How can I save my money????

Question

I have a horrible problem with saving money. I don't know how to do it. When I don't have money I think about all the great ways I plan a budget for when I get it again, but that never works out. I have no idea how to control it. lol. I'm really tired of living "paycheck to paycheck." I don't make a lot of money, but I'm doing something that I love and to me that's really all that matters. I have to save about a thousand dollars by September of 2007 for a cruise that I'm going on. I figured, maybe if I have something really big to save up for it'll be easier. So far... no good. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Excellent question. No offence but you sound alot like my ex-wife. She could not save a penny if her life depended on it. Her mouth writes more checks than she can cover. Makes promises to the kids she can't keep. Oh well.

Here are some things that will help you. I should do this for aliving.

Get a note pad and pen or pencile. Keep a list of every penny you spend and get paid. Do this for at least a month. Be fully anal about it. If you find a penny on the ground, and pick it up, write it down. .01 found on ground and the date.

At the end of the month make a list of everything you spent by catagory. You may find you have enough money going to specialized things that desirve its own catagory. As an example, I did this with a family who discovered they were spending 800 bucks a month on diet pepsi. They and the kids decided to cut the soda pop purchases. It was hard but they realized that was not what they wanted to do with the family funds.

Anyway after you have done this, you will have a very clear picture of where you money is going and where it is coming from. Now go over your list and make a mark next to each item. The mark you will use is a + for anything you want to be spending more money on. A - for anything you want to cut spending on. And a O for anything you want to leave as is.

Next step is to look at your paycheck. Just the take home part of it. Get a calculater and enter the following in this order. Total take home dollars divided button then total hours worked on that check. This include overtime etc. If you were there for an hour you got paid something. Now hit the = button. Thats how much you make in an hour. You may now have a good cry. Remember its only the take home that matters. Thats all you have to pay bills with.

Now go back to your list of monthly expences. How many hours did you have to work for each item or catagory on your list?

example: In my case when I did this, I discovered that I made 10.35 an hour. After I did the math I discovered the take home pay was only 5.45 an hour. When I fill up my gas tank it cost me 59.00 on average. This means that I worked 10.82 hours to fill my tank of gas. In other words I needed to work all day one week and part of another day the same week to fill the tank. So the question is do I want to spend that much of my life at work in exchange for the gas for a long trip? The answer is no way. Unless some one died, I ain't goin'. Once you see where your life's energy is going, you will move your spending in line with your core values. One individual wanted to be an enviromentalist protester. Once he saw where his spending was going and realized it was not getting him to the protests he wanted to attend, he sold his plasma screen tv and a few other things and paid off his debt, then moved to a much smaller apartment. In the end, it freed up more of his capital to buy bus tickest to rallies and protests. I would not recomend you do that but the point is look where you money is going. Is that where you want to be going? Its your life and your budget. You can do with it what ever you want.

By the way I raised 5 kids on that 5.45 an hour income. My spend-a-holic wife is long gone. She is still in debt, I'm not. She still has no clue where her 2 paychecks from the 2 jobs she works goes. She does not pay a dime in child support as she has no money. I don't bother to go after her. Its pointless. She has lost her car. She has lost her bike. She has lost a lot of friends, she has made a mess out of her life. She has a lot of junk. A whole apartment full of "stuff" and is always just one step away from living in a cardboard box under an overpass. All her efforts are eaten up by debt. She carries more in debt payments than a house payment would be. As a result she will never own a home. But thats what she chose.

Once you see what you are doing with your life's energy, you will move your spending in line with what you really want in life and you will do it without a shrink. You will change overnight. Try it.

Answer 2

Hmm, you're hoping that a big outlay for something non-essential is going to motivate you to save?

How about this, have your employer deduct money and put into your retirement plan each paycheck (sounds like you're going to need it).

Figure out exactly how much your monthly budget is
Rent/Mortgage
Car note & insurance,
Gas for essentials only (no mall stops or extra trips to grocery store).
Budget for your grocery bill so you go as few times as possible and eat only what you have in the house (no phoning for pizza, or stopping and picking something up on the way home).
Don't buy anymore clothes for the rest of the year (unless it's an outfit for an interview to get a better job).
Now give yourself a small allowance for entertainment (say 10% of whatever you'd normally spend).

Open a CD each month with your savings, make the term of the CD longer each time (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1year). When the first CD comes up for renewal, ADD MORE MONEY to it.

This takes discipline.

You'll have to figure out what "needs" you generate each time you have money in your hand. If you invent one of these needs next time, don't spend the money on yourself, instead give it to a poor relative, or to your church or the food pantry. Once you start doing something positive with your money, but not seeing any result, it might be easier for you to save 90% of what you would have wasted (give the other 10% away).

Answer 3

Do you have other bills that you pay? Some people have success with paying themselves the same way they pay their bills, but of course your money is going into the bank. But if you can pay yourself $45-$50 twice each month, after 12 months you'll have about $1200.00.

It's really a question of discipline.

Think back on how many times you've spent $5.00 or $10 on something that you didn't absolultely love. If you could add all those dollar amounts together, how much would you have.

I love saving money... I've become something of a scrooge and hate to part with a dime.

Good luck... and I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Answer 4

I used to have the exact same problem. i once got a whack of money from a family member and it was gone in a week! So try this. When you get your pay cheque put half of it or some portion of it into a separate bank account (open two if you only have one) and call it your savings account. Then the other part of it can be for your spending, on clothes, dinner, movies, etc... This way you will still have money to blow, but you will be saving at the same time. You won't even think about your other bank account, and before you know it you will have that $1000 that you need for the cruise! trust me it works!

Answer 5

Well you have about 365 days to save $1000 dollars.

So break it down:

That is $2.73 a day that you need to save.

So do your best to put aside $3 each day and you will have more than enough for that cruise. It'll be easy to save $3 a day. Don't waste money on food, coffee, or smoothies.

Bring a lunch and eat dinner at home. Limit the amount of shopping you do, and don't buy any cigarettes or any other needless items.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Saving for a cruise is a good goal. One thing you can do is to "pay" yourself with each paycheck. Set aside a sum each pay to put into a special "savings" account. Write out a check to yourself to put into that account. Don't touch the account.

Ask your bank or credit union to help you with this.

You need to be disciplined about saving! Maybe put a photo of a cruise ship on your frig. Each time you pay yourself you are one step closer to having a wonderful vacation!

Answer 7

It's easy but it takes discipline - open a savings account and every paycheck deposit $ into that account - for example if you get paid every month put in $85 every paycheck, if you get paid semi-monthly put in $45 every paycheck, if you get paid every other week put in $20 every paycheck.
Two REALLY important things: 1) put the money in your savings the day you get your check, BEFORE you do ANYTHING else with the money, 2) do not raid the savings account for ANY reason.

-Good Luck!

Answer 8

I have the same problem too! But with my paycheck now, everytime i get paid 50.00 goes into my savings account automatically, at another bank, that way I dont really look for it until I need it.

Answer 9

take $20.00 a week and put into a savings acount. make a rule that no matter what, you can not take it out until the cruise.