Your ways of saving money

[Cresselia~~]

In this post, share how you personally save money.
I personally think that mainstream ways of saving money don't really work for me.
"Don't buy what you don't need" <-- in the end, this is very difficult because humans are emotional beings after all.
"Don't spend more than you earn" <-- very difficult for people who are poor to start with.

Here are some ways I personally save money.

1. Put buckets in my shower, collect the water, use the water to wash underwear, and then use the water to flush. Saves on water and maybe even the planet... kind of.

2. I actually love to dye my clothes. When a piece of light colored clothing gets old, or start to have stains, I just dye it to a dark color.
I spend money on dyes yes, but a small pack goes a long way. A pack of dyes costs approximately similar to a T-shirt, but a pack of dyes can easily dye around 5 T-shirts.
You don't need to buy many colors. You only need to buy primary colors. (Or if you are male, maybe just buy navy and/ or brown.)
When you have a choice, choose a darker shade of dye because you can always dilute it for a lighter shade, but you can't really do the reverse with a lighter dye.
BONUS: It's actually fun. And afterwards, it feels like I had bought new clothes.

3. Buy necessities during sales. Make a list of the necessities you need and go to the shops during sales. Try not to buy other things during the sales.

4. Instead of turning on the heater, wear coats indoors. It may not be comfy, but it does save the electric bill. (and maybe the planet)
Wear fluffy socks and sweaters in bed. Less heating.

 

[Clouds]

The past couple of years before 2018 I was pretty terrible at saving money, would spend a week's paycheck in a few days on things that definitely weren't necessities or things that are considered necessities, but can be worked around. I'm generally not as frugal as I'd like to be, but I made some basic lifestyle changes recently that have been pretty beneficial. I'm sure some of these are pretty common but hopefully a few of them are ones you guys find useful:

1) Avoiding practically all drinks other than water. Incredibly good for your health as I'm sure you've heard too many times, but also saves you tons of money, especially as a college student. This doesn't include bottled water, don't waste your money on that. Get a reusable.

2) Along the same lines, avoid delivery at all costs (another shitty one for college students). Even if you're a great shopper and stock up on food that you can live off of in a dorm or whatever residence you might have, food still puts a huge dent in your checking account numbers. Delivery exacerbates this and tons of common chains require minimum amounts for an order to be delivered, which doesn't help.

3) Constantly check that the condition of your appliances (dryers, heaters, etc.) are in good condition and clean them as much as possible. Nothing's worse than having to make an unexpected purchase of something substantial like them. Treat everything you buy like a child, applies to more than just appliances too.

4) Don't nail the accelerator when driving. It doesn't save you a whole lot of money but not having a lead foot saves tons of gas, which obviously leads to less frequent gas payments in the long run.

5) Be innovative with household objects and their uses. If there's something you can avoid buying because another object acts as a supplement for it, do that. Tennis Balls make pretty good bottle openers.

6) Duration > instant gratification when buying things. If it won't be useful for a good amount of time, don't even bother getting it.

7) When practical, try to challenge yourself to go x amount of days without spending a penny. Best after stocking up on food or another necessity. Kinda serves as a way to cut out extras.

 

[KurashiDragon]

Right now I'm in a situation where I don't have to worry about a lot of things. I can admit that I'm well off. That said, over the course of 2 years, I still managed to get to 2k max on a minimum wage job and stay on a consistent 1k on average with about 300$ to 500$ on bills, a month. I myself am a minimalist. There's not many things I want and I usually don't recognize things I need so it's actually pretty natural that I don't spend a lot of money. There's also the fact that I'm more stingy than I realized and I enjoyed setting money goals for myself.

I think it's more about impulse control than anything else. Controlling yourself when you see something you want. I admit, I have trouble with this aspect. If I see something I want, I'll get it, though I like to set a goal if it's particularly expensive. *I.E I'll get this when I have X amount of money* Setting roadblocks so you don't go hog wild with your money is also a good way to save money. The absolute best way I feel though is to put it all into context and always keep that context in the back of your mind. What do I mean by that? Well, simply figure out how much money you'll make a month, in general. Compare that with how much money you'd spend on bills / taxes and the like, and figure out whatever your future goals may be and how much time and effort it requires. Truth be told though, this part never quite clicked with me and my impulse control, though better than some other people I know is still pretty bad imo. I've spent quite a little bit on frivolous things that I don't use anymore. Really, the best thing I did *though not perfectly* and recommend is that you be responsible with the money you have.

TL;DR being a minimalist, stingy, setting money goals before making any particular expenditures, and having an idea of how much free money you'll have is how I feel I saved my money. Even though I wasn't particularly good with that last one.

