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| signupmoney |
 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 5:49 am Post subject: A real "eye opener" for saving, a LOT! |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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I tried helping my sister years ago but everything I suggested fell on deaf ears. Ya know, all of the excuses that everyone keeps telling themselves. I noticed that every time I saw her she had a super big gulp in her hands. She is a single mom and had a son (at the time) 10 years away from college. I made a (harsh) comment to her, "Are those EVERY day big gulps you buy going to fund the store owners childerns educations because they sure are not doing anything for your own son". She cried, I cried, but finally I said something which touched a nerve and she finally wanted to listen to some advise.
I suggested that she started "writing down on paper" EVERY dime she spent for 1 month. I mean everything and she need to be honest with herself. She did it, showed me the 3 page list (even carried it in her car recording literally every dime) and gave me a hudge hug. She could hardly believe where and how much money she was throwing away. She quickly made adjustments, mainly adjusting her priorietes and then really started making changes.
Its 15 years later, she is still a single mom, paid for her sons college education and has money left over.
Flimsy excuses are easy. Saving money, at least getting started, sometimes is hard to do but if one does not start TODAY, ask yourself, "Where will I be 1 year from today if I do NOTHING"?. Hope it helps. |
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| trixiezzz |
| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:21 am Post subject: |
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Investing Manager
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| Wow, you are brave and probably saved your sister a lot of grief if she had stayed on the no-savings path. I think that keeping a financial diary is the #1 step toward taking ownership of your own money. Once you realize just exactly where your money's going, you're willing to start budgeting. |
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| signupmoney |
| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:54 am Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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I was a practicing Certified Financial Planner then and everything I suggested to her up to that point never worked and she just would not listen. I think it may have been like trying to teach your own child to play baseball. He/she will ignore almost everything you say, but will do everything the coach says.
I got "harsh" out of sheer frustration and it finally worked. She never forgot what I said and every now and then brings it up and thanks me again to finally waking her up. |
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| InvestingMac |
| Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:52 am Post subject: |
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Investing Manager
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Most people become some comfortable with their lifestyle that they don't see their minor daily luxuries (coffee at the coffeeshop for example) as expenses.
If you cut out just one or two from your daily life, you could be saving (depending on your luxury) a few thousand dollars a year. |
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| paula0000 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Investing Manager
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| Before making a budget, I wrote down everything I spent and it was definitely eye opening. For me it was the daily diet coke. That's about $30 per month I was spending on this daily treat. I do belive though in some fun money-everything within reason. |
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| signupmoney |
| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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| paula0000 wrote: | | Before making a budget, I wrote down everything I spent and it was definitely eye opening. For me it was the daily diet coke. That's about $30 per month I was spending on this daily treat. I do belive though in some fun money-everything within reason. |
I think every ones definition of "within reason" is very different. If you think and spend based on wants vs. needs, this usually tells you if you "really" are a spender or a saver.
For example, We bought our first cell phone 10 years ago JUST to have in the car for emergencies and at the time it cost $12 per month. My wife was paying this bill so I didn't pay much attention to it. I happened to see the bill a few months ago and it was now $50. I asked her about it, and she sain "Well, they had this great deal, yada, yada, yada". We switched service and are back to paying $13 a month. She turned a need into a want and most of us can easily justify these "so-called" needed expenses, thats why MOST of us TRY to save, but never do, unless you can REALLY seperate needs from wants, and then take action. |
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| paula0000 |
| Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:41 am Post subject: |
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Investing Manager
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| I know what you mean. I think it's always a good idea, about once a year to check insurance prices, cell phone, land line service etc. There always seems to be something new and better. But it gets easy to just keep paying the same bill that comes in. Sometimes if you do a check around different companies you can save quite a bit every month. |
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| signupmoney |
| Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:12 am Post subject: |
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Investing Sr. Associate
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We "shop" insurance slaso, on a regular basis and save money every time we make a switch. Last time was 3 years ago ago so its time to shop again. Last time we switched we saved almost 1/3 for our homeowners insurance.
The REAL key however is to do do something with the savings when you find an amount to save.
When I did financial planning, I would explain "We are going to WORK, to save money". In other words, treat saving money as your part time job, and promise yourself that what ever you earn (save) is "hands off" money witch goes directly into savings, or better yet a retirement. I prefer seeing it go into a retirement plan since it is a bit harder to get to. So many times savings accounts turn out to be "spending accounts", so all that effort goes wasted. Hope it helps. |
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