- Take $20/week and stick it somewhere in an envelope or safe or even an actual piggy bank. I know very few people who can’t seriously take $20/week and set it aside. Every once in a while when you have some extra cash, give it a boost. My wife and I did this and within about 6 months we had actually saved about $1,500 – it came in real handy too when we needed it.
- Stop eating out! I have seen many people’s finances and the #1 most expensive thing people do is eat out. Go out once/week to a nice restaurant. Aside from that go grocery shopping – my wife gets real creative about this and I go with her and we actually have fun together going grocery shopping. We go every 2-3 weeks and buy for 2 weeks. Then she texts me the occasional pop-in list with a handful if items we’re running low on and the money for this comes out of the cash in my pocket. Get a lunch box and some freezer packs and bring your lunch to work. Go for a walk after lunch.
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Use what you have:
- There are probably a lot of things around the house that you can use in terms of activities that will not cost you very much if anything.
- I read one tip that said cancel your membership at the gym and work out at home. I am going to say the opposite. Keep your membership and start using it. This will represent an activity that doesn’t cost any more out of pocket money. It will also represent an activity that takes up time and consumes energy. This will leave less energy over for activities that would cost you money AND it’s healthy!!
- Find things to do around the house – video games are a low cost option and there are plenty that appeal to adults and kids. Movie rentals is another good one.
- Spend more time as a family at home. This doesn’t cost anything and will also instill great values in the kids. Any time I see kids that are clearly “really good kids” the one thing I notice in common is that they are close with their families. I am not a father yet, but this is what I will want to instill in my kids. Family life has a MAJOR impact on how we develop.
- Set limits on what you spend without discussing it as a couple (assuming you are married). If you are single then make it a limit that you wait one week from deciding to make the purchase until actually making the purchase. This way you find out if you really WANT/NEED the item. For me and my wife our limit is $200 on any one purchase. So if I want to get something that costs more than $200 we’re agreed I will discuss it with her first and vice versa. Not only does this force you to stop and think about what you really need to spend money on before spending it, it will prevent a lot of arguments- and this is good. This is VERY GOOD!
- Take Inventory of your finances. This means drafting a budget. It doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be something that you do to lay out what income you have coming in and what your monthly expenses are. By laying this out and looking at it you can begin to see where you can cut back. You can also think in terms of ways to bring in additional income – this is where the process becomes a more creative one and along these lines it gets exciting. By looking at the numbers in black and white you can get an idea of whether or not you are living within your means.
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Seth David
State Of Nerd – Getting Ready for 2010 « Seth David's Blog said,
December 29, 2009 at 1:10 PM
[...] This year I spent some time doing some research on what people out there suggest as far as money saving tips. Most of what I found I felt was either impractical (ie it works for people who have money, but doesn’t help the person who’s struggling – who needs this kind of thing the most) so I wrote up some of my own and posted them in my blog. [...]