 

[internet]

living with my parents

 

[ButteredToast]

Extreme debt avoidance. It is absolutely amazing how much money I have at my disposal because I have avoided taking out loans to pay for college or to purchase a car. It's crazy how much money the people around me sink into their debt payments every month and that they'll be doing this well into their late 30s.

I also run a very minimalist budget. My rent is extremely cheep, plus I live with my girlfriend so we have been able to split the costs of living. I work at a grocery store and get a nice employee discount on select products, plus I do a lot of bulk/sale shopping that saves me a lot of money. I don't eat out practically ever. I don't smoke or drink. My cellphone is a Tracfone, which costs me less than $10 a month.

All of this adds up to me saving a good 75%+ of my monthly income that I have now in a variety of different investments, which will hopefully contribute to me being able to do things like purchase rental properties and to do more and more things to help me develop a stream of passive income in the next few years.

 

[Ohmachi]

Eating out is what kills me. That shit adds up fast.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Right now I'm in a situation where I don't have to worry about a lot of things. I can admit that I'm well off. That said, over the course of 2 years, I still managed to get to 2k max on a minimum wage job and stay on a consistent 1k on average with about 300$ to 500$ on bills, a month. I myself am a minimalist. There's not many things I want and I usually don't recognize things I need so it's actually pretty natural that I don't spend a lot of money. There's also the fact that I'm more stingy than I realized and I enjoyed setting money goals for myself.

I think it's more about impulse control than anything else. Controlling yourself when you see something you want. I admit, I have trouble with this aspect. If I see something I want, I'll get it, though I like to set a goal if it's particularly expensive. *I.E I'll get this when I have X amount of money* Setting roadblocks so you don't go hog wild with your money is also a good way to save money. The absolute best way I feel though is to put it all into context and always keep that context in the back of your mind. What do I mean by that? Well, simply figure out how much money you'll make a month, in general. Compare that with how much money you'd spend on bills / taxes and the like, and figure out whatever your future goals may be and how much time and effort it requires. Truth be told though, this part never quite clicked with me and my impulse control, though better than some other people I know is still pretty bad imo. I've spent quite a little bit on frivolous things that I don't use anymore. Really, the best thing I did *though not perfectly* and recommend is that you be responsible with the money you have.

TL;DR being a minimalist, stingy, setting money goals before making any particular expenditures, and having an idea of how much free money you'll have is how I feel I saved my money. Even though I wasn't particularly good with that last one.

Minimalist <-- Good idea.
I started to become a (kind of) a minimalist in terms of fashion, and I'm amazed how much time AND money I save.
All my current tops look quite similar (just different colors, slightly different design), and I don't have to worry about what to wear anymore, since they look similar anyway.
I no longer need like an hour to decide what clothes to wear. It takes like 10 minutes now.

I still buy fancy coats though (I'm not poor.) But you only need a few coats for the season anyway.
Plus all my current tops go well with my current coats, so I can just wear any shirt with my coat.

I'be bought way less tops this way. I often see other females who say stuff like "I have nothing to wear", even when they have like 3 times more clothes than I do.
This isn't because they are stupid. This is because very few of their clothes actually match, or are suitable for the current weather.

So once you adopt a minimalist fashion style, all your clothes somehow match anyway.

1) Avoiding practically all drinks other than water. Incredibly good for your health as I'm sure you've heard too many times, but also saves you tons of money, especially as a college student. This doesn't include bottled water, don't waste your money on that. Get a reusable.

Or if you really find pure water taste horrible, you can try diluting your drinks with water.
Like, put half a glass of water together with half a glass of coke.

 

[Ohmachi]

The other thing that kills me is I buy $100 bottles of scotch. That stuff is a necessity, if you say otherwise then clearly you've never had a good a single malt isle.

 

[fupizza]

I strongly believe that budgeting your entire life is what saves money. Small habits can help save money in the long run, but focusing more on how you invest will earn you double what you had.

A lot of people are in a position that they don't have to think about money in that way right now, but it's really important to think about how you will budget your future. No matter where you are in life you can ask yourself: 1. What type of occupation do I want to do after high school/college? 2. What are all of the things I need to save for to get the fullest out of my life? 3. What is my tax bracket for the job I'm interested in, and what type of health care/car insurance/phone bill will I have to pay? 4. When do I call it quits and say that I'm ready to retire?

The proper way to invest is to look at your bi-weekly pay for your future job and divide it up accordingly. For me, I have divided my bi-weekly pay into these different categories: Taxes(including federal and state taxes, medicare, and social security), rent, future house deposit, future savings for kid's college, car insurance, 401K, health care, stock market investment, money market investment (I call it emergency funds), and lastly fun money.

