It's amazing how fast we can spend money!

[tec699]

I was curious. I wanted to see how much I was spending at WAWA. I'd stop there on a daily basis and grab coffee, pastry, and/or sausage and egg muffin. I added up my December bill and it came to over$110.00 This is how much I spent on mostly breakfast items. My daily bill from going to this store was in the $3-5 dollar range, but goddamn does it add up quickly. If I continue this pace for the full year I could easily spend over $1,200 on just pastry and coffee!

I've been hearing a lot about how Americans don't save their money. It's spend spend spend and I fit right into this category. Well this sh*t has to stop. I'm cutting off Wawa for good. I'll go in there from time to time but it will be a rarity. I could be putting my money spent at Wawa in a rainy day trust fund. $1.200 a year within 10 years will net me $12k and that's without interest.

Maybe you should do the same? How much do you spend at Starbucks? Now add that up as a monthly total and next do a yearly total. It's a lot of money, eh?

 

[BCYL]

No problem for me, i don't drink coffee (actually I don't even eat breakfast)...

 

[dullard]

It'll be healthy for your wallet and your heart if you just eat a bowl of fiber cereal and a glass of juice. So also, think of the reduced medical care bills in your elderly years by skipping WAWA.

 

[imported_Lensman]

heh, reminds me of something i heard on the radio this morning.
they were calling the age 30 and below Generation Broke because people are coming out of college with major debt (college loans, car loans, credit card bills, etc).
I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but it was like the national savings average is in the negative percent. it was a only like 3-4% a few years ago.

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: dullard
It'll be healthy for your wallet and your heart if you just eat a bowl of fiber cereal and a glass of juice.

Yea, but it's the convenience I guess. You go in and you're out in a few minutes. This is what has gotten me and other Americans into a financial mess.

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: Lensman
heh, reminds me of something i heard on the radio this morning.
they were calling the age 30 and below Generation Broke because people are coming out of college with major debt (college loans, car loans, credit card bills, etc).
I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but it was like the national savings average is in the negative percent. it was a only like 3-4% a few years ago.

I believe it.

It's called sacrifice and today people are unwilling to do it. We live in a gimmie gimmie gimmie society and this is the mentality of today's younger generation.

 

[Spike]

Meh, it's not coffee or fast food that gets me. It's the $4 Yate-Loon fan, the $3 round cable, and the $400 GPU that are killing me Oh, that and the fact that my wife wants to keep going on these vacations, you can only leave the country so many times before it gets old.

-spike

BTW, I ended 2005 saving only 9.3% of my annual salary (not including the matching funds the company put in my 401(k)). I know it needs to be more but darn it, it's so freaking easy to spend!

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: tec699

Originally posted by: Lensman
heh, reminds me of something i heard on the radio this morning.
they were calling the age 30 and below Generation Broke because people are coming out of college with major debt (college loans, car loans, credit card bills, etc).
I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but it was like the national savings average is in the negative percent. it was a only like 3-4% a few years ago.

I believe it.

It's called sacrifice and today people are unwilling to do it. We live in a gimmie gimmie gimmie society and this is the mentality of today's younger generation.

well when everyone around you is buying BMWs right out of college it's hard to resist

 

[NissanGurl]

Not Starbuck's for me, but FF in general. Gonna start cutting back. Good point about the spending. I've already got $200/month going to a standard savings account and there is the 401(a) ORP here at work that my employer puts 10% of my salary in a year (comes out of their pocket not mine). I had been debating throwing another $300/month at my credit union (where my savings account is) and starting a RothIRA. I'll probably go ahead and do that now. Just curious, what are some other people doing to build savings? I know I have time to save, I just turned 26, but I think of the savings account as something I can dip into if I need extra fun money or something. I don't do it a whole lot, but you gotta have fun sometimes.

Sorry, not trying to thread-jack.

Edit: oh yeah, forgot I just signed up for the 401(k) at work also. They only match $30, but that's still $$. Starting out by putting $50/month towards that. Oh yeah, and I left college debt-free. Don't own a house but I do own my car.

 

[kyzen]

I'm still kind of in college (taking a semester off). This thread got me thinking. I'm making a crappy $400 a week. I spend an average of $15 a day on lunch and breakfast/snack. That's $75 a week, about a quarter of my paycheck after taxes. And it doesn't include however much my dinner cost.

Time to cut back.

