Number 1 tip to saving money painlessly for someone who goes to work every day:
Pack your lunch instead of buying it. That's like $2500 a year savings.
Number 1 tip to saving money painlessly for someone who goes to work every day:
Pack your lunch instead of buying it. That's like $2500 a year savings.
Sell expensive cars, buy cheaper cars. It's amazing how much money folks have wrapped up in new cars.
PHeller wrote: Sell expensive cars, buy cheaper cars. It's amazing how much money folks have wrapped up in new cars.
Yup. And insurance for said cars. And property tax on said cars. And fuel for said cars. My DD is pretty cheap to own and operate, but having a second car (Miata) is pretty berkeleying stupid from a financial standpoint, as is owning a car that gets anything less than 30mpg. I did a long, detailed cost comparison of my car and a "cheap" lease of an Accord and arrived at a difference of $224.58 per month (not counting fuel). Owning/operating a new car is not much cheaper than the lease at all.
The recurring stuff I am trying to focus on right now:
-Electric bill. I'm about to install a wireless smart thermostat. Should provide much more consistent control and is programmable, so I'll cut the HVAC usage down quite a bit. Maybe save $25/month
-Cell phone bill. Mine is $45/month (iphone). Republic Wireless, Airvoice, and Ting all have options for <$20.
-Cable. My girlfriend wanted to get basic cable. We can get most of the channels with a decent antenna. Should save $10/month
-Also trying to cut down on how far I drive. When I did all the math and realized my car costs approx 0.17/mile to operate, saving 20 miles of driving/week is still almost $15 a month there.
Right there is $70/mo. Seems somewhat insignificant, but invested at 7%, its $12,000 in 10 years.
Solid advice from SVreX.
Start keeping your receipts and tally them up after a week- see how much you spend on what. You can likely do without most of it, and you'd be surprised what those purchases add up to.
Things we have done include finding cheaper places to buy necessities. For example, don't buy toilet paper at the local super marked, buy it at Target (or Wal Mart, whatever). Same for canned goods and packaged foods.
I wouldn't start the blame game until you have level ground to stand on between you and the missus. Sometimes perceptions and be deceiving.
SVreX wrote: There is no such thing as a money problem. It is always a symptom of a deeper root problem (communication? fear? pride? shame? selfishness? laziness? stress? etc...) A budget is not a limitation. It is a tool for communicating between 2 people, and frees each of them to move forward without fear, knowing their partner has already approved of the expense. For example... my wife and I budget. I trust her to follow the budget. If she comes home with a new dress, I don't need to get pissed off because I am afraid of not having enough, I need to focus on the fact that I've ALREADY APPROVED THE CLOTHING BUDGET. We agreed, she stuck to it. No fights. Very freeing. When there is a change, we talk about it and change the budget. It's not that hard. (Don't assume a budget is carved in concrete, and have monthly reviews to make adjustments when necessary). Failure to communicate well and use tools like budgets to help communicate information leads to fights.
paranoid_android74 wrote: For example, don't buy toilet paper at the local super marked, buy it at Target
COSTCO is the best place to buy paper towels and toilet paper. It is a fact.
Yeah man! As long as you don't mind buying 700 rolls at a time 
Seriously, we paid for the membership after the first two trips to Costco with our savings.
ProDarwin wrote:paranoid_android74 wrote: For example, don't buy toilet paper at the local super marked, buy it at TargetCOSTCO is the best place to buy paper towels and toilet paper. It is a fact.
It's not like it goes bad, though I did see someone returning tp at Walmart once. The lady behind the counter asked if they had stopped using it.
Lol!
I'd believe it!
Wally wrote: It's not like it goes bad, though I did see someone returning tp at Walmart once. The lady behind the counter asked if they had stopped using it.
It's weird, but we just don't really ever have to discuss it. We rarely go out to dinner unless we have company. I buy a guitar or "car stuff" or go racing maybe once a year. Wife has to beg me to buy new clothes. We're constantly trying to find savings on monthly expenses.
Oh, and we've both worked our berkeleying asses off since we were kids. That helps.
That said, we probably should have a set budget and savings quota, but it's a little tricky owning a business. We've tried before, but as soon we have a really rough month, any savings quota is out the window, and we both know there's no non-essential spending.
It might not be the "right way," but in 15 years together, 10 years married, I can't remember a single "argument" about spending...we find other E36 M3 to argue about
Being a business owner, I can't imagine the ups and downs and dealing with them. I guess when I originally posted I was thinking of it from my perspective.
I'm a 26 check a year stiff with occasional overtime- those OT hours are the only pay bumps I get. When I do get overtime on a check, we usually spend a week talking about how to spend it. And very little makes it into my MG budget. That's why it isn't running after two years.
Single income with two kids, you have to get creative at times 
poopshovel wrote: It's weird, but we just don't really ever have to discuss it. We rarely go out to dinner unless we have company. I buy a guitar or "car stuff" or go racing maybe once a year. Wife has to beg me to buy new clothes. We're constantly trying to find savings on monthly expenses. Oh, and we've both worked our berkeleying asses off since we were kids. That helps. That said, we probably should have a set budget and savings quota, but it's a little tricky owning a business. We've tried before, but as soon we have a really rough month, any savings quota is out the window, and we both know there's no non-essential spending. It might not be the "right way," but in 15 years together, 10 years married, I can't remember a single "argument" about spending...we find other E36 M3 to argue about
I've known my wife since '86, give or take, we got romantic in the mid-90's, bought a house-project together and got engaged in 2000, and got married in 2001.
We did 2 smart things - #1 was buying the E36 M3tiest house on the best block in the best neighborhood. We sold it for 2.4x the original buying price and it's like winning the lottery.
The other was the 3 account system. Actually 4.
We each have personal bank accounts. I have 2, one personal, one for my business.
We also have a common account into which we pay on the basis of equal% of earnings - x% each. It's a direct-deposit % allotment so we never see it and it's nothing we need to think about. This covers the monthly auto-payments for the mortgage, all the utilities, phones, internet/cable. The mortgage has property taxes baked in. We overpay some fixed amount so there's a comfortable slush fund for when someone finds an awesome piece of mid-century furniture that needs bought.
I have the balance of my direct deposit split into a percentage and balance between my business and personal accounts.
My wife has hers sent to a personal account. We both have 401ks and IRAs, and some savings.
So we run a common-account household, but each have our own money. I try to fund racing with money from consulting, horsetrading stuff, side work and so on - but I'm more than covering my share of our living expenses, and I put in a E36 M3-ton of work on the infrastructure.
Ultimately, if I decide to do an away race w/ a practice day and fresh tires, I'll say "I'm considering doing x. It'll take this much time, and cost this much. Am I crazy?" and we'll talk it out. Generally we follow the standard of "we're doing fine, and we're not going to die wondering if we'd actually liked, say, seeing Spain or trying to win a championship"
As for specifically how to save money: I'm guilty of not doing it, but I'm aware of when I'm not.
Breakfast at home, pack lunch, cook dinner in. Fix your own house/car/stuff. Keep your phone a few years. I got a new rear shell and battery on eBay for about $25 and updated the OS - new phone! Buy better quality tools used on craigslist than new junk for Harbor Fright.
And #1. Do no go racing. If I quit and sold it all I'd have about $45k liquid, save about $10k+ a year, and this year alone would have better than 500 hours freed up.
Also, #2. Don't have kids. We gots no kids, so our perspective as DINKS is pretty rosy.
^ what he said, minus the actual joint account for us.
We long ago split up the bills based on % of income. She gives me a check for her portion of the mortgage each month and I pay that.
Beyond that what she does with her money is her business once "her" bills are paid.
10 years of marriage, 12 years together and although there have been our share of fights, not a one of them have been about money.
Not that's not to say either leaves the other twisting in the wind either. At the end of the day its a shared life with shared expenses, if one of us has a financial emergency the other is more than willing to step in and cover any costs necessary. And we both have agreed with each other to be maxing out of 401k contributions and take other savings measures. We still discuss our expenditures and our budget and we work on it together, but if she wants to buy a new pair of shoes she doesn't need my permission. If I want to throw a turbo on the Wartburg, its not time for a household meeting.
Living strapped for cash is life for me. Its pretty normal. The biggest money waster is spending pennies and dimes he and there. It adds up quickly. When you don't need to, don't. Last week, I stopped buying fast food and this will continue for two weeks. This is not a health thing. It is all about the money. The one out I have allowed myself is quick trip. It's cheap.
Start with the small stuff, and do it as a household. Since you're doing it together, there will be no one to point fingers at.
Money was a definite issue in my previous marriage- but we lived in a much more expensive place to live (southern CT) than I live now. So far after 3 1/2 months of living with the GF money hasn't been too much of an issue- and given I'm currently having to pay at least 50% more than usual for housing and such due to my house having not sold and my contribution to the rent for where we live for the time being I'm figuring once we're in a new house with just the mortgage on it to worry about.
We try and balance the rest of things out. The only one that occasionally sticks in my side a bit is that I almost universally end up paying when we go out to eat since as she says, "I pretty much never eat out on my own." while we generally split the grocery bills (and it does seem like I pay more of them than she does). Of course, I also MAKE a good bit more than she does, so proportionally I'm paying not more than the same if not a bit less- it just hurts a bit more with an additional mortgage at the moment.
I'm figuring we'll be doing something similar with regards to the separate accounts when we eventually get married as well- we have very different interests and things we spend money on, and having our own 'disposable income' accounts to spend on those interests should keep at least some of the friction out of the financial dealings when we know that if we're buying something for ourselves that it's not taking anything from the other.
I am kinda nervous about this with getting married in a couple weeks. We have a decent amount of savings and no debt. But SWMBO has not been able to find a teaching job down here yet and so she may be just substitute teaching which might be a little rough on the finances. We are doing three accounts. One shared and two private for fun stuff aka cars and clothes and the like.
Wonkothesane wrote: Everyone here is mentioning a budget, but the problem we had was that's easy to say, but much harder to do. The problem we had was trying to budget for "things" that you didn't have any control over, i.e.: Your fridge breaks, you need to have your roof reshingled, etc, etc..
Part of that is budgeting in an emergency fund though. Roofs will leak. Shingles will need replaced. HVAC systems will fail. etc.
The trick is getting the emergency fund built up, and then only using it for actual emergencies. To me something like a roof needing done isn't an emergency... I know mine has 2-5 years left in it.. so I'm planning for it now.
My wife and I use 4 checking accounts. One household account, one for her, one for me and one for the rental house. The rental covers itself. We deposit enough in the household account to cover all the bills and expenses. Anything left over goes into our personal accounts. She does what she wants with her money, I do what I want with mine. It has worked well for us for 26 years.
Talk.
Talk
Talk.
When you are done talking, talk some more.
Couple aurgue over money because there is almost always a differnce in income, and almost always a difference in expenses. One person ends up feeling "kept"
I have seen the seperate account work, but I have seen it come back to that. You make 50K, she makes 100K but you split expenses evenly. It represents a bigger chunk of your money than hers. She gets annoyed becuase she can't get a nicer house becuase you are a limitation. You get annoyed becuase you are brown bagging it while she goes out to lunch every day.
Annoyance becomes resentment, resentment becomes becomes loathing...hate lead to suffering, suffering lead to dark side etc etc etc.
Thats why I say talk, becuase you two have to work out your rules, and abide by them. My wife gave up a decent career in HR to get dragged all over the world in the glamorous life of a military spouse. She works to keep sane, but none of these have really been career jobs. To expect her to split household expenses is absurd. So we have one account. We both get an allowance. Then I whine when I want more money to go racing and she lets me go. Those are our rules.
What we don;t do is finiance fun or toys. Those are bought and paid for with cashy moneies. But thats entry level stuff. You are looking for graduate level advice.
Saving money is easy, but establishing a habit of fiscal discipline is hard. Some solid advice I am gonna requote here;
SVreX wrote: ...A budget is not a limitation. It is a tool for communicating between 2 people, and frees each of them to move forward without fear, knowing their partner has already approved of the expense... ...When there is a change, we talk about it and change the budget. It's not that hard. .. ...Failure to communicate well and use tools like budgets to help communicate information leads to fights.
This all day long. And if she has beef, let her expresss it, even if its superficial "I-hate-not-having-what-the-neighbors-have" kinda stuff. Same for you. People want to sperate feelings and money and it simply cant be done. But by discussion it, you can brainstorm solutions.
Think of it like this, and I apologize if I am being risque. But look at your activities in the bedroom. My wife and I are well into our 40's, we have been together for well over a decade ( I know minor league stuff round here, but I am still proud) our physical relationship is better than ever. One key element, we communicate before after and during. Our time together has torn down a lot of barriers and built a lot of trust. We are not afraid to ask for certian things and discuss our hinest feelings about doing them.
Money is the same. Talk about it often and it will be come a casual subject with a lot of trust and no real hangups. You can both anticipate each others needs, desires and work within the confines of what is healty, realistic and your ability to meet them.
Lesley wrote: Don't watch television. You don't need all that E36 M3 pitched to you on the commercials. Second hand stores rule! So does cooking from scratch vs processed food.
All solid pieces which lead into my final piont.
Budgets are boring and the reason most of them fail is the same reason diets fail. Its boring. Don't let it be. Budget for fun, and find affordable things to do together. Not just brown bagging it so you can have dinner at Applebee's and a movie. I mean fun, interesting different stuff that onvolve you doing things together rather than sitting in a dark theater not talking.
Like thrift shopping.
Like cooking from sctratch.
It helps build a "we're in this together" mentality than a combatative one. It helps build your communication (see there it is again) with the idea that you both find fun stuff to do. Plays at the local college? Free movies in the park, museums events, festivals, volunteering at a pet resuce/homeless center, walks for chairty etc etc etc.
You aren't just trying to save money, you're investing in a life together
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: - Many insects provide excellent nutritional value. Centipedes, Cicadas, ants, grasshoppers.
Hey now careful with the centipedes, practically all of them are toxic.
Sell plasma, reproductive cells, sleep studies,
For stuff to do around the house fix and make everything yourselves. For the cost of paying someone to do a job it will cost you less to buy the tools and do it yourself and you get free tool too. What you can't lump into the previous buy it used. Walk or bus to work, start an exercise routine (this helps with budgeting mind set and decreases future health costs), turn down the fridge temps, turn down the hot water heater, fill empty space in the fridge with jugs of water, fill toilet water tank with jugs of sand and water, insulate everything in the house, turn off lights, switch to energy efficient bulbs, stop paying for cable (lots of other alternatives that are free), air dry clothes, sell everything you don't use within a 6 month period CL or ebay, grow your own plants/herbs, rain barrels and kitchen waste mixed with free manure or what ever on CL for compost. Buy small plants in bulk like blueberry bushes in bulk online, 50 at a time sell them higher than you paid and grow the ones you can't sell and sell the fruit, mushrooms are good for buying cheap and selling high too.
find a grocery store that has fuel rewards for buying retailer/restaurant gift cards. we buy home depot and lowes cards at the grocery store then get fuel rewards. i've already put over $600 in free gas into my truck this year.
for people with babies - join amazon mom and buy your diapers on a subscription. free shipping, significantly less than the store. bonus if you sign up for amazon visa and pay with that, the rewards build up quick and you wind up getting lots of small things you need like new mower blades or car parts free with the points from buying all those damn diapers.
no matter what you need always check amazon
In reply to patgizz:
Or cloth diapers, we had a one time expense of about $200 (aside from a small increase in utilities). Our daughter just turned two and is almost done with them, so we can sell them and recoup some money that way too. Yeah used cloth diapers hold some value
I make more than my wife. She feels bad that she's not "contributing" as much to the budget. I disagree. She works hard, at least as hard as I do. It's not her fault she makes 60 percent of what I do per hour. I tell her, as long as we both are working full time, then all the money is ours. We don't worry who contributed x amount, just time, and what the bank account says at the end of the month. She buys make up I buy ammo. Other than that we are pretty frugal. I usually make money on the cars I buy and sell, or break even. Our commuter cars are cheap to run, and the only thing I buy on time is my house. Everything else is paid for. I pack my own lunch.
Surprisingly, a BIG money saver is losing 30 pounds. I don't eat nearly as much, and I don't over eat. Like eating a large pizza myself. I, literally, turned 14 bucks into something I'm just going to, again, literally, E36 M3 out. Now, if I eat an almond butter and jam sandwich, I turn about $1.50 into good energy.
Joey
joey48442 wrote: I make more than my wife. She feels bad that she's not "contributing" as much to the budget. I disagree. She works hard, at least as hard as I do. It's not her fault she makes 60 percent of what I do per hour.\
This actually can cause a ton of problems like stated above. It took 4-5 years for my wife to feel comfortable with the difference. We tried the % splits based on income and it only worked because I am such a tightwad with money when it comes to monthly expenses. Eventually we just moved everything into a bulk account.
For us we have a couple rules.
After watching my parents live on the edge for so many years I flat out refuse to have a debt load including the mortgage above 15% take home. Its darn near impossible to do out here in California but we have somehow managed. I can tell you just looking at my account and realizing that if we both lost our jobs we would be of for at a minimum a decade without loosing the house has added years to my life from the lack of stress.
Getting there took some doing though, we sold all the extras off to eliminate any debt my wife had and then we just plowed all our raises and the saved money into savings. It took a year or two to really get the snowball rolling, and I still regret some of the sacrifices but in the long run it was worth all the pain and suffering to get on the right foot.
Ugh.. Money.
The student loan bills are killing me right now. The fact that my wife isn't working and we have small kids is really putting a damper on any extra cash to pay down debts.
Luckily we have done some things right,
We life frugally: 1. Both cars are paid off and reliable. 2. No credit card debt. 3. Student loans are consolidated as best as possible. 4. Put 10% away in my 401k.
So, we're not doing bad, but we sure don't have a luxurious lifestyle.
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