How the fuck do I save money? In dire need of help here.

ZeppKfw · 2019-08-19T19:01:20+00:00

Live like you literally can't afford a 20$ dinner.

Used to be stingy as fuck back at my home country in Asia. Didn't use public transport (just walked), brought my own food instead of buying, and only taking girls on a walk instead of getting coffees, drinks, etc.. Saved a fuckton.

[deleted] · 2019-08-19T19:41:28+00:00

“I always end up blowing up my money somehow! It just happens!”

Take responsibility for your purchases. No one else is blowing your money but yourself. Track your spendings, strictly allow yourself to spend X amount a month, and save up the rest.

Vouch33r · 2019-08-19T19:21:58+00:00

I think you should first assess how much money you got, let's look at an example:

(assessment )+2000 $ (salary)

Now take a look at fixed costs, which means costs that you can not change. Not living in the US so I make these numbers up.

2) Fixed costs

-700$ (rent)

-500$ (monthly food and chemistry supply)

-200$ (saved up for medicine and clothing)

It shows that you have 2000-700-200-500 = 600$ spare in theory. If in doubt, round the expenses up so you have the safety cushion.

As you can see, in theory you have $600 spared every month. In order not to be too tight with the money, tell yourself that you are only going to set aside $400. This you put far away from yourself, preferably in a bank deposit which can guarantee you some sweet %%% to your $$$.

Basically, please assess your expenses and put aside money IN THE BEGINNING, instead of putting aside WHAT'S LEFT.

Source: dude trust me + finance and accounting student

Pro challenge: Try to maximize your savings like you maximize your 401k and get the high score to 20%, 50%, 80% of your salary.

PS A car is a shite money drainer. Unless you really, really really really need one, please don't buy one. Consider an electric bike or a bike or whatever. Cars are costly.

[deleted] · 2019-08-19T19:13:40+00:00

Track/record every expense. Give yourself a budget for different "categories," and stick within those parameters. It's really no more complicated than that, and there are apps you can use to record the shit.

Also, go check out the sidebar of the personalfinance sub-reddit. They know their shit.

AloofusMaximus · 2019-08-19T19:12:28+00:00

The first thing you should do is actually figure out where your money is going. Obviously you can't curb spending in an area which you're not even aware of. Like you said in your situation it sounds like you should be able to stash away a decent amount.

One thing to note is that cars are absolutely horrible assets (overpriced, immediately depreciate, etc). If your car costs $1000 to fix, but a new car costs $300/no, which is more practical?

I drive a 13 year old vehicle (only one I ever bought new). I haven't had a car payment in 8 years, and my car runs just fine. Now I paid 30k for my car brand new then, and had a $400/no payment. If I kept with the pattern of getting a new car the difference in available money I had would be pretty substantial. In essence I have put an extra $45,000 in my pocket just by not buying a new car.

letmereadthatshit · 2019-08-19T20:13:46+00:00

Watch Dave Ramsey he will help you

BluffButt · 2019-08-19T21:17:14+00:00

50/30/20

50% of warning in must needs, shelter, gas, food, bills

30 savings 20 spending on whatever, dates n shit

kick6 · 2019-08-19T21:59:26+00:00

Gonna have to budget just like counting calories to cut weight.

mallardcove · 2019-08-19T22:25:24+00:00

I was 24 years old when I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Well worth it.

jm51 · 2019-08-20T09:34:06+00:00

The Richest Man in Babylon:

It came out as a series of articles giving common sense financial advice during the Great Depression. Set in ancient Babylon to show that the fundamentals are always the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehCVLRHOxBY&t=389s

imo, it's better read than listened to but hey, free is free.

The tl;dr (or tl;dl?) is: Pay yourself first. Put 10% of your take home into a deposit account every payday and learn to manage on what's left.

signsoflife620 · 2019-08-19T20:20:41+00:00

You need to get your hands on a book called “The richest man in Babylon” by George S. Clason. Try it on audiobooks if you don’t want to read a physical copy.

Please just trust me and read it. It’s about financial literacy and can literally save your life from poverty

linkster396 · 2019-08-19T21:11:53+00:00

Track your spending

abstractbarista · 2019-08-19T21:44:10+00:00

You need a budget! Lay out all income and expenses in a spreadsheet and start making decisions about where fat can be cut.

Variatiion · 2019-08-19T21:48:22+00:00

whenever you get your paycheck, the first thing you should do is put away 30%. you could probably do more if you live at home.

SpiderMonkeyCheetah · 2019-08-19T21:48:29+00:00

Learn how to cook and fix things. I fix my own car about every other month. Live on cash and put the rest into a savings that you can’t get into easily like a 401 k or Ira that way you can actually be wealthy one day.

