Buying used, instead of new for environmental reasons -Pros and Cons ?

[Isaac Zachary]

Everyone has their own take on credit and debit cards. I know people who have ruined their life with them. I completely understand why someone would stray away from using a card, even if they haven't had credit card debt in the past.

What I do personally is have a list on a sheet of paper telling me where my money is supposed to go. Everything that can be an automatic payment is an automatic payment, some on my credit card and some on bill pay. A couple things I do use a check for, like my savings account that's in another bank, so I write those out on the first of the month.

When the 1st of the month rolls around I take a look at my list, compare it with my online bank statement make sure I have enough in the account for another month and take the rest out in cash. The amount I need in the bank account is a fixed number (give or take the payments that have gone through by the 1st). If something changes out of the range it's supposed to I figure out if that's a one time thing or if I'm going to be paying more for said service, etc., and make the change on the paper if need be.

It take that left over cash and use it to pay for everything else (groceries mainly), unless I absolutely need a card. If I can't pay in cash I take that same amount in cash back to the bank and redeposit it to cover the cost of the payment through the card. When I run out of cash I know I can't buy anything else.

[redpoint5]

I haven't "budgeted" since I had my first full-time job and slept in my car to boost my savings in a hurry.

I buy the things that create more utility or pleasure for me than the pain of spending the money, and that ends up being much less than the amount I make. My natural saving tendency means my account grows month by month, year by year. Even in prison where one must buy everything, shoes, toothbrush, soap, nail clippers, radio, etc, earning 20 cents per hour, I walked out a couple hundred bucks better off after a year.

My method of having no method works for hardly nobody. Most people want to spend the money they have. A woman once explained to me that my method doesn't work, and that everyone needs a budget or they will be financially ruined.

... I do have a spreadsheet tracking my major fixed income and expenses, so when I consult it every couple years I have a rough idea of how rapidly I'm accumulating wealth.

The newest car I currently own is my 2006 Acura TSX. Not continually spending money on a car really helps.

[freebeard]

[credit cards] I don't like the 'prehensile eyes'.

I use a hand basket at the grocery store instead of a cart for similar self-disciplinary reasons.

[redpoint5]

Probably wiser to avoid confrontation in the first place, but my attitude is such that if someone's got a problem with my behavior, they can confront me directly about it. If they've got a point, I'll change, if not, they can. Then it comes down to whose will is strongest.

[freebeard]

Don't ever change.

[Isaac Zachary]

I didn't say my way of doing things works for everyone. But with a family to feed and rent only going up, it's important for me to keep track of what we as a family are doing with our money.

Now that I'm in my parents' position, I understand why they avoided things like shopping malls and restaurants. I can count the times my parents took us to a restaurant, including fast food places, on my two hands.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I don't expect it to be harder. I'm not even sure it is. I watch the people ahead of me in checkout lines trying to make their choices work.

I read Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper in 2008, but never took the plunge.

Let's see:

Online:
1. Fill out form
2. Registration and new sticker arrive by mail within a week.

In Person:
1. Drive to DMV
2. Wait in line
3. Pay cash and walk away with registration and sticker
4. Drive back home.

One seems to take a lot longer than the other to me and the second option isn't available right now. Maybe if I was retired the extra time wouldn't matter to me.

The DMV takes credit cards and debit cards. I doubt you use a debit card either because my understanding is that your concern is that the bank would have record of the transaction not that you can't control your spending.

You could likely go get one of those prepaid Visa cards, fund it with cash, and then use it to renew your plates online. That is if you actually want to renew your plates and this wasn't just an excuse to complain about Gov. Brown.

[JSH]

When my wife and I were very aggressively paying off debt we used an envelope system because it made it very easy to know when we reached our spending limits. Back then we were on a VERY tight budget with $5 of spending money each per week.

Today we have a yearly budget meeting and look at our salaries for the year and long, medium, and short range goals. We figure out what we need for those goals. All those saving goals are automated along with our other bills. Our normal monthly spending is done on a credit card that is on auto pay. Mint keeps track of spending by category and we can see if we are over or under budget in different categories although really I don't pay a lot of attention to those. What I pay attention to is at the end of the month if the checking account balance went up or down. Most months it goes up and periodically I move money to savings.

Big unexpected expenses come from the emergency fund (we keep 6-9 months spending) and then we automate savings to refill the account.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

[credit cards] I don't like the 'prehensile eyes'.

I use a hand basket at the grocery store instead of a cart for similar self-disciplinary reasons.

In today's technologically advanced economy everything is about seeing what we buy and what we would like to buy. That way they can send us targeted ads.

Good thing I'd like to buy an ulta aerodynamic, 4-door, 6-seat, steam powered gyro-car that gets at least 300mpg equivalent in wood gas. I don't get any ads for those.

[redpoint5]

I'd like to buy the product not advertised, because why would I want to pay for someone to manipulate me into purchasing something (ad money comes from the customer). Let's see an ad for that.

Always wanted a company that spends nothing on advertising and has no branding, which would be the brand. You get a product, say 2% milk, and it says on the label, 2% milk with no name brand. Would rather put all revenue into making the product better and driving the cost down.