People who are good at saving money...

Please help....how do you do it....luckily, we do not live above our means at all, but we definetly spend way more than we need too (mostly me)

I saw on the HOME thread, that some people put down 50% on their house because they are awesome savers....what do you do? how do you do it? any advice? (we already have a house, so not for that, just in general....our savings should be WAY more than what it is!) Thanks

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I always "pay myself" first (advice from Suze Orman). Every time I get paid, I transfer a certain amount right into my savings that same day. If I want to buy something, I need to have that money in my checking in order to pay for it. Whenever I use my credit card (I pretty much only use it because of the rewards), I immediately transfer the money from my checking rather than paying at the end of the month (this way I'm not spending more than I have).

This method helps me to save each month as well as only buy what I have with the leftover money. The amount I put into my savings sometimes varies each month- during December it was less because of the holidays. There are other times when I have extra in my checking and so then I'll put more in. I always make sure I put at least something in though.

I love dinners out and nice clothes and definitely spend a good amount on them.. but I can only feel good about spending money on them knowing I am also saving and not going into debt for it. Hope that helps!

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Re: People who are good at saving money...

All raises/bonuses go directly into savings.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I was putting nearly 10% of our combined take home income weekly directly into savings. We don't make alot by any means, but having that money in savings HAS saved us several times. BIL's wedding and Christmas has wiped us out, along with other things, so after New Years I need to get us back on track.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

A 401k/403b is an easy way to save automatically and not be able to touch it.

We also put away a certain amount and every month or so, we transfer extra into savings as well.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

We bought a house one year ago so I had to change things up. I saved our tax return (it was a lot) and part of dh bonus. Last month we paid off our car 2 years early, and sent a chunk into the mortgage. Now we have to start all over again, so I think we will put the tax return and some of the bonus into a CD so I don't go paying stuff off again

Before we bought the house we saved every bonus and tax return and one of my paychecks every month. Did this by eating in, not buying CDs and DVDs, clothes, shoes etc

Now w 2 kids and a house I need to sit down and get my stuff together agaib

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I was one of the people who said they put 50% down on a house.

We did that by buying a very modest starter house for our first home when we were newly engaged-- one we could afford on my DH's salary alone. We lived entirely on my DH's income from the day we moved in together, and always banked all of mine.

Living on DH's income accomplished two things. First, we were able to save a significant amount of money in just a few years. This, combined with the appreciation on our starter home, allowed us to trade up to a much bigger home in a nicer neighborhood, and still be able to put down the 50%. Second, I quit working after we had our 1st child and never felt any pinch in our budget, because my salary was always automatically saved, so we never really "saw" it. Being frugal though, once I stopped working we did cut corners here and there so we could save more aggressively from DH's salary, something we didn't bother to do when we had mine to save.

Overall we just like to live a simple life. We don't feel deprived at all.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I am not great at saving money AT ALL, which is why I have to come up with all kinds of tricks to help us do it!

One trick I am extremely proud of is this one: my husband got a raise in August of this year and I immediately scheduled a weekly transfer from our checking to a separate savings for the amount of his weekly raise. Now we have a nice little sum sitting in that savings account. In the meantime, there is no skin off our back because we never even SAW that money at all: it pretty much started going into the savings before we even saw it appear in our checking!

We also ALWAYS pay out credit card bill in full. So, basically, if we can't afford it, we don't buy it!

Another great thing is this: always ask yourself when you are looking to buy something: "Do I really NEED it or do I just WANT it!" Most of the time, it's the latter. So tough, that one, but it helps tremendously!


Oh, and last but not least: we recently started writing down EVERY cent we spend on food and going out and then adding it at the end of the month. Really helps you put things in perspective! :)

Message edited 12/29/2011 5:53:22 PM.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I have payroll automatically send a certain amount of my paycheck directly into a savings account. I feel like I never really see it so I never spend it. Everytime I get a raise I increase the amount that goes in by that amount. The assumption being, if I was getting by without it, then I can continue to do so.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Use your credit card as a convenience and not true "credit."

In other words, I use it because I don't want to carry tons of cash on me, not because I really can't pay for what I'm buying. At any given moment I can pay off what is on my card, and I do pay it off every month.

I echo what others have said about banking raises.

No one likes this part of the answer but just living below your means will do it. My car is ancient. I don't get manicures ever and I only get a few pedicures in the summer. We take modest vacations and eat out with coupons. We don't have fancy cell phones. Library instead of netflix. You get the idea.

Message edited 12/29/2011 6:11:15 PM.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

401K is great because you don't ever miss it.
We have a certain amount that we put in our savings and the kids savings every week. I try to do that every single week but there are times when I just can not.

I do have a question for the people who say they take their raises and put that away, doesn't your bills go up every year? I find that once my medical goes up and everything else, my raise just covers it.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

For us the income side is a big part of saving. My DH works A LOT of OT and most of it gets put in savings. I think best way to save is find a way to increase your income
I also have been trying to avoid money pit stores like costco and Target as they are $100 trips at least usually.
We also get taxed a lot through the year and use our tax return as a forced savings. I know its not the best to give the govt free loan but it works for us for now.
While saving is important to us we like to enjoy our money too. We usually go on a few vacations a year, and we are doing a major home renovation this year.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

High salaries.

But seriously..lol..uhm..DH put down 75% for the house back in 2004.$ 100k of that came from investments/brokerage accounts that his mom managed since his birth in 1968. The other $ 45-60K came from his 401k and savings. His income back then was around 55-60k but he was really cheap in order to save that much (he never bought lunch, he took Nassa County buses to the E train to save on LIRR fares, he didnt buy expensive gifts, lived at home until mid 30s, etc). He said it wasnt hard, and he still had another 20k left over to buy furniture and even convert the house from Oil to Gas (cost him $6K). The house was worth over $300k when he bought it, and his mortgage balance now is crazy low (>150k). Of course, once we sell and move into a bigger house, the mortgage will be higher .

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I do many of the things pp have mentioned.

Here's one other thing I do:

For large, annual expenses - such as Christmas/Holiday time and vacations, I have separate ING accounts set up for them.

Each month, I have a certain amount transferred into my regular savings and then a smaller amount to a Christmas fund and a vacation fund.

THis means that I don't have to tap into my savings for these expenses that I know I will have. It really makes you consider vacation $$ when you think, wow, I have to save $600 every month all year to pay for that (for example). We are taking a trip to the caribbean in Feb and chose an inexpensive place in the DR to keep within what is saved in our vacation account. I don't feel like I am settling (its a fab resort) but I do feel proud that we are able to do this while still meeting our other financial goals.

We also put any bonus, tax return, etc. into the savings too.

I try to increase savings when I get a raise. While some costs do go up every year, I try to absorb what I can by spending less and sometimes I can only increase savings by a portion of what the raise was (i.e. increase savings by 1% with a 3% raise).

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Both are paychecks are direct deposit and we both put part in our checking and savings. I put in savings the mortgage money plus a little, all DH puts in gets saved and is only used for vacations or other extraordianry items (fridge breaks, dryer breaks, house things and vacations).

Everything in checking is for our bills and normal spending.

We also charge almost everything (gas, cell phone, cable bill, oil, etc) on our jetblue card, so we can fly for free when we do book our vacations. That bill is always paid in full.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

We save my entire paycheck.

We live below our means. We have no car payments, we bought a house which was 100K less than what we were approved for, we disputed our property taxes, we use the library for free books and videos, we have basic cable, no home phone, basic cell phone plans. We brown bag lunch everyday and go out to dinner (including takeout) only every 6-8 weeks. We do spend money on clothes and what not, but only if we really need it/have saved for it and we go on about 2 vacations a year.

ETA: We have been in our house over two years and we still have not fully furnished/decorated all of the rooms.

Message edited 12/30/2011 3:14:17 PM.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Re: People who are good at saving money...

I don't like clutter, so shopping to me gives some anxiety. Where am I going to put this? That helps a lot.

But I do relate a weight watchers saying to money. Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels= no object can make me feel as secure as a good savings account.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

This are some great tips, and I need to tackle a little bit of debt this year myself too so these get me motivated again.


Some of mine:

I try to avoid going to the grocery store or Target just out of habit each week. Like another poster mentioned, going to Target especially will run you easily $100.00 a trip.

I need to focus on only going to the store when I really NEED something, not when I am "just running low".

For those of you who love clothes.........I do clothing swaps with my sister.

Also when I get that urge to shop, I will clean out my closests and drawers instead. They frequently need it, and it always reminds me of so much stuff I ALREADY have.

Re: People who are good at saving money...

thank you sooooo much to everyone....you gave awesome advice,and I have to say I am actually excited to start!!!!!!

We charge basically everything (and pay it off at the end of the month). I do this to keep track of what we buy and earn points...the problem is, I dont even go over my statement at the end of the month bc I am so disgusted by the stupid spend...like all the over $100 trips to target

But I'm done now! Cant wait to start saving Like the ww motto used for saving!!!!

Re: People who are good at saving money...

Re: People who are good at saving money...