Wholesomeloaf · 2019-08-19T23:05:29+00:00

Need more info dude. How can anyone help you if you don't tell us how much you're making and what you spend it all on? And no, "I don't know where it all goes, I just end up blowing it on something somehow" cannot be your answer to anything.

How much do you make a week? Are you paying any board/bills? Do you eat out all the time? Do you have an expensive hobby?

Sometimes it's a matter of perspective too. Are you a student earning shit all compared to a full time job? If so, then you're not expected to save much, if anything.

ez2009 · 2019-08-20T00:17:29+00:00

Money - no money We humans will always be greedy.

wkndatbernardus · 2019-08-20T02:03:06+00:00

Download personal capital and link every financial account you have (bank, loans, investments, etc). See where your 💰 is going (hint: probably to stuff that doesn't better your life, long-term). You're the equivalent of a financial fat-body and need to go on a calorie deficit. Get a money goal and work towards it (maxing out an IRA ($6k)is a good start). Don't let anything stand in your way. And don't call the wah-mbulence, you gaylord. It's that simple.

ibetrynaimprove · 2019-08-20T04:48:05+00:00

No more fast food, no more purchases that you can't make sense of from a self-development/self-investment standpoint. Done.

VBQFoGQ3eW3 · 2019-08-20T05:40:31+00:00

Don’t worry about saving until you have decent income. When you are in your early 20s, saving is pointless since you aren’t making anything yet.

I was in the same boat as you. Honestly probably worse. I drove a car for 3 years with no brakes. Had to use engine braking plus emergency brake. Fast forward 5 years, I made my first million in cash. After tax, bought a supercar, and bunch of designer clothes, I still had hundreds of thousands left. Saving has been easy since then.

Good luck bro!

leftajar · 2019-08-20T07:13:13+00:00

What are you spending on?

Go into your bank/credit card statements, and literally go line by line. You'll typically find that certain situations create needless spending. If you can't control the spending, then remove yourself from those situations.

escapethesolarsystem · 2019-08-20T09:00:14+00:00

Here's a novel tactic that might work, what I've been doing because I got tired of being a cheap-ass and pinching every little penny only to end up being a lot more irritated with life and spend no more than 5-10% less.

What I did was I watched my non-essential spending over a multi-month period, to see if I just spend normally (based on my personality, likes, the cost of living where I live, etc), how much money I spend. You'll find that there's a rough average - even if you try to spend less one month or spend a little more the next, you'll find that even then you're actually a lot closer to the average than you think.

Then, do whatever it takes to make more money than that average. For example: You spend $700/mo. on random shit you don't even remember? Get a job that earns $1400/mo. (since you don't have rent / utilities and other essential costs since you live with your parents). Even more easy, just work a few more hours at your existing job every week to push your income up. It will probably make your boss like you better too, which is an added plus.

This way, you'll avoid having to do lists, complicated budgets, keep track of every coffee you purchase, and other tiresome and time-consuming minutia, but you'll suddenly see your account has money left over every month. Combine this with cutting out a few big, obvious, easy to cut money wasters (maybe you go out to some expensive club every friday, for example - for me it was going to the more expensive grocery store once a week and buying pricey foods imported from the US and Europe) and you'll start moving towards your goal.

Yavuzest · 2019-08-20T09:03:48+00:00

meal prepping wear budget but clean clothes just stay on earning cash until you reach them goals

cracksniffer666 · 2019-08-20T09:42:47+00:00

You probably eat out a lot, buy smoke/drank, etc.

What helped me was just taking $100 from my bi-weekly pay, and buying groceries that are easy, proteins, and just dude shit like frozen pizzas, tendies, etc.

Yeah, fast food is only 7-10 bucks, but I've spent 30 dollars in a day before on shit food without even knowing it.

If I eat a can of ravioli, a baked potato, a chicken breast, and have a 6 pack of beer from a big box store, that's $10 in itself.

I made up some mantra about wasting money a few years ago: "Look what's in your trashcan to find what you're wasting money on."

HurricaneHugues · 2019-08-20T17:13:29+00:00

Buy the book called The Richest Man in Babylon . If that doesn't helo you understand the importance and purpose of saving, I can't help you.

Atheist_Utopia · 2019-08-19T21:38:16+00:00

It really is not that hard. 19 here.

ZTRP · 2019-08-19T22:56:29+00:00

What happened to the original car? Can you fix it up?

Title	How the fuck do I save money? In dire need of help here.
Author	fuckboychadlmao
Upvotes	18
Comments	46
Date	August 19, 2019 6:54 PM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/cslj27/how_the_fuck_do_i_save_money_in_dire_need_of_help/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/how-the-fuck-do-i-save-money-in-dire-need-of-help.249673 https://theredarchive.com/post/249673

Comments