Saving money

[Davey]

My new years resolution for 2011 was to save more money, but in the end I only saved a bit so I was wondering how you guys are saving money.

Some that I know

10%
Start saving 1 percent of your salary and live on the other 99 percent, after a month try to save 2 percent and keep doing that until 10%.

Think before you buy things.
Do you really need it? Think about if for a day.

Credit cards
Only use them when you really need them, and try to only use them when you know you have the money already.

Write down what you spend
In this way you will have more control about how much you can spend, and you can always look back to see what you spend too much money or, or on where you can spend more money. I use the Cashtrail application on my ipod touch so that I can record everything down whenever wherever.

 

[thomas]

Think before you buy things.
Do you really need it? Think about if for a day.

That's probably the best advice. But it also takes away a lot of fun.

Anyhow, saving shall be my no.1 resolution for 2012. Like in 2011 and the year before...

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I need a forced plan like social security or a 401K that takes it out automatically.

Seems like no matter how I try , there is always something that cleans out my wallet. I play the lottery and pray a lot; my only hope to ever have extra I think.

Uncle Frank

 

[Nuala]

Saving up money is seriously mindbending for me. I try to save what I can, but look at it this way: I have to pay hundreds of dollars a month for gasoline. I have to pay hundreds of dollars in rent, utilities, nd then the hardest aspect of my life I have cutting from is food. I can't starve myself, so what the hell do I do? I wish you luck with saving.

 

[Davey]

That's probably the best advice. But it also takes away a lot of fun.

Anyhow, saving shall be my no.1 resolution for 2012. Like in 2011 and the year before...

I guess it will always stay a resolution for all of us

I play the lottery and pray a lot; my only hope to ever have extra I think.

Haha, have you ever won something?

Saving up money is seriously mindbending for me. I try to save what I can, but look at it this way: I have to pay hundreds of dollars a month for gasoline. I have to pay hundreds of dollars in rent, utilities, nd then the hardest aspect of my life I have cutting from is food. I can't starve myself, so what the hell do I do? I wish you luck with saving.

It's hard indeed because the best way to save money would be not to spend money, but we indeed have to pay for so many things should we then take out the things that we enjoy doing as well?

Regarding food, I guess buying things in bulks (if you have a big fridge), and buying cheaper brands.

I have found a document and an audiofile from Brain tracy's 21 absolute unbreakable laws of money. Enjoy this document, and I hope you can learn something from it:
21 Absolute Unbreakable Laws of Money - Brian Tracy

 

[thomas]

I have found a document and an audiofile from Brain tracy's 21 absolute unbreakable laws of money. Enjoy this document, and I hope you can learn something from it:
21 Absolute Unbreakable Laws of Money - Brian Tracy

Haha, reminds me of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. Any trekies on board?

 

[Hezam]

I was thinking of new computer but i said to my self "The current one is working just fine, I dont need new one" ..
So im gonna format this one and use it for another year

 

[Petaris]

Haha, reminds me of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. Any trekies on board?

Haha, It does kind of read like that.

*Fellow trekie here*

 

[Malamis]

One method I found very useful was to allocate a daily "whatever fund". Atm that stands at ﾂ≫?? a day.
This fund is to be used for whatever I damn well please, or saved to a bigger whatever at a later date.
However, it suddenly means that I look at things and say
"is this worth working for X days for?"
And you'd be surprised how often the answer turns out to be no.

 

[undrentide]

I'm not good at saving, and what I'm doing now is "500yen-dama chokin" (JPY500 coin saving).
Whenever I get JPY500 coin, I put it aside and try not to use it. When I get home, I put the coins in a small bank.
I used to use a jam jar as a bank which can contain about JPY70,000 - not bad.
Once it reaches a certain amount, I bring it to a real bank.
Now I'm using a bigger tin with a lid and currently the amount is almost JPY100,000.

 

[thomas]

I used to use a jam jar as a bank which can contain about JPY70,000 - not bad.
Once it reaches a certain amount, I bring it to a real bank. Now I'm using a bigger tin with a lid and currently the amount is almost JPY100,000.

One of my acquaintances claims to have amassed close to 800,000 yen over the years that way. Given current interest rates, it makes sense. According to him it was pretty difficult however to deposit the coins due to their sheer weight.

 

[undrentide]

One of my acquaintances claims to have amassed close to 800,000 yen over the years that way. Given current interest rates, it makes sense. According to him it was pretty difficult however to deposit the coins due to their sheer weight.

800,000 Yen?! It really wowed me!
And I cannot imagine how heavy that could be... when I brought JPY70,000+ last time, which is less than 10% of JPY800,000, it was quite heavy indeed...

 

[Davey]

maybe I'm not very good at math but...
800,000 : 5 = 160,000
160,000 x 7.0g = 1,120,000 g (1,120 KG).... lol

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

If you're serious about saving money, it requires nothing short of a lifestyle change. You have to start looking at everything as an opportunity to save money. Here are some tips I have found useful to save money:

Give yourself a budget and stick to it.
Make said budget realistic. No one can survive on 100 yen a month for groceries!
As soon as you get paid, put all of your non-allocated funds into a separate account.
Use a bicycle as much as possible for transportation. Or walk.
Use as little electricity as possible. i.e. No air conditioning, minimal heating (a kotatsu is nice for this), lights off when not in use, restrict TV viewing, etc.
Cook leftovers and eat them.

 

[Mars Man]

So there was this dream, this plan... "You can't save money," the wife says, "so give me your pay check and I'll run the household, and give you your pocket money... in that way, we can save money." Time goes by, and then one finds out (the hard way?) "But I need some extra money for this machine, so just give me some from what you have saved from my income share." But an icy-like atmosphere envelopes the emotion and the soul when it is heard, "You didn't save any money, I saved money, and so maybe you'd better just forget about that machine." The truth dawns on you... The wives take the husbands' salaries, give them some pocket money, and spend the rest so that they can save their salaries. The savings is theirs, not yours. (OF COURSE THIS IS A JOKE, but at times it may be uncomfortably close to truth... hee, hee, hee....)

I save things, not money... hee, hee, hee... (and thus am almost always both rich and broke at the same time)

 

[Petaris]

Mars Man,

Just reading that sent and icy shiver down my spine!!!

Of course the best way, in my opinion, is if you both have a good understanding of your finances and both work toward the same goals with appropriate limits on spending. This isn't always as easy as it sounds though.

 

[Victor42]

maybe I'm not very good at math but...
800,000 : 5 = 160,000
160,000 x 7.0g = 1,120,000 g (1,120 KG).... lol

I think it amounts to 11.2 Kg, but still quite heavy.

 

[Tsuyoiko]

I find it much harder to spend money than to save it because I'm just naturally frugal. We never scrimp on improvements to the house, food shopping, heating, days out and gifts for family. Other than that, I just don't buy stuff! We don't go on holiday. We ditched the TV subscription. I buy clothes only when the old ones are falling apart or there's a special occasion we're going to. I get games and books for Christmas and birthdays. My husband takes a packed lunch and teabags to work instead of going to the canteen.

We've never had a big income as both of us have always earned much less than the average wage, but I think the thing that makes it easy for us to save is that we do spend our savings eventually, and always on something that gives us much more satisfaction than we would get from impulsive purchases. We paid off the mortgage in 2006, refurbished the house in 2007-8, last year we had a new bathroom and this year so far we bought a new car and are having some more home improvements. Whenever we want something, we don't get it until we have the money to pay for it, and if we can't get the money we go without - which is why we had the same car for 10 years. If you have some goal that you're saving for, I think that gives you the motivation to put the money away instead of buying that DVD you'll only watch once.