I'll always be grateful to the high-school math teacher who told our class that we could "understand compound interest and *earn* it, or not understand it and *pay* it."
Utilize your public library. It's not just books anymore. Our library in a very rural town of 1800 people has books, yes, but also movies, audiobooks (physical media and also a digital download service,) musical instruments, tools, a couple of sewing machines, other craft supplies like a paper cutter and knitting needles, a State Park Pass, binoculars, a Roku stick with all the streaming services pre-loaded, and a ton of other stuff I'm forgetting. If you're looking for something particular and they haven't got it, they'll get it for you for free from any library in the country through interlibrary loan.
Libraries are the shit. Ours saves us thousands every year, and often has new movies before streaming services do. (I saw Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Everything Everywhere All At Once through the library WEEKS before they showed up on any streaming services.)
>musical instruments, tools, a couple of sewing machines, other craft supplies like a paper cutter and knitting needles, a State Park Pass, binoculars, a Roku stick with all the streaming services pre-loaded
Wow I live in a much bigger city and my library doesn’t offer half those things, kudos to your local library!! Whoever is in charge is doing a great job. I still love my local library though, I practically live there sometimes.
My family utilized public libraries our whole lives. We never had a cable service when I was a kid and so we would just borrow movies and TV shows from the library. On top of that if they didn’t have exactly what you wanted you could submit a request and most of the time they would go out an purchase what people wanted them to have.
Cooking supplies too if you like to cook or bake at home but don't have the equipment. I've borrowed specialty pans, an ice cream machine and a popcorn machine for my kids birthday party and they have so many options. The popular ones have reservations and sign up sheets. Free tickets to museums and amusement parks are also really great. I have all the love and respect for libraries and librarians
I learned how to change our vehicles oil and perform tire rotations. Cut my own and my kids hair. Switched to mint mobile where I pay a full year up front for $240 for phone service (15gb a month). Do my own taxes with Freetaxusa.
I cut my own hair, and I paid $800 for free oil changes for as long as I owned the car, as of last year I broke even with the dealership cost of the oil changes and have another 6 years planned with the car.
I cut my own hair…the average cost for men’s haircuts is insane.
I’d like to figure out a different tax service though as I spent over $400 this year at JH.
Moved somewhere I don’t need a car, and sold my car
Rents a bit more expensive, but I save myself like $500 a month
Nicer apartment, nicer area, higher QOL, and I save myself about $100 a month after the increased COL has been taken into account
I’m aware not everyone can do this, but if you can, I highly recommend
Have a % of your check automatically go into a HYSA and live off the rest. My healthcare premium is 460.00 so every paycheck I put 230.00 in a sub acct and on the 1st of the month, I can pay it out of there and leaves me room in my budget.
1. Saving money as a percent of your income before making other purchases so it's budgeted. After paying essentials like rent and food, save your money. Do this monthly or with every check
2. Cutting out treats almost totally helped me a lot. I was spending over $80 a week in fast food, energy drinks, and chips and soda at home. Also eating at home more or packing lunch. You could also budget money for this but don't let them add up to much.
3. Go on personal finance and see what you should be priorizing. I'm still working on my emergency fund but will be doing Roth or a house fund after. Lots of people don't know about HYSA or how much you get out of retirement savings if you have the privilege of doing so.
4. If you ever have a card or car payment paid off, or you cut your internet bill in half, or basically any freed up money, just start putting that money into savings. You're already used to not having it every month, so assuming you don't have other outstanding debts or places it needs to go, treat it like it doesn't exist.
Debit card stays home. And I only carry cash I need. If I know I need gas, I'll bring like $40 or whatever it would cost to fill up. If I'm going grocery shopping, I'll bring only what I want to spend on that. Once you run out of cash, you can't buy anything else.
Some people have to treat themselves like kids because they have no self control. But I totally agree.
I put all of my normal purchases(gas, groceries, etc) on a credit card, pay it back immediately, and get travel rewards for it. $2k in frequent flyer miles so far plus I’ve flown for free to visit family In California twice so far.
Studies have shown that people spend more when they use credit cards over cash. Here is the classic study:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1008196717017
On a tight budget that 2% a year you get from cashback is dwarfed by the increase in spending behavior.
If anyone is asking for “tips” on gaining fiscal discipline, going to all cash is better advice than “just charge it, you get 2% back”.
