The broke as a joke and saving ca$h thread

[lupi]

Originally posted by: DainBramaged
I think that you should take some of these savings to buy a camera and give us :camera:'s of the wifey.

Best response eva!!!!

 

[HardTech]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
- use the "do I really need it" test: do I use at least 4/7 days (not applicable to clothing): if yes then buy, if no then find a way to make that money

excellent idea!

 

[maddogchen]

dang making 65k barely gets by. 50k a year is considered poor in the Silicon Valley. booooooo

 

[TXHokie]

Review your home/auto insurance.
I've been an Allstate customer for 10 years with no claim or accident yet my policy every year seems to increase a little. Shopped around and switched to Nationwide. They gave me the exact same coverage but I saved $200 on my home and near $600 on my auto. That's $800/yr I save by switching.
Have a garage sale - one man's trash is another man's treasure. I'm always amazed at what people would buy, stuff that I would throw out.
Stopped visiting the ATM - cash if toughest to track.

 

[V00DOO]

I have been on the frugal train for the last 2 months because I am always broke at the end of the month. For the last 2 months, I stop going to Costco and buy only stuff I need from Wally world, pack my own lunch, made my coffee at home, stop going to fancy restaurents, and stayed away from the hotdeals forum. I ended up saving almost $400 per month. I must admin it's not easy riding on the frugal train and I am beginning to fail off.

 

[Vonkhan]

Yup, I live in NYC and I pay:

fed
NY state
NYC city
NY SUI/SDI

+

social
medicare
health ins.
life ins

my monthly take home is a bit over $2600, which isn't a lot to survive on in NYC

Here's where I cut down / will be cutting down:

Lunch: Instead of a $7-8 sandwhich, get a slice of pizza. The trick is to walk 9 blocks and back to stave off some of those calories. Savings $5 / day

Dinner: Stopped eating out, fresh produce from a wholesale outlet. Cooked smaller portions, no leftovers. Used any bones to make stock for my dogs. Savings: $10 / day

Phone: No landline, text messages most of the time - return non-urgent calls after 9pm. Savings: $25 / month

Cable: I'll be getting rid of my cable. Youtube's better. Savings: $50 /month

Laundry: Do my own laundy every week. Savings: $10 / week

Coffee / Soda / Snacks / Candy / Beer: Home brewed tea and peanuts instead, healthier & cheaper. Savings: $4 / day

Turn off computer, lights, etc. for the night & while at work: Saving $9 / month

I'm still working on keeping expensive lunches to a minimum and sometime I'm just too tired to cook dinner after work. Adjusting for few extra dollars here and there -

Total Savings per month: Approx $500 - $600 per month

The biggest savings are in your food bill. You can eat good, healthy and feel great + save money if you're prepared to cook for yourself.

 

[S Freud]

I thought I would bump this thread and see if we can get some more good ideas for saving money.

Myself:
I ride my bike to and from campus and take the bus also. This cuts down on gas, when I do drive I try to group all of my errands together so I'm not making multiple trips.

I buy all of my groceries at Winco. Here I can get bulk food and the prices are really cheap. I try to take my lunch as much as possible and leave my debit card at home since I don't need it while in class. This helps keep me from spontaneous spending.

I shop around a lot before I buy something. I found a combined deal for internet and TV that saved me about $30 a month.

I try to do as much for myself as possible. Changing my own oil instead of paying someone $35 it only costs me around $15 and I get the enjoyment of working on my own vehicle.

 

[TallBill]

I can't believe that you guys cut out so many entertainment expenses. Screw that, I don't want to go insane from being bored. Then again, right now 100% of my paycheck each month goes to savings. Woohoo

 

[iamaelephant]

Wow, none of the tips in here is useful to me I'm already doing everything. I'm currently living on $150/week. My rent is $95, so I live on the bones of my ass. I should get a job.

 

[BUTCH1]

I use a solar powered cloths dryer (ok, it's a clothesline), saves about $25/mth on
electric. Carpool others to work, my gas is entirely paid for by others! Check grocery
ads each week and load up on buy one/get one free's and meat on sale as well.

 

[dennilfloss]

No car, no children, no drinking, no smoking, no restaurant, no movies, no girlfriend. I also dilute my milk and reuse my teabags.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
No car, no children, no drinking, no smoking, no restaurant, no movies, no girlfriend. I also dilute my milk and reuse my teabags.

How do you re-use a teabag?? just by a big box of store brand bags and splurge a little.

 

[dennilfloss]

You take it out of your cup and put it in the fridge and redip it in your cup of hot water when you next make tea.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
No car, no children, no drinking, no smoking, no restaurant, no movies, no girlfriend. I also dilute my milk and reuse my teabags.

You are very strange.

 

[dennilfloss]

I prefer the term frugal, o parsimonious one.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
I prefer the term frugal, o parsimonious one.

How about Frugal French-Canadian Fornicator?

 

[dennilfloss]

Not the dreaded FFCF monicker!!!:shocked:

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
You take it out of your cup and put it in the fridge and redip it in your cup of hot water when you next make tea.

