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Please tell me I'm not the only person that doesn't save properly. I thought by the time I was a grown up I'd have all this under control but I've wasted far too much. Have you any advice on what would be a realistic percentage?
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Live Below Your Means (LBYM). Always spend no more than $1 less than receive in net income (take home). This simple idea will insure that you never spend more than you make.
I have always found that keeping things as simple as possible (KISS) is the absolute best way to address financial matters.
I keep this sign near my desk at home:
“The simpler the explanation, the more likely it is to be correct” Occam’s Razor
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Live Below Your Means (LBYM). Always spend no more than $1 less than receive in net income (take home). This simple idea will insure that you never spend more than you make.
I have always found that keeping things as simple as possible (KISS) is the absolute best way to address financial matters.
I keep this sign near my desk at home:
“The simpler the explanation, the more likely it is to be correct” Occam’s Razor
Good quote! I want to know how you do that, LBYM. Please explain more, micharch. I feel like I'm running on empty. I am conscious of what I spend and would love to save but there's always a bill needing paid or the kids need one thing or another.
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Please explain more, micharch. I feel like I'm running on empty. I am conscious of what I spend and would love to save but there's always a bill needing paid or the kids need one thing or another.
Well it's probably easier said than done, but the absolute best way is to figure it out for yourself, and then it will be YOUR plan.
Start by looking at your grocery cart just prior to getting in the checkout line at the store. Look over each item ~Ask yourself: "Do I really need this bag of chips (for example) or would I rather have $4.99 in my savings account?" If you don't need it, take it out of your cart and place it on the nearest shelf in the store (don't worry about taking it back to where you picked it up, you may change your mind!). Then make sure that the $4.99 that you saved actually goes into your savings account. It takes discipline and an understanding that you will need to practice self-denial now so that you will be comfortable in the future. There is no easier way.
When you make a trip combine it with at least one other trip, i.e. go to the grocery store and also get gas @ the gas station or dry cleaners, or Goodwill store or all of them.
Do not turn on heat or A/C unless you are absolutely uncomfortable and have no other choice (put on a sweater, take off your shoes and socks, have a glass of ice water, hot cup of tea etc).
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Please explain more, micharch. I feel like I'm running on empty. I am conscious of what I spend and would love to save but there's always a bill needing paid or the kids need one thing or another.
Well it's probably easier said than done, but the absolute best way is to figure it out for yourself, and then it will be YOUR plan.
Start by looking at your grocery cart just prior to getting in the checkout line at the store. Look over each item ~Ask yourself: "Do I really need this bag of chips (for example) or would I rather have $4.99 in my savings account?" If you don't need it, take it out of your cart and place it on the nearest shelf in the store (don't worry about taking it back to where you picked it up, you may change your mind!). Then make sure that the $4.99 that you saved actually goes into your savings account. It takes discipline and an understanding that you will need to practice self-denial now so that you will be comfortable in the future. There is no easier way.
When you make a trip combine it with at least one other trip, i.e. go to the grocery store and also get gas @ the gas station or dry cleaners, or Goodwill store or all of them.
Do not turn on heat or A/C unless you are absolutely uncomfortable and have no other choice (put on a sweater, take off your shoes and socks, have a glass of ice water, hot cup of tea etc).
That's great advice, micharch! I commit the sin of shopping when I'm hungry and buy extras we don't need. I'm going to try that "would I rather..." mantra. When I think about it, I would choose to save it instead. I just don't think about it.
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Bankrate has this Jumpstart your Savings with no-spend month. That could be the incentive to get you rolling, Jewel.
You can significantly improve your personal balance sheet in as little as 30 days. The key is what personal finance experts call the "no-spend month." Also called a buy-nothing month, it's a 30-day period of super-frugality where you cut out all extras, buy only basic necessities and spend as little money as possible.
In 2008, Americans lost $7 trillion in wealth thanks to a plummeting stock market -- and another $1.2 trillion thanks to tanking home values. To top it off, 2.6 million Americans were handed a pink slip last year and the Conference Board, a nonprofit business research group, estimates another 2 million people will lose their jobs by mid-2009.
With families facing so much economic uncertainty, it's more crucial than ever to beef up your emergency fund and pay off debt.
The no-spend month can be an effective short-term strategy to pad your savings account, free up extra money to pay off debt, realign your spending with your values, and generally cut financial fat.
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That's what I need, a no-spend month. You'd have to confiscate my cash and cards to keep me in line.
Jewel, I don't have any set amount or percentage because there's never much left over. You're not the only person at all.
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Jewel, there's crowds of people wanting to do the same as you. I was reading an article about an AARP survey and nearly everyone was cutting back to try save.
The AARP telephone survey of 1,035 Americans, conducted Feb. 27 through March 8, found that nearly 8 in 10 adults have either started to cut back spending or have started to save more money in the past year for emergencies and their retirement.
Of those, almost three in four are doing so to save more for retirement.
However, while saving has taken on a new priority in most households, almost two-thirds plan to spend at least some of the 2009 stimulus benefit.
©2009
Hi Jewel. :) What matter is what's left over when all the essential bills are paid. You need to concentrate on your disposable income, not your income and work it out starting with that number. You can set aside a higher percentage than you could of your income alone. Psychologically, saving 20% of your disposable income makes you feel better than saving 2% of your actual income.