If you wan to go all out "cheap mtrfkr" like me, try this! There's few version of it on Youtube. I did mine over 2 years ago and I'm still using it. That thing work great... I get a dozen of channel with this.Biggest thing that is going to help is cutting out recurring monthly costs. Pay off the credit card, pay off a vehicle, cut down cable to lower tier/netflix, cut back on name brand groceries. Cut out fast food/expensive out to eat meals. Romantic home cooks are better anyways . Buy more whole natural foods instead of pre-packaged chemical by-product meals. Save left-overs for lunch. Dont buy bottled water... Combine trips to save gas. I am cutting off my garbage service since I can dump my garbage in my work dumpster. $16 a month saved, but hey... its money. Ride my bicycle as much as I can to work (1.5 mile away). Saves bunch of gas. + exercise makes you feel better.
Thats my list I am working to accomplish right now myself...
Haha my wife is going to school too thats why i am scraping together every bit of money i can to get the amount to purchase just the exhaust from you. That way it doesnt get spent on things like going out to dinner and movies and what not so much. Exhaust is a must for me since i commute to work almost 40 miles on way all highway people dont hear me and yeah you guys get the pointOh $hit! Once I put everything on paper (spreadsheet) I have a much better understanding why I'm broke! I put all our expense together minus the "$hit it the fan moment" meaning if no bad luck happen, we are fine. That doesn't pay off my 3 CCards. Only one is a bit high, the other two are under control and I mostly pay them off at the end of the month. That that other one... still working on it!
I will show that to the wife tonight and nail it to the wall, so next time she complain we never do anything she knows why!
That part time job is there to stay until she finish school, 2 more years.
Ah well... thing will be good after that!
Like you said...You have to be responsible but enjoy life at the same time.I know exactly where my money goes....
I used to watch the money like a hawk... I also used to be very depressed and angry at every little penny that was spent (I am a born saver)... then I realized, I can't take it with me and I do not want to wait until I'm 60 to enjoy it... as long as I pay the bills, I try not to sweat it too much
Take a look at Ooma. I paid $200 for the device (VOIP that plugs directly into your router), and now it's ~$3/mo.... forever... that's it... Works as well as any AT&T phone I've ever had... (of course, all bets are off if your net connection sucks... )I use magicjack for my home phone, it works GREAT...
I like that a lot!For some reason, I have never had any issues with money. It always seems to be there when I need it... I think growing up with very little has a lot to do with it, but then again I believe the biggest help is just simply not spending over what you "allow" yourself. Here is the way I work, it might not be the ideal solution but I've set up my gf (which is horrible with money) and some friends with this type of budget and they seem to be doing fine now.
The one rule that I go by is :
DO NOT earn money to pay what you have already spent. Only spend the money earned.
My way...
1- Figure out your monthly income.
2- Figure out your monthly NECESSARY expenses (i.e. Rent, car payments, utilities etc...)Then divide it by the number of pay checks you get monthly.
3- Get 1-2 another bank accounts!!!! This might seem silly but is actually a very important step for those who can't stop overspending.
#1 is your spending money
#2 is to pay your "Bills"
#3 is your savings account (not for buying "useless spur of the moment shit", this is for when you need to repair your car or something even more important like putting on a new TB exhauts... )
Once you have these 3 things set up, you should have a "balance" of money that is left over. This is your spending/savings money. Figure the amount to put aside as savings and the one that is needed to live a interesting and happy life.
If you don't have a "balance" then that is your problem! Find where to cut and adjust so you have some money left over.
Now the next step is where most of the people I know screw this up! The day you get your pay check, put that "Bills" money in your second bank account. Also transfer that "Savings" money if you have/want some.
Interestingly enough, most people will cut back on their spending quite a bit when they do this. For the simple reason that when you withdraw money you don't see this good amount of cash left. Because lets face it when you run out of money, unless you made some big purchases like say a set of clip ons, you can never figure out where it all went.
The main benefit of this method is that you will ALWAYS be able to pay your bills. Provided you dont cheat...
Well this is my 2cents. Hope it helps.
Cheers!
I finally set up ING to deposit savings automatically a day after payday... it does two things; one, makes sure the money is going into savings, and two, it locks that money up for 5 days (cuts back on impulse buys). I just write my paycheck into my balance, write the savings right back out like a bill.I like that a lot!
For some reason, I have never had any issues with money. It always seems to be there when I need it... I think growing up with very little has a lot to do with it, but then again I believe the biggest help is just simply not spending over what you "allow" yourself. Here is the way I work, it might not be the ideal solution but I've set up my gf (which is horrible with money) and some friends with this type of budget and they seem to be doing fine now.
The one rule that I go by is :
DO NOT earn money to pay what you have already spent. Only spend the money earned.
My way...
1- Figure out your monthly income.
2- Figure out your monthly NECESSARY expenses (i.e. Rent, car payments, utilities etc...)Then divide it by the number of pay checks you get monthly.
3- Get 1-2 another bank accounts!!!! This might seem silly but is actually a very important step for those who can't stop overspending.
#1 is your spending money
#2 is to pay your "Bills"
#3 is your savings account (not for buying "useless spur of the moment shit", this is for when you need to repair your car or something even more important like putting on a new TB exhauts... )
Once you have these 3 things set up, you should have a "balance" of money that is left over. This is your spending/savings money. Figure the amount to put aside as savings and the one that is needed to live a interesting and happy life.
If you don't have a "balance" then that is your problem! Find where to cut and adjust so you have some money left over.
Now the next step is where most of the people I know screw this up! The day you get your pay check, put that "Bills" money in your second bank account. Also transfer that "Savings" money if you have/want some.
Interestingly enough, most people will cut back on their spending quite a bit when they do this. For the simple reason that when you withdraw money you don't see this good amount of cash left. Because lets face it when you run out of money, unless you made some big purchases like say a set of clip ons, you can never figure out where it all went.
The main benefit of this method is that you will ALWAYS be able to pay your bills. Provided you dont cheat...
Well this is my 2cents. Hope it helps.
Cheers!
I finally set up ING to deposit savings automatically a day after payday... it does two things; one, makes sure the money is going into savings, and two, it locks that money up for 5 days (cuts back on impulse buys). I just write my paycheck into my balance, write the savings right back out like a bill.
I know ING is not always the highest interest account, but any type of automatic saving would work. Oh, and if you don't have one and want to do it, let me know. I can refer you, you get $25, I get $10 if you open it with at least $250... I'd be willing to donate half to the site for anyone who does it. All I need is a name and an email, just pm me
just another little tip
Give this a whirl:I spend a bit of time working on my budget spreadsheet so I can have a better view at my financial situation. I never really bother doing a budget before... kind of speeding as less as I can.
So after throwing some numbers in there I came in one conclusion...
Either my spreadsheet is wrong or I'm doing something wrong! Where the $$$ all go??? I didn't add the extra income I pull out every now and then but still, I should have plenty of extra for entertainment, get a new car, bike or just pile away for a house.
So what is your trick? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here... :facepalm: