I need tips on Saving Money

Hah! I live in Northwest DC. (Waaaay north and not that far west, about a quarter mile from the border with Takoma Park, MD). One of my roommates best friends works for these folks: http://www.newdream.org/thedream/ "More Fun, Less Stuff" Gotta love it!

marry a wealthy woman.

go to Manhattan. there are a lot of single girls (investment bankers, lawyers etc.) waiting, dreaming and fighting for find a decent man.

go there. you can run at Central Park anytime. she will pay your bills and buy a lot of running stuff to you.

eFarmer wrote:

Best advice I can give is to set up a plan where a certain amount of money gets transferred from your checking account to your savings each month (or twice a month) automatically. It might hurt a little at first, but after a while you'll just consider it another expense and you won't miss it. You'd be surprised how quickly $50-100 / month (or more) adds up.

I did that, only I actually wrote the check. I paid myself first then went to work on the rest of the bills. Writing that check makes you feel like you're paying another bill, and you're less likely to forget about making the entry into the checkbook as you could with an automatic debit.

At one point, while saving to buy a new house, my wife and I (combined gross income at the time of $50K w/ 2 car payments and a kid) were putting $1200/month into savings.

I just took a new job. My entire raise goes into savings.

Wow. Interesting site. Guess owning two 8-cyl SUV's, a 4300 sq. ft. house on three acres, travelling the globe staying at 5 star hotels, eating and drinking like royalty and being the pentultimate consumers we're actually living the Anti-American Dream. Can't wait to show my family this site.

BCT wrote:

Hah! I live in Northwest DC. (Waaaay north and not that far west, about a quarter mile from the border with Takoma Park, MD). One of my roommates best friends works for these folks:

http://www.newdream.org/thedream/

"More Fun, Less Stuff" Gotta love it!

I admire BCT. You're paying yourself first! Way to go!

Try mystery shopping... We eat out for free at least twice a week and make $10 per grocery shop. Let me know if you need more info.

td wrote:

Here's an idea. Quit worrying about money. We spend our whole lives centered around money...how to get it...what to do with it...how to save it. Don't let it run your life and you will be much happier my friend. The most important thing I have learned is that the "stuff" you have just doesn't matter. You don't need it...they just make you think you do. Until you realize this you are useless.

You're halfway there. The "stuff" really doesn't matter. But you're kidding yourself if you don't think security, health insurance, safe housing, education for your children, etc., doesn't matter. It does. These are the factors that should run your life, along with balancing activities (running?) that makes you happy.

Instead of going to the grocery, head to the homeless shelter to eat. It is probably better than the rice and pasta that you cook up yourself anywho..

Ride your bicycle like Gabe does and maybe you can become a world class athlete or else catch hepatitis.

Get a rich girlfriend. A older widow is great.

Instead of going to the normal grocery store, go look for discount grocery store like Aldi's in your area. The food may be rotten, but it is dirt cheap.

Go to Chipoltes or other fast food joints and night and become friends with the manager so that you can take the food that they throw away...

'

ncrunner wrote:

Try mystery shopping... We eat out for free at least twice a week and make $10 per grocery shop. Let me know if you need more info.

Please supply more info. Thank you.

We live in pretty much the only developed country where health care and education are so intimately related to income. Although I doubt this is the case, its quite possible that the poster wasn't in the states and it never even occurred to him that such things were major issues for Americans. I have a Canadian friend a few years older than I am who said that until he moved here, he had never even heard of choosing where to live based on the school district. Realize that some of these things aren't even related to the general topic of discussion ("saving money") in other parts of the world.

Basically, you have dinner at a certain restaurant and then fill out a short survey on how the service, food, etc. was. Most surveys are done online and take roughly 5-15 min. The same goes for the grocery shops... You shop like normal and then fill out a few questions based on your experience. Sometimes you will have to interact with employees, but that's usually no big deal. Googling "mystery shopping" can give you more info.

Sign up for some of these shops and you'll receive emails if/when available shops are in your area.

www.mystiqueshopper.com/forum/SASSIE_Mystery_Shopping_Company_Links/m_351/tm.htm

The above forum also talks about mystery shopping and everything you need to know about it.

I also like this company...

www.shopnchek.com

Dude,

I salute you if you spend less than $5 a day all the time. I can do it here and there, but its mostly not feasible for me in my job and where I live (NYC). I'll spend the bulk of my week away from my apartment, and can't really walk around with tuna sandwiches in my briefcase. If you blow off too many social obligations with work colleagues, etc., you end up alienating yourself from office life, and appearing like a chump or a cheap bastard. If you just go out for a sandwich with your colleagues at lunch, that alone can cost you $6. A post-work beer could start at $7. You don't want to be the guy at the office who never picks up a round, either.

A movie is now $10.25 in NY. If you take someone out for a cheapo midweek date, WITHOUT dinner and drinks... just a movie and coffee afterward, you're dropping $30. God forbid you should have to take a cab with her back home, or pick up a drink or two, or even a relatively inexpensive dinner. Even if you split it, its expensive. And good luck working the NY dating scene if you try to be "Mr. Coffee." This is a great city, but it costs you.

But you're point is well-taken. We can all do without some of the stuff we think we need.

I'm a grad student. My income doesn't even match my expenses. I'm still taking out loans. Maybe I'll blow off less social "obligations" (cringing as I use the word in such context) when I'm out of school and feel justified spending what can buy enough food for a week on one meal. For now, I don't. It is not worth it to me, and if other people disagree with my preferences, so be it. If you earn enough money to warrant paying $7 for a beer, ok, that's cool. At this point, I don't. Last time I drank beer was in January.

About the tuna-sandwich-in-briefcase thing, I have a little steel jar that I use for rice and pasta. Its small enough to conceal anywhere, and it keeps my lunch hot. I think at $30, its paid for itself a hundred times over by now.

[quote]Been there/Still there wrote:

you blow off too many social obligations with work colleagues, etc., you end up alienating yourself from office life, and appearing like a chump or a cheap bastard. If you just go out for a sandwich with your colleagues at lunch, that alone can cost you $6.

BCT, good point about health care, education not being tied to income in other countries. I didn't think of that. I'm always amazed and somewhat jealous of the carefree wandering traveling mentality that exists among single people from these nations. And yes, JasonInAtlanticCity makes it work, too.

Also thanks for the information on eating free.

sign up with a market research group

sell a kidney

donate sperm

A friend of mine spent an entire year of college without spending a cent just to see if could do it. Studied only out of books on reserve in the library. Walked or rode bike everywhere. Slept in the back of a pickup with a cap that belonged to another guy, and in the dorm lounge when really cold, showered in the locker-room,..... Without going into all details, he ate by going to EVERY campus function with food. Volleyball banquet Tuesday night, president's luncheon for journalism students for Wed. lunch, the women's awareness sunrise breakfast Thur., fraternity rushes, chummed up to old alumni tailgating for games, etc. etc. Funny stuff.

"the very best way to save money is not spend it"...I came upon this old adage as I saved to buy my first property...and it worked!

MF

chub wrote:

A friend of mine spent an entire year of college without spending a cent just to see if could do it. Studied only out of books on reserve in the library. Walked or rode bike everywhere. Slept in the back of a pickup with a cap that belonged to another guy, and in the dorm lounge when really cold, showered in the locker-room,..... Without going into all details, he ate by going to EVERY campus function with food. Volleyball banquet Tuesday night, president's luncheon for journalism students for Wed. lunch, the women's awareness sunrise breakfast Thur., fraternity rushes, chummed up to old alumni tailgating for games, etc. etc. Funny stuff.

Incredible.

One easy way to save money is if you ever go to top dawg night club in cherry hill new jersey don't park in the lot at the store next door because they will give you a $48 even if you are a poor college student like myself. The business wasn't even open and a million other cars also parked in the lot. There wasn't even any clearly stated no parking signs. The lots were even connected. For one the lots shouldn't be connected and there should be clearly marked private property signs. boycott cherry hill and everything about cherry hill they are a bunch of rich green eyed greedy bastards. my town is poor as hell and the most you can expect from parking in a private property or no-parking zone is 15 bucks and we're a poor town. the richer they are the more they steel.