Your money maker is how you invest your budgeting into various savings. You want to set aside a certain amount of money in your budget towards these things NO MATTER WHAT. But that doesn't necessarily mean put them in. I put in a certain amount of money into my money market savings account as an emergency fund in case of a medical emergency, since that is money I can take out whenever I need it but it earns a little interest. As for saving for my children's college, CDs are the preferred method for me. These CDs earn higher interest rates so you get more bang for your buck, but you can't take any money out until a set date (when they mature). Finally, the most important investment: the stock market. Putting a certain amount of money of your budget into a smart researched mutual fund will almost always give you a gain of double your investment over the course of a lifetime. And that amount (depending on how much you put in) can be absolutely nuts, and can get you closer to retirement.

Any way, yeah sorry for the crash course Investing lesson 101. I'm in college and don't get enough from the military to budget for future child/future house etc. but I'm still saving and investing into the stocks when they are low prices. I always set aside the money for the stocks, but I don't necessarily buy any unless they are low prices (like they are now)

 

[Deck Knight]

A few things that I do:

Automatic savings transfers: Set up your bank accounts so that every check you automatically transfer money for savings. This allows you to use cash in emergencies instead of credit, and since it is on auto-pilot you eventually accumulate a substantial figure. If you make your mindset to only spend from your checking, this will add up quickly because you have already conditioned yourself to save.

-> Aside: Cash Flow is very important. You do not want to routinely have to seek credit to make up for short-term gaps, so if you can try and distribute your expenses to be paid throughout the month rather than having a one week period where you get crushed. Investments offer a much better rate of return than savings, but they are never as fluid as cash.

Planned Leftovers: Eating out can be expensive, but you can defray the cost of a flat delivery charge by ordering enough to eat over multiple days. I try to order enough food so the average cost of a meal falls around $5.25. This is more than a homemade meal (which I try to get to average around $2.50), but sometimes you just can't find the time. This also works for sit-down restaurants depending on portion size, and nearly all of them are happy to give you take-home bags.

Meat Ends: Supermarkets run through a lot of meat at the deli, but usually have the ends of their product set aside. The cost of these is roughly half of the ordinary deli price, but it's a very cost-effective way to get protein in your diet.

Equity > Rent: This is more long term, but basically in any situation where housing meets your family needs, purchase housing that accrues equity (Condos, Manufactured Homes, or traditional properties all qualify). Even in the worst case scenario (barring total loss), you will always have a roof over your head. The only exception to this is when maintenance costs begin to exceed local rents, in which case the economic benefit has probably long since passed on that specific property.

 

[orch]

Imo, this is how you grow your value:
Only keep liquidity for:
A) daily living to living
B) emergency liquidity in bank
C) cash as an asset hedge

Rest of your money should be in:
A) index funds such as SPY and QQQ. Contribute to Americans' favorite ponzi schemes.
B) 10% in speculative investing. Use your eyes, if you see something that is recently became common. Then, it's probably undervalued and you can accelerate the capitalism with options. This is how you can make your opinions realized in your balances ;=).
C) various asset hedges such as cryptocurrencies, gold, metals, and other commodities.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Imo, this is how you grow your value:
Only keep liquidity for:
A) daily living to living
B) emergency liquidity in bank
C) cash as an asset hedge

Rest of your money should be in:
A) index funds such as SPY and QQQ. Contribute to Americans' favorite ponzi schemes.
B) 10% in speculative investing. Use your eyes, if you see something that is recently became common. Then, it's probably undervalued and you can accelerate the capitalism with options. This is how you can make your opinions realized in your balances ;=).
C) various asset hedges such as cryptocurrencies, gold, metals, and other commodities.

Don't Ponzi schemes tend to get frozen once they are caught or somehting?

 

[LucarioOfLegends]

Multi-Level Marketing obv

Generally, I struggle with money. Keeping myself faaaar away from what I currently put in savings and only really buy stuff through checkings. Helps to some extent that I am a broke college student, but what really hurts is the different small temptations at both work and school that add up over time. It may only ever be a few dollars, but I just struggle to save money in that way. PLus, had to just spend a whole buncha money to get a car just a week ago, so I'm pretty much back to square one in savings.

Rip tuition and books ;-;

 

[Cresselia~~]

Not sure if having a car is considered expensive in the US... seems like a lot of Americans own cars.
But cars are definitely not worth it in most Asian countries. Way too costly to buy fuel, and parking lots cost a huge amount too.

 

[orch]

Don't Ponzi schemes tend to get frozen once they are caught or somehting?

Not the one that was created by the elite class.

 

[Mandarinas45]

Stop keeping cash, it always helps