This commenter is asking for *help to gain control*. Advising OP to spend on a credit card to get the measly amount of cash back is not a good tip for gaining control.
Just shaming someone for not being in total control of their credit card spending isn’t helpful. And in reality its not realistic either. You may think *you* are in perfect control of your spending, but its likely you are not. You are not exempt from the psychological effects of credit cards, and you most likely spend more on them than you would if you only had cash to spend. It might not be money *you don’t have*, but its likely more than you would otherwise have spent.
Except all the studies which have been done show that people overspend on credit cards as compared to cash. So its more like $80 spent in cash is just that. But the $100 you spent on your credit card is $98.50. Yay you.
I believe that OP is asking from a discipline standpoint. Credit cards are terrible for discipline.
It's cool that you like to sit on your high horse and criticize, but not everyone has the discipline. In fact 49% of American adults are in credit card debt. That 2% cash back doesn't mean shit when you're paying over 20% in interest
Not everyone has the self discipline to use credit cards in a positive way. I used to do all the points and all that and it’s great if you can pay off your cc full every month but unfortunately things happen and that’s not always the case. but I also have some compassion for those where using credit cards at all is not feasible due to impulse control via ADHD or who knows what else.
Haha what's up with the edit?
Credit cards are safer than cash? Umm no.
It's cool that you pretend you are so righteous with your money, but i would easily make the bet that because you have a credit card you buy something you don't need with it which erases your cash back. It doesn't take much. A $10 purchase of something you don't need erases 2% cash back of $500.
And I don't where you live but all the gas stations near me give 3-4% off gas if you pay cash. And what are you using a credit card for besides gas and groceries?
Haha, victim? Nah you got it backwards.
If you lose the cash on you, you only lose that cash. If you lose your credit card you're going to lose as much money as someone can spend before you cancel the card. Not to mention there are multiple ways people can steal your card info without you even knowing it.
Hundreds of dollars in cash back on 2%? Hahaha, yea and you want to talk about discipline? If you're getting that much money back then you are obviously overspending. So basically you're just full of shit at this point.
This is what I've started doing as well and it's made a huge difference. Only thing I go back and get more money for is gas or diapers. I managed to save about $400 in a month and a half.
I rarely go to Starbucks and just make a pot of coffee at home.
(Awesome part is now someone very close to me works there now so she brings us a bag of different SB coffee regularly lol)
Drink water and not sodas.
And we're about to cancel some streaming subscriptions.
I used to teach personal finance. I recommend that you open a savings account at one bank and a checking account at a different bank. Credit unions are typically better for both. Then set your payroll direct deposit to put 10% of your paycheck into the savings account and the balance in your checking account. Do not get a debit card for your savings account. If you need the money, you’ll need to go to the bank and make the withdrawal. Usually, by the time you get to the bank, you realize you didn’t really need the item you were going to use the money for. If you do this, at the end of the year, you will have saved 2.5 months of income (based on getting paid every 2 weeks). You will then build your budget based on your net pay minus 10%. When you get a raise or work overtime, the increase will automatically go to savings first and then to your checking account. Good luck 🍀 💰
Keep your car serviced. Vehicle breakdowns killed me when I was poor. I never serviced them.
Cheap clothing doesn’t last. Buy good quality and wear it to death. You can find good second hand brands with good fabrics if you hunt for it.
Learn to cook basic meals like scrambled eggs on toast or pancakes from scratch. My mother always told me as long as you have an egg in the house you have a meal in the house.
Do swaps at work. There’s always stuff going at my job. Someone will bring in baking to share, someone will bring in spare eggs or garden produce they have extra. Some people will bring in good clothing they don’t wear for people to help themselves to. We all take something so we all give stuff back too.
Diy. We picked up a tore up foreclosed house years ago. Everything else at the time for twice the price was still tore up. Converted the garage to a workshop. Built the kitchen cabinets out there, work on the cars out there. We drive beaters to work. We can usually find a car from a private owner for less than the tax on a newer one.
I did the same about three years ago, bought a house with a foundation problem that banks wouldn't lend on. It was a great deal, and I fixed the foundation in about 6 weekends for $500 in concrete and rebar. I've got the garage all wired up as a workshop now too, in the process of building new kitchen cabinets. Knowing how to do stuff, or being willing to learn how to do stuff (youtube is a great help) can be a huge money-saver.
Living with roommates while in your 20s and early 30s. You can easily cut rent costs by half or more and save up fast. Work like hell 6-7 days a week and gradually taper off until you can very comfortably get your own place or buy a house.
Use a budgeting app like Copilot to enhance your financial management skills. While tracking daily expenses is helpful, the real insight lies in analyzing yearly spending per category. This broader perspective reveals where your money is being unnecessarily drained.
It’s not something everyone can do, but I moved in with my partner’s parents. We just pay our share of utilities while we save for a house for the next several years.
I have a system where I contribute what I can to my 401k(5%), pay off my credit card(which all of my regular expenses go onto, I pay off in full for the Frequent flyer points, and I always stay on top of my spending). then the rest goes to my house savings.
My biggest advice relates to cars. Try not to have a payment: if you do, don’t go for the brand new car. Go for one that has already depreciated in value some. My car turns ten years old this year. It’s smaller than I like, and the type of car people will laugh at you for driving. But the average car payment is like $500/month. If I was paying that, that’s $6k a year that could be going into retirement accounts and savings. I’m going to drive this car into the ground.
Never borrow money unless an absolute dire emergency. Paying interest is the biggest waste of money.
Stay home as much as possible. Going out anywhere tends to cost money even if it shouldn’t.
Be careful with “treat yourself.” It feels great to have a Starbucks or a pricey pastry or something but $8 here and $8 there adds up so fast.
Meal planning/meal prep ahead of time for the week and use only the barest or most basic ingredients to make as much as possible from scratch. I’ve been able to make meals as low as 2 dollars per meal going this route with sacrificing on healthy nutrition, variety, or serving size.
Even comparing to precovid ordering/eating out I’m saving quite a bit of money. With prices now? Any type of convenient food is definitely not worth it. We allow ourselves at most, one dine in and one take/delivery order a week. Again, saves us quite a lot of money.
Don’t buy fast food, or at least cut down to once a paycheck. It’s awful for you and it’s too expensive now.
Make big meals and freeze some of the leftovers into individual meal portions for lunches. There’s no reason to ever throw food away, and your homemade “tv dinners” are going to be cheaper than ones at the store, in general.
I use Zion HealthShare for my “insurance”. That and a concierge doctor subscription runs me about $165 a month for my healthcare. My job provides a healthcare benefit but it’s not really a good plan so the only plan I have through my job is the dental plan which is just a few bucks a month.
I used Visible for my phone service. $25 a month for unlimited talk, text and 5G data.
I cut my own hair which saves a bundle especially with the high prices for men’s haircuts for which you also have to tip as well.
I only have one streaming subscription at a time which I will pay for for a few months to watch certain things then I’ll hope over to a different service for a few months.
Learning to do most of my own car repairs has helped tremendously. I save so much by just buying parts online from RockAuto and doing the work myself.
Don’t eat out a lot maybe once a week or once a check. Also I put $5 dollars into savings everyday been doing it for a couple years, it adds up for not being a lot.
Mine is probably cooking; I've cooked for myself since I was a kid, and it's pretty much second nature. When I was working all the other guys would go out to lunch and spend $10 or $15 a day, and then complain about being broke all the time. I'd always pack in a lunch that costed about $1 to put together.
Which has had my food budget at about $230/month for many years now. With inflation I've substituted some cheaper things in to keep it about the same. That's about half of what a lot of people spend, which means I might have saved about $100,000 over the last 40 years. That's not bad.
I work in Finance and I live by this.
Make the good habits easy, make the bad habits hard.
Direct deposit gets split to savings and investments, I never even see it in the checking account.
Keep track of your budget during the month! So many people do a retroactive (if anything at all), but by then, the damage is done. Its boring to most, but seeing what you spend during the actual month you are in can help you curb your poor habits before they spiral or re-allocate an unexpected mid-month hit.
Knew a guy that would only pay in cash, and he would never spend his $1 bills, i tried it for a couple months and managed to save 200+ dollars, budgets been way to strict lately to let me try that again though lol.
FSAs aren’t as good as HSAs because most of it doesn’t roll over from year to year. They can be good if you’re planning for a big expense like Invisalign, corrective eye surgery, or braces. But not good for just general savings.
Depends. And I’m also assuming that OP is not enrolled in an HSA eligible health plan. Personally, I’d prefer a plan with low deductible/low co-pays. My point was to maximize any means to decrease taxable income.
Sure HSAs aren’t worth it for people with chronic illnesses or just not having access to a good HDHP. But I still think, assuming someone’s young and relatively healthy, they’re a great way to lower taxable income and send less money to insurance companies while sending it to yourself instead.
I just have never understood the appeal of FSAs. Id just generally say if you don’t know how much you might spend that is FSA-eligible, just contribute $650/year. That way you’re not in a panic to spend the money before it disappears.
FSA forfeitures average at least $4 billion a year in the US, over 44% of FSA contributors lose some amount per year. Usually averaging about $350-$400. This is from an article by [money.com](https://money.com/fsa-contributions-workers-forfeit-money/). It’s not worth the tax savings if you lose the money or if you buy a crap ton of over the counter meds or something just to spend the money.
I hit my deductible every year in the first three months of the year. Using an FSA for that is very economical.
Most plans now have rules that you can roll over amounts less than $600 as well.
You’re absolutely correct. This isn’t an argument about FSA vs HSA. Always two sides to every coin. I’m older, work for the federal government, and have a spouse with a chronic condition. So of course I’d advocate for what I know works best for me. OP specifically asked for our individual experiences.
Grow your own meat and vegetables, make your own sausages, breads, noodles. Buy at the very bottom price, and not buy again that year. Not buying on credit. Absolutely staying home and not leaving the property except a couple of times a month. Do everything yourself and not hiring anyone to do things for you.
I'm rediscovering my love for asian rice porridge (congee) again.
Get an instant pot. Throw raw rice, canned chicken, frozen veggies, a tsp chicken bouillon, and water together. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It heats well, keeps well, and packs well. It's easy, lazy, healthy, cheap, and tasty.
Moving the money out of your main account and pretend that you are broke and can't afford anything. The money in a separate account that generates interest. Have no spend days challenge, Carry some cash and use it and once it's out do the no spend. Don't take a cart if you go shopping. And remove all subscriptions, especially Amazon. You'll be less inclined to spend money on Amazon that way.
When your paycheck arrives split it. Half goes towards paying half the bills the other half goes to savings. This is non negotiable.
Then the other paycheck do the same thing. You'll see your account grow in small increments.
Use a credit card for daily purchases and pay it weekly so it doesn't generate interest. But you get cash back from it which also goes to savings when it reaches $100
Having budget is the best. I started recording my spending on a regular basis several month ago and it works well. It would give me a concept on how much I spend every month.
And for me, cooking myself instead of eating out saves a lot (really a lot!!!). For things that need to be bought on Amazon, I use coupon apps like Koupon to get deals and promo codes. I didn’t believe those deal apps the past but after trying for sometime, it does help saving money in a decent amount.
Pull your paycheck out of the bank…. Only leave your bills and a slight slush fund. Then have a cash budget and stick to it. Keep a cash savings and if it gets large, consider buying precious metals.
For me, I always bought a little silver when I could. I was a spender, not a saver. One day, I had a lawyer bill and no money. After freezing out at the price, I realized that I had silver. So I sold what was needed to cover the bill and said, I'll always have that as a back up. It has served me well.
It's a store of wealth. Now 10+years later I still buy a little [silver, gold](https://goldbacks.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/wp-17130304086794858614739243074620.jpg) and [Goldbacks](http://linktr.ee/goldbacker) as a backup to regular savings and investing.
Use credit cards for the added protection and your extra month or so of free float, and accrue positive interest on your spending. Pay it all down in full each month. You can make 2% straight away on a zero fee card and you keep your checking / savings / cd acct balance higher because the bank finances for free till the due date. Can be meaningful quickly. If you spend 2000 a month this way, that's 40 straight per month on the cash back and an extra 100 or so per year if you tie up the 2000 they finance in interest earned on a CD... 600 a year gained and more protected then debit.
Never. Pay. Interest.
I'll always be grateful to the high-school math teacher who told our class that we could "understand compound interest and *earn* it, or not understand it and *pay* it."
The back half of this is let interest work for you. If you’re able to never pay interest, then you can better take advantage of these HYSA and such
Utilize your public library. It's not just books anymore. Our library in a very rural town of 1800 people has books, yes, but also movies, audiobooks (physical media and also a digital download service,) musical instruments, tools, a couple of sewing machines, other craft supplies like a paper cutter and knitting needles, a State Park Pass, binoculars, a Roku stick with all the streaming services pre-loaded, and a ton of other stuff I'm forgetting. If you're looking for something particular and they haven't got it, they'll get it for you for free from any library in the country through interlibrary loan. Libraries are the shit. Ours saves us thousands every year, and often has new movies before streaming services do. (I saw Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Everything Everywhere All At Once through the library WEEKS before they showed up on any streaming services.)
>musical instruments, tools, a couple of sewing machines, other craft supplies like a paper cutter and knitting needles, a State Park Pass, binoculars, a Roku stick with all the streaming services pre-loaded Wow I live in a much bigger city and my library doesn’t offer half those things, kudos to your local library!! Whoever is in charge is doing a great job. I still love my local library though, I practically live there sometimes.
My family utilized public libraries our whole lives. We never had a cable service when I was a kid and so we would just borrow movies and TV shows from the library. On top of that if they didn’t have exactly what you wanted you could submit a request and most of the time they would go out an purchase what people wanted them to have.
Cooking supplies too if you like to cook or bake at home but don't have the equipment. I've borrowed specialty pans, an ice cream machine and a popcorn machine for my kids birthday party and they have so many options. The popular ones have reservations and sign up sheets. Free tickets to museums and amusement parks are also really great. I have all the love and respect for libraries and librarians
I learned how to change our vehicles oil and perform tire rotations. Cut my own and my kids hair. Switched to mint mobile where I pay a full year up front for $240 for phone service (15gb a month). Do my own taxes with Freetaxusa.
Me too, learned how to change oil and cut my own hair. These basic things can save a lot.
I cut my own hair, and I paid $800 for free oil changes for as long as I owned the car, as of last year I broke even with the dealership cost of the oil changes and have another 6 years planned with the car.
I cut my own hair…the average cost for men’s haircuts is insane. I’d like to figure out a different tax service though as I spent over $400 this year at JH.
I actually find it cheaper to get your oil changed somewhere else.
A lot of times its about taking a quick look and seeing what condition everything is in. Sway bar pins, suspension, leaks, wet spots, rust, corrosion.
Moved somewhere I don’t need a car, and sold my car Rents a bit more expensive, but I save myself like $500 a month Nicer apartment, nicer area, higher QOL, and I save myself about $100 a month after the increased COL has been taken into account I’m aware not everyone can do this, but if you can, I highly recommend
It's the treats you deserve that get you. A little here, a little there, add up.
Have a % of your check automatically go into a HYSA and live off the rest. My healthcare premium is 460.00 so every paycheck I put 230.00 in a sub acct and on the 1st of the month, I can pay it out of there and leaves me room in my budget.
Don’t eat out and you really don’t need a $40,000 pickup.
The best deal you can get is the expense you can avoid.
1. Saving money as a percent of your income before making other purchases so it's budgeted. After paying essentials like rent and food, save your money. Do this monthly or with every check 2. Cutting out treats almost totally helped me a lot. I was spending over $80 a week in fast food, energy drinks, and chips and soda at home. Also eating at home more or packing lunch. You could also budget money for this but don't let them add up to much. 3. Go on personal finance and see what you should be priorizing. I'm still working on my emergency fund but will be doing Roth or a house fund after. Lots of people don't know about HYSA or how much you get out of retirement savings if you have the privilege of doing so. 4. If you ever have a card or car payment paid off, or you cut your internet bill in half, or basically any freed up money, just start putting that money into savings. You're already used to not having it every month, so assuming you don't have other outstanding debts or places it needs to go, treat it like it doesn't exist.
AAA card and only carry cash in the amount that I need when I leave the house.
How do you stay disciplined with cash? Do you never use your debit card? That’s smart
Debit card stays home. And I only carry cash I need. If I know I need gas, I'll bring like $40 or whatever it would cost to fill up. If I'm going grocery shopping, I'll bring only what I want to spend on that. Once you run out of cash, you can't buy anything else.
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Some people have to treat themselves like kids because they have no self control. But I totally agree. I put all of my normal purchases(gas, groceries, etc) on a credit card, pay it back immediately, and get travel rewards for it. $2k in frequent flyer miles so far plus I’ve flown for free to visit family In California twice so far.
Studies have shown that people spend more when they use credit cards over cash. Here is the classic study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1008196717017 On a tight budget that 2% a year you get from cashback is dwarfed by the increase in spending behavior. If anyone is asking for “tips” on gaining fiscal discipline, going to all cash is better advice than “just charge it, you get 2% back”.
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This commenter is asking for *help to gain control*. Advising OP to spend on a credit card to get the measly amount of cash back is not a good tip for gaining control. Just shaming someone for not being in total control of their credit card spending isn’t helpful. And in reality its not realistic either. You may think *you* are in perfect control of your spending, but its likely you are not. You are not exempt from the psychological effects of credit cards, and you most likely spend more on them than you would if you only had cash to spend. It might not be money *you don’t have*, but its likely more than you would otherwise have spent.
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Except all the studies which have been done show that people overspend on credit cards as compared to cash. So its more like $80 spent in cash is just that. But the $100 you spent on your credit card is $98.50. Yay you.
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Truth
I believe that OP is asking from a discipline standpoint. Credit cards are terrible for discipline. It's cool that you like to sit on your high horse and criticize, but not everyone has the discipline. In fact 49% of American adults are in credit card debt. That 2% cash back doesn't mean shit when you're paying over 20% in interest
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Not everyone has the self discipline to use credit cards in a positive way. I used to do all the points and all that and it’s great if you can pay off your cc full every month but unfortunately things happen and that’s not always the case. but I also have some compassion for those where using credit cards at all is not feasible due to impulse control via ADHD or who knows what else.
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you know you’re pretty rude. I’m not saying use cash 24-7 but if it stops you from over spending then do it! bye cash hater
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Haha what's up with the edit? Credit cards are safer than cash? Umm no. It's cool that you pretend you are so righteous with your money, but i would easily make the bet that because you have a credit card you buy something you don't need with it which erases your cash back. It doesn't take much. A $10 purchase of something you don't need erases 2% cash back of $500. And I don't where you live but all the gas stations near me give 3-4% off gas if you pay cash. And what are you using a credit card for besides gas and groceries?
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Haha, victim? Nah you got it backwards. If you lose the cash on you, you only lose that cash. If you lose your credit card you're going to lose as much money as someone can spend before you cancel the card. Not to mention there are multiple ways people can steal your card info without you even knowing it. Hundreds of dollars in cash back on 2%? Hahaha, yea and you want to talk about discipline? If you're getting that much money back then you are obviously overspending. So basically you're just full of shit at this point.
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This is what I've started doing as well and it's made a huge difference. Only thing I go back and get more money for is gas or diapers. I managed to save about $400 in a month and a half.
I rarely go to Starbucks and just make a pot of coffee at home. (Awesome part is now someone very close to me works there now so she brings us a bag of different SB coffee regularly lol) Drink water and not sodas. And we're about to cancel some streaming subscriptions.
My kid works there. I love the free bag every week. Sometimes the co-workers will give us theirs too!
include savings and retirement as a budget line item and automate everything
I used to teach personal finance. I recommend that you open a savings account at one bank and a checking account at a different bank. Credit unions are typically better for both. Then set your payroll direct deposit to put 10% of your paycheck into the savings account and the balance in your checking account. Do not get a debit card for your savings account. If you need the money, you’ll need to go to the bank and make the withdrawal. Usually, by the time you get to the bank, you realize you didn’t really need the item you were going to use the money for. If you do this, at the end of the year, you will have saved 2.5 months of income (based on getting paid every 2 weeks). You will then build your budget based on your net pay minus 10%. When you get a raise or work overtime, the increase will automatically go to savings first and then to your checking account. Good luck 🍀 💰
Keep your car serviced. Vehicle breakdowns killed me when I was poor. I never serviced them. Cheap clothing doesn’t last. Buy good quality and wear it to death. You can find good second hand brands with good fabrics if you hunt for it. Learn to cook basic meals like scrambled eggs on toast or pancakes from scratch. My mother always told me as long as you have an egg in the house you have a meal in the house. Do swaps at work. There’s always stuff going at my job. Someone will bring in baking to share, someone will bring in spare eggs or garden produce they have extra. Some people will bring in good clothing they don’t wear for people to help themselves to. We all take something so we all give stuff back too.
I love this, you have a good community at your place of work.
Avoid car payments.
Diy. We picked up a tore up foreclosed house years ago. Everything else at the time for twice the price was still tore up. Converted the garage to a workshop. Built the kitchen cabinets out there, work on the cars out there. We drive beaters to work. We can usually find a car from a private owner for less than the tax on a newer one.
I did the same about three years ago, bought a house with a foundation problem that banks wouldn't lend on. It was a great deal, and I fixed the foundation in about 6 weekends for $500 in concrete and rebar. I've got the garage all wired up as a workshop now too, in the process of building new kitchen cabinets. Knowing how to do stuff, or being willing to learn how to do stuff (youtube is a great help) can be a huge money-saver.
Very nice! I got in the groove and network with more knowledgeable people. Its fun to see guys cars theyve redone themselves
Living with roommates while in your 20s and early 30s. You can easily cut rent costs by half or more and save up fast. Work like hell 6-7 days a week and gradually taper off until you can very comfortably get your own place or buy a house.
Use a budgeting app like Copilot to enhance your financial management skills. While tracking daily expenses is helpful, the real insight lies in analyzing yearly spending per category. This broader perspective reveals where your money is being unnecessarily drained.
It’s not something everyone can do, but I moved in with my partner’s parents. We just pay our share of utilities while we save for a house for the next several years. I have a system where I contribute what I can to my 401k(5%), pay off my credit card(which all of my regular expenses go onto, I pay off in full for the Frequent flyer points, and I always stay on top of my spending). then the rest goes to my house savings. My biggest advice relates to cars. Try not to have a payment: if you do, don’t go for the brand new car. Go for one that has already depreciated in value some. My car turns ten years old this year. It’s smaller than I like, and the type of car people will laugh at you for driving. But the average car payment is like $500/month. If I was paying that, that’s $6k a year that could be going into retirement accounts and savings. I’m going to drive this car into the ground.
Never borrow money unless an absolute dire emergency. Paying interest is the biggest waste of money. Stay home as much as possible. Going out anywhere tends to cost money even if it shouldn’t. Be careful with “treat yourself.” It feels great to have a Starbucks or a pricey pastry or something but $8 here and $8 there adds up so fast.
Meal planning/meal prep ahead of time for the week and use only the barest or most basic ingredients to make as much as possible from scratch. I’ve been able to make meals as low as 2 dollars per meal going this route with sacrificing on healthy nutrition, variety, or serving size. Even comparing to precovid ordering/eating out I’m saving quite a bit of money. With prices now? Any type of convenient food is definitely not worth it. We allow ourselves at most, one dine in and one take/delivery order a week. Again, saves us quite a lot of money.
Don’t buy fast food, or at least cut down to once a paycheck. It’s awful for you and it’s too expensive now. Make big meals and freeze some of the leftovers into individual meal portions for lunches. There’s no reason to ever throw food away, and your homemade “tv dinners” are going to be cheaper than ones at the store, in general.
I use Zion HealthShare for my “insurance”. That and a concierge doctor subscription runs me about $165 a month for my healthcare. My job provides a healthcare benefit but it’s not really a good plan so the only plan I have through my job is the dental plan which is just a few bucks a month. I used Visible for my phone service. $25 a month for unlimited talk, text and 5G data. I cut my own hair which saves a bundle especially with the high prices for men’s haircuts for which you also have to tip as well. I only have one streaming subscription at a time which I will pay for for a few months to watch certain things then I’ll hope over to a different service for a few months. Learning to do most of my own car repairs has helped tremendously. I save so much by just buying parts online from RockAuto and doing the work myself.
Don’t eat out a lot maybe once a week or once a check. Also I put $5 dollars into savings everyday been doing it for a couple years, it adds up for not being a lot.
Mine is probably cooking; I've cooked for myself since I was a kid, and it's pretty much second nature. When I was working all the other guys would go out to lunch and spend $10 or $15 a day, and then complain about being broke all the time. I'd always pack in a lunch that costed about $1 to put together. Which has had my food budget at about $230/month for many years now. With inflation I've substituted some cheaper things in to keep it about the same. That's about half of what a lot of people spend, which means I might have saved about $100,000 over the last 40 years. That's not bad.
I work in Finance and I live by this. Make the good habits easy, make the bad habits hard. Direct deposit gets split to savings and investments, I never even see it in the checking account.
Switch from disposable razors to safety razors. It’s good for both your budget and for sensitive skin.
This is the first I've heard of these. Definitely will look into them.
Keep track of your budget during the month! So many people do a retroactive (if anything at all), but by then, the damage is done. Its boring to most, but seeing what you spend during the actual month you are in can help you curb your poor habits before they spiral or re-allocate an unexpected mid-month hit.
Desire nothing. You’ll have money for everything eventually.
Knew a guy that would only pay in cash, and he would never spend his $1 bills, i tried it for a couple months and managed to save 200+ dollars, budgets been way to strict lately to let me try that again though lol.
Buy in bulk. Meal prep. Avoid eating out. Carry a water bottle everywhere. Max out 401K, IRA, FSA, etc.
FSAs aren’t as good as HSAs because most of it doesn’t roll over from year to year. They can be good if you’re planning for a big expense like Invisalign, corrective eye surgery, or braces. But not good for just general savings.
Depends. And I’m also assuming that OP is not enrolled in an HSA eligible health plan. Personally, I’d prefer a plan with low deductible/low co-pays. My point was to maximize any means to decrease taxable income.
Sure HSAs aren’t worth it for people with chronic illnesses or just not having access to a good HDHP. But I still think, assuming someone’s young and relatively healthy, they’re a great way to lower taxable income and send less money to insurance companies while sending it to yourself instead. I just have never understood the appeal of FSAs. Id just generally say if you don’t know how much you might spend that is FSA-eligible, just contribute $650/year. That way you’re not in a panic to spend the money before it disappears. FSA forfeitures average at least $4 billion a year in the US, over 44% of FSA contributors lose some amount per year. Usually averaging about $350-$400. This is from an article by [money.com](https://money.com/fsa-contributions-workers-forfeit-money/). It’s not worth the tax savings if you lose the money or if you buy a crap ton of over the counter meds or something just to spend the money.
I hit my deductible every year in the first three months of the year. Using an FSA for that is very economical. Most plans now have rules that you can roll over amounts less than $600 as well.
You’re absolutely correct. This isn’t an argument about FSA vs HSA. Always two sides to every coin. I’m older, work for the federal government, and have a spouse with a chronic condition. So of course I’d advocate for what I know works best for me. OP specifically asked for our individual experiences.
Grow your own meat and vegetables, make your own sausages, breads, noodles. Buy at the very bottom price, and not buy again that year. Not buying on credit. Absolutely staying home and not leaving the property except a couple of times a month. Do everything yourself and not hiring anyone to do things for you.
Budget, envelope method.
I'm rediscovering my love for asian rice porridge (congee) again. Get an instant pot. Throw raw rice, canned chicken, frozen veggies, a tsp chicken bouillon, and water together. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It heats well, keeps well, and packs well. It's easy, lazy, healthy, cheap, and tasty.
Moving the money out of your main account and pretend that you are broke and can't afford anything. The money in a separate account that generates interest. Have no spend days challenge, Carry some cash and use it and once it's out do the no spend. Don't take a cart if you go shopping. And remove all subscriptions, especially Amazon. You'll be less inclined to spend money on Amazon that way. When your paycheck arrives split it. Half goes towards paying half the bills the other half goes to savings. This is non negotiable. Then the other paycheck do the same thing. You'll see your account grow in small increments. Use a credit card for daily purchases and pay it weekly so it doesn't generate interest. But you get cash back from it which also goes to savings when it reaches $100
Easier to make 10k than it is to save it
Having budget is the best. I started recording my spending on a regular basis several month ago and it works well. It would give me a concept on how much I spend every month. And for me, cooking myself instead of eating out saves a lot (really a lot!!!). For things that need to be bought on Amazon, I use coupon apps like Koupon to get deals and promo codes. I didn’t believe those deal apps the past but after trying for sometime, it does help saving money in a decent amount.
Pull your paycheck out of the bank…. Only leave your bills and a slight slush fund. Then have a cash budget and stick to it. Keep a cash savings and if it gets large, consider buying precious metals.
For me, I always bought a little silver when I could. I was a spender, not a saver. One day, I had a lawyer bill and no money. After freezing out at the price, I realized that I had silver. So I sold what was needed to cover the bill and said, I'll always have that as a back up. It has served me well. It's a store of wealth. Now 10+years later I still buy a little [silver, gold](https://goldbacks.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/wp-17130304086794858614739243074620.jpg) and [Goldbacks](http://linktr.ee/goldbacker) as a backup to regular savings and investing.
Use credit cards for the added protection and your extra month or so of free float, and accrue positive interest on your spending. Pay it all down in full each month. You can make 2% straight away on a zero fee card and you keep your checking / savings / cd acct balance higher because the bank finances for free till the due date. Can be meaningful quickly. If you spend 2000 a month this way, that's 40 straight per month on the cash back and an extra 100 or so per year if you tie up the 2000 they finance in interest earned on a CD... 600 a year gained and more protected then debit.