How do you make enuff $$ to live, but have absolutely no savings? how to not spend every penney we make?

Question

We live pretty comfortably, have a paid off vehicle, one child in high school, one 4yo. We have no savings, very little in college funds, and always stay broke. We feel like we can't even manage a checkbook, let alone put away some savings. Should we hire a CPA or personal bookkeeper to get things straightened out. Would that be a frivolous expenditure?

Answer 1

A bookkeeper or CPA is not needed to start saving. What you must do is pay your savings fund before you buy anything else. Time it so you make an automatic deposit into a Brokerage account to buy a stable mutual fund around the same day as your pay deposit is made, so it will always get funded. Make the rest of the bills with what you have left.

You can buy into a mutual fund with as little as $500.00 and subsequent purchases can be as little as $50.00

When you get to the end of your paycheck before you get to the end of the month, you'll cut what you haven't bought yet and not your savings because it is already taken out.

Until you are sure about making it to the end of the month, be sure you hold off on the non-essentials until your next pay and then -- only spend what you have in the bank just before the deposit. Nothing more. Lay off the credit cards also.

The first year may be hard delaying vacations, new TV's etc. but eventually pay raises and good old denial of immediate gratification pay off.

Answer 2

I think that would be a frivolous waste of money. I have some rather famous words to live by. The more money we make the more we spend. I too am sometimes in that spot. But if you take the time to track every penny you spend, from just buying the pack of gum to eating out, you will see where you spend it at, then it becomes easier to save and put back. I say this knowing you may doubt this, trust me once you do, it will make more sense to you and ur Husband Or significant other.. My wife and I did, and we realized how much we were wasting monthly, now we try to save atleast 25 to 50 dollars here and there and before you know it adds up. If you can set up some kind of account where you don't miss the money do it. Good Luck

Answer 3

A less expensive way to figure out what you need to do is visit your public library. Ask the librarian for books on budgeting and money management. This is something you can learn on your own if you are willing to make a commitment.
Also check out some of these websites:
http://frugalliving.about.com/
http://www.simpleliving.net/default.asp
You won't have to give up all luxuries, but you need to find where all the money is leaking away. It would help to make a daily record of everything spent in one month. That would include 20 cents in the parking meter, $4 for Starbucks coffee, etc.
Once you actually see where some of the money is going, you can adjust your spending habits.
Good luck!

Answer 4

I don't make enough to live on, but I do manage to save more then other people I grew up really poor the kind were your starving some days when there isn't enough food in the house that gave me one reason to save most of my cash as I grew older, although I don't have it now because of expenses I saved because of my experience of living in proverty. You don't need a CPA if you can't save on your own then somethings wrong with the way you live with your cash.

Answer 5

It probably wouldn't help to hire someone simply because they would require payment too. Have you ever consulted a financial planner? It helps to have the money taken out before you see it. It's hard to spend something that's not in front of you.

Answer 6

I started watching Suze Ormon's show on NBC. It's pretty informative if you are trying to budget or take care of your finances. She has a couple of books out too, that I haven't checked out yet, but she knows a lot about stuff like that.

Answer 7

My husband and I were in a very similar situation. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's program called Financial Peace. Not onlyl is it very practical, (he tells you step by step what to do), but it makes you feel very optimistic. IT REALLY WORKS!! We've had awesome results. You can buy his book at any major book store, or on-line. He also has a radio program. It is very good too.

Answer 8

Make yourself a budget in MS Excel or something...put down all of your monthly income and expenses...subtract the expenses from the income and see what's left over...then, eliminate what you can in your expenses list, or get more income! Seeing it on paper sometimes makes it easier to manage...

Answer 9

You need to get a book keeper, make sure it's someone known and trusted by others. That will be a big help for you.

Answer 10

Local community colleges offer classes on money management.
Maybe you can go take one and see how to do better with the money.