Ways in which you save money every day..

[Dust]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I live (well, I think) on $300/mo. It ain't hard!

Do you live with your parents with no utilities to pay?

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by Arminius

You're the ulimate money saver with no car.

Sadly, not quite yet. My dad and I have come to a tentative agreement that since the Tempo is our household's "only 2nd car" (even though we do have a truck, and a bunch of collector cars filling the garage), we're going to keep it as an 'emergency vehicle' for a little while longer.

The good news is since I only use it when my dad needs me to do an errand for him, he's paying for the insurance. I still pay the gasoline though. So far this month I've only spent $81.60 in all my expenses and $54 of that was filling up the Tempo at $5/gallon gas .

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I live (well, I think) on $300/mo. It ain't hard!

HA!

I've owned my own home for 17 years now.

So how do you do it? What's your monthly budget like? I'm starting my career in about 12 hours, so I need all the pointers I can get!

[Gone4]

Originally Posted by Dust

Poop at work.

My roommate and I went 14 weeks on one roll of toilet paper doing this last summer. Man it feels good to not only save money but get paid to poop.

[Dust]

Originally Posted by GenKreton

My roommate and I went 14 weeks on one roll of toilet paper doing this last summer. Man it feels good to not only save money but get paid to poop.

Seriously, 2.5 rolls a year, until the GF came along. Now it's more like 2 a month, depending on how often she comes over. Funny thing is, I got 16 rolls for my newspaper subscription. Still have a few of them left. A lot of them were given to new teachers two years ago. I don’t think I have ever bought toilet paper since I moved here.

[brucey]

Have roommates a few years until you get your house paid off. Then keep them if you want for some spare income or have a house paid off in no time. Eating out is also a huge expense. If your friends go out, start eating appetizers and water. Its what I do, I usually spend about 4$ including tip for a meal.

Thats still too much.

The biggest thing is not having credit, and living off about 80% of what you make.

Also, I'm completely in line with Johnnygrey. Please folks, listen to the guy. My fathers a divorce lawyer.

[Dust]

Originally Posted by brucey

Please folks, listen to the guy. My fathers a divorce lawyer.

My grandpa was a police officer and soldier, and my father deals with people who steal money from their handicapped or mentally challenged parents. Doesn’t mean that everyone is that way. My parents have been married for 30something years, and the GF’s have been married the same.

It just depends on one's definition of marriage.

[LostCause]

Living frugally is worthwhile, until it starts becoming a chore. While marriage is arguably a bad thing, I don't think relationships are. Finding love (guy, girl, whatever) is one of life's great opportunities. To keep costs down, go dutch, date women cheaper than you, and realize marriage not a prerequisite for a life-long relationship.

Remember, you only live once. Don't piss it away being cheap. Live smart. Live well.

The best article I've ever seen on the subject.

- LostCause

[Arminius]

Read The Millionaire Next Door. Every library has it. There are more millionaires than you think, and they aren't who you think they are.

[JohnnyGrey]

If you find a stingy hot woman, I don't see how you could use more money.

Many women are stingy... with their own money. Hot women get tons of advances from guys. Guys with money. Guys who offer to spend that money on women, and hot women can afford to shop around. If somehow you end up marrying one of these women, she will still be stingy with her own money, but she'll spend yours like she stole it... which she did.

When you as a man get married, you give up a lot of things...

-The final word on how your money is spent (denying your wife money is now considered domestic violence).

-Your independence. Kiss your friends, hobbies and fun cars goodbye.

-Your money. What you don't realize is that after the flowery ceremony, the two of you form a government-approved corporation. If this corporation is dissolved, not only will you lose at least half of your assets off the bat, but you'll be responsible for maintaining her standard of living as yours is turned upside down. Even if you never get divorced, good luck finding a woman who understands economics, saving, investing, stocks, etc. Most women are emotional spenders and advertisers know this. She won't care that driving a used four cylinder is more sensible than a BMW SUV, her friends have one, and she should have one too. Does she care that it might delay your retirement by 4 years? "2 can live as cheaply as 1" does not apply to marriage, it never did. It's true for male roommates, and true for female roommates, but never for married people. Nobody is more concerned with keeping up with the Joneses than American women. Sorry, but it's true. Mr. Jones is leveraged up to his eyeballs. You really want to keep up with him? Then you have to worry about the vast social network she brings with her, inlaws, friends, nephews, nieces, etc, etc, etc. Don't worry about your weekends, you'll have plenty of weddings, birthday parties, graduation parties, baptisms/bar mitzvahs, anniversaries to attend and buy presents for. How exciting! If you work overtime to pay for all these things, you'll be "emotionally unavailable" and "neglectful". If you don't, you're "unmotivated" and "lazy". The Arabs had a saying... "Women want fried ice".

-Your kids. Father's rights are not respected in this country (whether you're married or not). Unless she happens to have a needle in her arm while in family court, SHE WILL GET THE KIDS and there's nothing you can do about it. Look on TV, women are considered the more parental, responsible sex while men are walking wallets and doofuses. The courts feel the same way. Don't be fooled, just like your money, your kids belong to her and you'll see them only as long as she's gracious enough to extend you the privilege.

Also, if you think you'll get a fair shake in family court because of the gender-neutral language, think again. It's gender neutral in theory, but if you want to see the practice, read that book I recommended. Like I said, it could save your life (I'm talking to you, tasdrouille! There's still time, man.)

So after all these huge liabilities I've listed, I challenge someone to tel me: What benefits does marriage give a man that he can not get while unmarried?

[adam728]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGrey

Most women are emotional spenders and advertisers know this. She won't care that driving a used four cylinder is more sensible than a BMW SUV, her friends have one, and she should have one too.....Nobody is more concerned with keeping up with the Joneses than American women. Sorry, but it's true. Mr. Jones is leveraged up to his eyeballs. You really want to keep up with him?

Man, I agree with this stuff for sure!

My gf decided to get a new car (we had been sharing my Jeep since moving out to AZ). We talked about going the next weekend, she had an idea what she wanted and a budget. The next day I came home to a new car in the driveway. It was about double what she intended to spend, and a color she didn't want, but she went at lunch break to look at what they had and just had to get it.

In her defense she'll probably drive it till they don't sell gas anymore. She had her first car 9 years, and every vehicle her family has they bought brand new, including the mint 74 Chevy 3/4 ton truck, mid 70's Vega, 1981 TransVan, and on and on. She was taught to take care of stuff and hold on to it.

And for keeping up with the Jones's, totally right there. Sometimes feel like it's a race between her and her friend's who's going to get married first, and I catch all the grief when someone gets engaged (and probably half of them split before getting married so far). And a house. I agree we need to get out from renting, but do 2 people need to look at $200,000+ 4 bedroom home?

Here's the man-cave I dwelled in before she came along

I don't know if that's something to be proud of or not, but I sure liked it. 380 sqft painted concrete floor, slept on the couch for almost a year, and could wrench on my bikes without having to go outside. It was like a garage with a bathroom, which is all I need!