What are we talking here 2-3 cents a bag if bought in quantity?? Why have a cup of tea
that tastes like dishwater instead of spending 3 cents for a fresh bag??

 

[thomsbrain]

my gf worked 50 hours week while she finished her BA, even though i was already done and earning enough to pay for her. she finished early and earned excellent grades doing it, too. i think your gf needs to get at least a part-time job. saving and being frugal is smart, too, but the fact is that college doesn't take as much time as kids pretend it does and she's wasting time that could be used helping you guys move forward financially instead of tread water. kids bitch and moan that their "load is so hard," but it is nothing compared to working full time. college kids sleep in, watch tv all day, and gain weight. trust me, she can handle a few hours working at the coffee bar on campus to pay for the groceries.

kids.

/rant

 

[BATCH71]

Well.......best advice is to monitor the eating 0ut. My wife and I just got into a big argument about why we spent about $1500+ per month on eating out. BTW, we have three kids and I weigh a ton or so and that is why but I am going back to weight watchers this months. Fuck I am huge

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: BATCH71
Well.......best advice is to monitor the eating 0ut. My wife and I just got into a big argument about why we spent about $1500+ per month on eating out. BTW, we have three kids and I weigh a ton or so and that is why but I am going back to weight watchers this months. Fuck I am huge

Have you seen or posted in this thread? It might offer some pointers or motivation :thumbsup:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2071966

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: BATCH71
Well.......best advice is to monitor the eating 0ut. My wife and I just got into a big argument about why we spent about $1500+ per month on eating out. BTW, we have three kids and I weigh a ton or so and that is why but I am going back to weight watchers this months. Fuck I am huge

Have you seen or posted in this thread? It might offer some pointers or motivation :thumbsup:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2071966

I got RossMAN pimpin' my wears. Woohoo

 

[z0mb13]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
No car, no children, no drinking, no smoking, no restaurant, no movies, no girlfriend. I also dilute my milk and reuse my teabags.

no life.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: BATCH71
Well.......best advice is to monitor the eating 0ut. My wife and I just got into a big argument about why we spent about $1500+ per month on eating out. BTW, we have three kids and I weigh a ton or so and that is why but I am going back to weight watchers this months. Fuck I am huge

Have you seen or posted in this thread? It might offer some pointers or motivation :thumbsup:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2071966

I got RossMAN pimpin' my wears. Woohoo

IMHO it's one of the best ATOT threads.

Hopefully one day soon we'll get a Health and Fitness forum.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Juddog
So lately I have been broke as hell. My wifey is just finishing her bachelors and I am paying for the both of us. She no longer can afford to help out with rent, groceries, gas, or anything else. I barely make enough ca$h to break even.

To start saving money and survive, I have done the following so far:
* cut back on going out to lunch. Since wifey doesn't have a job, I agreed that she needs to cook dinner and make me lunch. So I pack a lunch every day, when I used to go out almost every day it cost me between $8-12 a day, now it's zero. Savings: $8-12 a day.
* quit drinking soda pop. I used to buy Mountain Dew or Full Throttle maybe once or sometimes twice a day during workdays. Now I pack a coffee mug. Savings: $1-2 a day.
* quit shopping name brand groceries, shop at Aldi's now. Savings: $100-160 per month.
* cancelled my warcraft accounts. I was two boxing for a while, now I'm not. $35 a month.
* quit going out to eat. Savings: $30-50 per week (I used to go out at least twice a week with wifey).
* cancelled cable TV. Savings: $55 a month.
* quit buying video games - for now. $60 a month.


So that's about $600-700 a month direct savings. As I sit down with a spreadsheet and calculate it out, I can't believe how much money I've wasted on pure entertainment.

So what do you guys that aren't rolling in dough do to make ends meet and save a little cash here and there? Looking for ideas.

For those ATOT's that make six figures and own multiple houses, no need to brag about all your stuff, I don't care.

best move you made IMO

people bash places like Aldi and Lidl but honestly its their loss. My parents aren't broke, they make a tidy sum, but they dont shop at name brand stores like marks n spencers too often. Not when Aldi seems to be able to provide the same goods, at a lower price and 90% of the time they are higher quality. usually its all Top German brands....and its especially good for cold meats, infact its very good.

i got some bacon from aldi the other day, it cost no where near what M&S's best cost and instead of shrivelling up to nothing because its pumped full of water and salts like most high street brands, this stuff barely reduced in size at all..... best goddamn bacon i ever tried.

the pizza's they sell easily rival some pizzerias and pizza restaurants and they cost a mere £1.50

biscuits and cakes and chocolate are all tasty too....again top german makes and the germans know how to do chocolate. even their cartons of pure juices rock, like proper cloudy apple juice...non of this dark piss looking stuff, just 100% pressed apples.

good choice shopping at Aldi, they even get some great tech stuff in from Medion and Tevion sometimes. last week they had a stunningly good (for the money) media center PC for about £500. it was reviewed on trustedreviews and they found all brand name off the shelf parts! there is no way you could build that machine yourself for less than £500.

ALDI FOR THE WIN!