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: tec699

Originally posted by: Lensman
heh, reminds me of something i heard on the radio this morning.
they were calling the age 30 and below Generation Broke because people are coming out of college with major debt (college loans, car loans, credit card bills, etc).
I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but it was like the national savings average is in the negative percent. it was a only like 3-4% a few years ago.

I believe it.

It's called sacrifice and today people are unwilling to do it. We live in a gimmie gimmie gimmie society and this is the mentality of today's younger generation.

well when everyone around you is buying BMWs right out of college it's hard to resist

Well maybe they have rich parents? For instance, my uncle wants to buy me a new car because I just graduated from college. I could never afford this right now but he's the one that's loaded and he's calling the shots.

I haven't gotten a new car yet.

 

[Anubis]

Large coffee and a bagel w/ cream cheese only costs me $1.63

and i make my own coffee most days

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: kyzen
I'm still kind of in college (taking a semester off). This thread got me thinking. I'm making a crappy $400 a week. I spend an average of $15 a day on lunch and breakfast/snack. That's $75 a week, about a quarter of my paycheck after taxes. And it doesn't include however much my dinner cost.

Time to cut back.

Get a big a** bucket of penut butter and jelly at one of those super stores. I know it's not fun to eat everyday but you'll save a ton of cash. Set aside a day so you can treat yourself to a nice lunch. It could be your reward day I guess.

 

[Epic Fail]

Originally posted by: Anubis
Large coffee and a bagel w/ cream cheese only costs me $1.63

and i make my own coffee most days

where? 3.25 for me

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: Anubis
Large coffee and a bagel w/ cream cheese only costs me $1.63

and i make my own coffee most days

That's the way to do it. Why make other people rich?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: yamadakun

Originally posted by: Anubis
Large coffee and a bagel w/ cream cheese only costs me $1.63

and i make my own coffee most days

where? 3.25 for me

any City Convenience in Boston, before xmass they started chargeing $0.50 for their coffee, any size, and its decent coffee, better the starsucks and McDs, DD is prob better but it costs like 3$

 

[ironcrotch]

I buy a lot of little stuff all the time. The little stuff is what makes life great.

 

[NissanGurl]

I think half the problem is that when I do go to get FF, the bf always wants me to pick up 5 extra things so he can have "snacks" for later. Grrr, I hate it when he does that.

 

[waggy]

I got to wondering how much money i blew a week on junk while i was working. I kept a running log of how much "change" i spent in a week. i totled $140.

That was buying lunch, snacks, pop, coffee, etc. that was way to much to blow a week. so i baught a small cooler and had it stocked with pop and stuff to munch on. saved me close to $100 a week. heck thats a car payment!

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: waggy
I got to wondering how much money i blew a week on junk while i was working. I kept a running log of how much "change" i spent in a week. i totled $140.

That was buying lunch, snacks, pop, coffee, etc. that was way to much to blow a week. so i baught a small cooler and had it stocked with pop and stuff to munch on. saved me close to $100 a week. heck thats a car payment!

Add that up for a yearly total and you'll see what I'm talking about. How about in 5 years? Ten years?

 

[Lumathix]

I had the same train of thought today. I used to spend a minimum of $10/day, 5 days a week on lunch. That's over $200/ a month. Geez.

 

[tec699]

Originally posted by: Lumathix
I had the same train of thought today. I used to spend a minimum of $10/day, 5 days a week on lunch. That's over $200/ a month. Geez.

Yea, you could get that Mercedes!

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: tec699

Originally posted by: waggy
I got to wondering how much money i blew a week on junk while i was working. I kept a running log of how much "change" i spent in a week. i totled $140.

That was buying lunch, snacks, pop, coffee, etc. that was way to much to blow a week. so i baught a small cooler and had it stocked with pop and stuff to munch on. saved me close to $100 a week. heck thats a car payment!

Add that up for a yearly total and you'll see what I'm talking about. How about in 5 years? Ten years?

JESUS! i just relized my mortgage is only $487 a month! (not including tax wich is another $400) sheesh.

 

[bigrash]

you know what's an expense that adds up quickly? condoms! that's it, I'm gonna stop using them and start saving my money. oh wait...

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: bigrash
you know what's an expense that adds up quickly? condoms! that's it, I'm gonna stop using them and start saving my money. oh wait...

yeah i know this is a joke buut

you can go to the health service's at any local college, community center, Planed parenthood etc to get them for free.

IF you really want to pay Adam&eve always has a great deal on "sampler" packs. We got a pack of 30 that had a wide variety of different brands and styles.


anyway with that nick i figured you werent useing them anyway!