Best ways to save money

Question

I need real help, serious answers only PLEASE. Our rent is going up to about 1300 a month, which is fine but we need to figure out how to budget and what kind of things we need to remove from our spending so we can start saving to buy a house, its becoming so ridiculous to rent!! Anyway we filled in a budget sheet but its really not helping, HOW CAN I SPEND LESS? SAVE MORE?

Answer 1

I saw this on the news and since then started doing it: Every time you get change back from a store, put all 5 dollar bills in a jar you cannot open. Don't even think about spending it or even counting how much you have. When you reach a point where you feel it's time to splurge and open up the jar, break it open and take it to the bank. If you want to start slow, you can instead only put change in or one dollar bills, but I think 5 is the perfect amount. I started about two weeks ago and have a pretty big collection in my jar.

Good luck saving, I know it can be hard sometimes!

Answer 2

You're not sticking to your written plan (i.e. budget) so there in lies your problem. Figure out the variances and work those through.

Answer 3

dont spend what you cant afford  

Answer 4

Use coupons, only shop for things when they are on sale.  Turn all the lights off when they are not being used, don't leave the TV/radio/computer etc. on unless you are using them.  Turn the water off while you brush your teeth it will save water costs and the environment.  Use less gas by only going out when you need to do several things in the same area.  You will make less trips and save on gas which is a killer right now!  Find a cheaper place to live $1300 a month is a lot of money what was it before?

Answer 5

If your rent jumped $1300 I would suggest finding another place to rent, that is an insane jump in rent price.  That would be the biggest area of savings.

Answer 6

make 2 accounts , one for spending . and one for saving .. and try buying no name products, or stuff on sale . watch what u buy

Answer 7

One of the best answers that always springs to mind in response to this question is...

"Know the difference between necessity and desire, and how much each one costs"

Answer 8

hello -

here are some tips and ideas - a budget only work if you know where your money is going - so:

List out how much money you have coming in each month (paycheck, alimony, side jobs, etc.).

List out what your fixed costs are (rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone, cable, student loans, commute costs etc.) If you have credit card debt look at how much per card and which has the highest interest rates.

Track it by category -

retirement (401K, etc.)

home

car (payment, insurance, etc.)

gas

cable/electric/water

groceries

eating out

clothing

movies/plays (include the popcorn)

books

newspaper (if you already paid your news paper or magazine subscription, figure out the monthly cost and include that)

hanging out with friends (bar, pool etc)

non meal related drinks/snacks (Starbucks, diet coke, snacks)

other

other

(other could be alimony, whatever, things I did not list out but you have to pay)

and you will see quickly where your money is going to go. Then you can see if it is all the right places, or if you want to make a change and not buy so many clothes, see so many movies (or pass on the popcorn) etc. Do you need to have the car you have or is there a way to get a vehicle without a car payment? Do you need HBO?

Consider what is really important to you and what is not and spend accordingly.

Be sure to put all left over money into retirement savings somewhere and not just spend it on something else (or put it towards paying down credit card debt). And keep tracking what you spend for at least 6 months. that will help you get into habits and patterns that are good ones.

Retirement savings are very important, so if you have a 401K or the equivalent, dont stop contributing to that. I see so many questions here about stopping contributing or taking the money already saved out, dont do that. The value of the compound interest is huge.

feel free to email me for more info if you like

good luck

Answer 9

Buy store brand items, use coupons for the items that are on sale.

Have you thought about finding a house with a 'rent to own' option.  Our house is on the market and we just went through an agent that has a program that offers rent to own.