and have managed to save up nearly $40k over the past 2 years with my part time job and investments. Im pretty happy but buying things doesnt help so I havent done that in a while.
Kyteland
Diamond Member
- Dec 30, 2002
- 5,747
- 1
- 81
I must not know how to spend money. I started my first job out of college 10 months ago. Since then I've bought a new computer, moved out of my parents place to an apartment, not even payed attention to my bank account, etc.
It's not like I haven't spent anything, but I checked recently and I've managed to save over a quarter of my pay (pre tax) during those 10 months.
Perhaps I should go spend it tonight. That would be fun :Q
Koing
Elite Member <br> Super Moderator<br> Health and F
- Oct 11, 2000
- 16,843
- 2
- 0
Wow man nice.
I'm good at saving things up also. I just save it. Stick it away and don't spend it.
I also spend on what things I really like also. I guess being able to save it allows me to spend it. Saving is good because I want to get a house by the time I am 24 or 25.
i usually tell myself to wait a month or even a few weeks to see if the i still want to buy it
usually by that time the 'excitement' of buying it is not there anymore
i also have a cushion of `12 months worth of house payments i will not touch in case i get the axe...no way im going lose the house or let my family starve if im let go
usually by that time the 'excitement' of buying it is not there anymore
i also have a cushion of `12 months worth of house payments i will not touch in case i get the axe...no way im going lose the house or let my family starve if im let go
My strategy....I setup an ING Direct acct set to deduct $300 a month from my checking accoutn and I forget abotu it. I average that $300 deduction for my weekly paychecks and factor that in to monthly spending. At the end of the year, I se what I have (a nice chunk of change if there were no problems during the year) and I move that money into a semi-liquid mutual fund or bond.Once that grows to a point where it seems that I won't need ti anytime soon, I'd move it to something a little more long term. Now, granted, i'm 21 and just over $4k in debt, I think I'm doing very well considering that I was previously $21k in debt and have been paying off my debt at a rate of $425.00 a month (plus extra when i have it) and I now own a 1996 fairly nice truck, a $2200 laptop, 2 computers, a 2MP Canon A40, PDA, my own purchased clothes and am self supporting. Might not be much, but I think I've made leaps and bounds since I started working fulltime to pay it off 2 years ago.
In fact, I'm doing so well, I'm just about ready to go back to school this fall. Just make a plan and stick to it.
In fact, I'm doing so well, I'm just about ready to go back to school this fall.
Just make a plan and stick to it.Here's how I save up money:
I pretty much think that money = freedom. If you have money, you have the freedom to do what you want. If you didn't want to work, then hey, you have that freedom. If you wanted to take a trip to Europe, you have the money to do it, therefore you have that freedom. Now on the other hand, if you had no money, you would be a slave to your job. If you wanted to take that vacation, you can't because you don't have enough money to support yourself, therefore you have to slave away at your job for x amount of hours until you have the resources to.
When I go shopping, rather than justifying why I should buy something, I justify why I don't need it instead. It helps out alot. My income is 6 figures, but by the way I shop and dress, etc, you would never know. Why should I spend all of my money when I worked so hard for it in the first place? A $2000 watch? Does it tell time any better than my $50 Fossil watch (which happens to get alot of compliments). No, it doesn't tell the time any better, but it drained you $1950 more dollars. The only reason why I could think of spending that much money on a watch is to impress others. The fact that I can afford that much of a watch makes me happy enough and I don't need to purchase it....
These kinds of ideas and more help me to save up ALOT of money. When I retire, I don't want to have anything to worry about except the next destination to travel...
I pretty much think that money = freedom. If you have money, you have the freedom to do what you want. If you didn't want to work, then hey, you have that freedom. If you wanted to take a trip to Europe, you have the money to do it, therefore you have that freedom. Now on the other hand, if you had no money, you would be a slave to your job. If you wanted to take that vacation, you can't because you don't have enough money to support yourself, therefore you have to slave away at your job for x amount of hours until you have the resources to.
When I go shopping, rather than justifying why I should buy something, I justify why I don't need it instead. It helps out alot. My income is 6 figures, but by the way I shop and dress, etc, you would never know. Why should I spend all of my money when I worked so hard for it in the first place? A $2000 watch? Does it tell time any better than my $50 Fossil watch (which happens to get alot of compliments). No, it doesn't tell the time any better, but it drained you $1950 more dollars. The only reason why I could think of spending that much money on a watch is to impress others. The fact that I can afford that much of a watch makes me happy enough and I don't need to purchase it....
These kinds of ideas and more help me to save up ALOT of money. When I retire, I don't want to have anything to worry about except the next destination to travel...
My philosophy on saving money is to blow some of it.
That's right. Take 10-15% of your income each month and blow it on something you like. That way, you get it out of your system and can save the rest for regular expenses, emergencies, retirement, etc.
That's right. Take 10-15% of your income each month and blow it on something you like. That way, you get it out of your system and can save the rest for regular expenses, emergencies, retirement, etc.
That is incredible. Would you mind giving some more detail as to how you saved up that much money at such a young age? Possibly how much you made at your job or how you invested?
For someone with no willpower, set up an automatic deduction through your employment or bank that'll transfer $ to a designated rainy day account. I managed to save up $10K in 6months while working part-time (living at home) by manually tranferring $ to my ING Direct account.
money is potential, it's possibility, where most material goods are not.
I save money by thinking, hey if I get laid off, or for some reason decide to jump ship, break up with my gf and move somewhere nice (I live on LI, NY- perhaps the most droll island in the world) I can do it with ease.
It's power because you have the capacity to negotiate a raise or whatever with more than just bravado.
Aside from that a lot of consumption is just a product of boredom. In our culture, bored people go to malls to shop - the only conventional method to escape the existential angst of everyday life. If you figure out what REALLY entertains you, you probably will prefer to spend your time doing whatever that thing is to wasting your time aquiring material goods.
I save money by thinking, hey if I get laid off, or for some reason decide to jump ship, break up with my gf and move somewhere nice (I live on LI, NY- perhaps the most droll island in the world) I can do it with ease.
It's power because you have the capacity to negotiate a raise or whatever with more than just bravado.
Aside from that a lot of consumption is just a product of boredom. In our culture, bored people go to malls to shop - the only conventional method to escape the existential angst of everyday life. If you figure out what REALLY entertains you, you probably will prefer to spend your time doing whatever that thing is to wasting your time aquiring material goods.
Damm, thats exactly was I thought with the money I have now.
I bought a car that just SCREAM......RICED ME !!!!
When I started having money saved again, I bought altezza, intakes, etc... for the car.
I was planing out body kits, stereo systems, the whole work but for some reason I came to my senses.
I am actually working toward buying a house so thats my goal there.
Its easy to save money when you're working toward a goal.(A sensible one that is).
Also, the easiest way to save money is to WORK ALL THE TIME......you won't have time to spend money.
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Amazing that RossMan hasn't chimed in with his saving strategy.
Why should I?
This is his 10,000th thread asking the same question, I give up.
Ah damn, for some reason I found this funny...
No offense though Ryan...
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