Ways in which you save money every day..

[JohnnyGrey]

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!

You should absolutely be proud of it! Is that a standalone garage that you were renting or part of a house? Men can live and thrive very cheaply in spartan conditions, but god help you if there's a woman around.

She probably had to have her vehicle for 9 years. Once someone pays for things, you can expect she'll want new cars with increased frequency. If you marry her, you can look forward to inheriting all her debt, including that car payment.

[JohnnyGrey]

Johnny is right. And if you ever want to ***** about the child suppoort system and how it treats ordinary, law-abiding, upstanding men worse than common criminals, I could blast your ears off about it.

Please Frank, give us a sample. Not for my sake, but for our friend Tasdrouille. The only way a man would know these things and still stick his neck out on the chopping block is if he thinks he's the exception to the rule and that things will never change.

Even in a recession, unmarried men do well for themselves. Even those with modest incomes can afford to indulge quite often. Kiss that goodbye when you say "I do".

[adam728]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGrey

You should absolutely be proud of it! Is that a standalone garage that you were renting or part of a house? Men can live and thrive very cheaply in spartan conditions, but god help you if there's a woman around.

She probably had to have her vehicle for 9 years. Once someone pays for things, you can expect she'll want new cars with increased frequency. If you marry her, you can look forward to inheriting all her debt, including that car payment.

It was a stand alone guest house in a back yard.

She didn't have to drive the old car 9 years, got it free and used it untill reliability became questionable. She had enough $ in the bank to buy many base model cars outright, but chose to just keep driving the Olds. Now she wanted something nicer (the Olds is more of a short distance car now, it's showing it's age in the form of transmission "quirks" and good old Michigan rust infestation, wasn't going to make the move to AZ with it).

Her family is like that, her sister & brother in-law make some serious money, but just finally gave up the mid 80's Carolla with nearly 300,000 miles on it for a new car, which will probably be driven for 20 years like the old one.

I'm probably worse with cars. Sure my Jeep cost me 1/3 what her car did, but it's also became my 6th vehicle in 7 years. Ditched a paid off 30mpg pickup for a loan, no room for my toys, and 16 mpg (downhill with a tailwind). Me so smart!

I know what you guys mean about marriage and child support and all that. It's why I can't see a benifit to getting married. I look all around and see people everywhere broke and miserable becasue they got married and then split. What shocks me it those that do it over and over again!

[adam728]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGrey

Please Frank, give us a sample. Not for my sake, but for our friend Tasdrouille. The only way a man would know these things and still stick his neck out on the chopping block is if he thinks he's the exception to the rule and that things will never change.

I really doubt you guys can give enough examples here to change him mind. This is afterall, an internet forum, hardly a place where anyone should take marriage advice. And like I said before, marriage works out great for many people, and horribly for many others. No one here can even pretend to know his situation.

[JohnnyGrey]

There is really only one thing to consider independant of this situation: risk vs benefit. Whatever his situation is, he can have it without being married. Also, once he is married, his situation can (and arguably will) change in ways he has never imagined. In summary, once you're married you have to put up with crap that you could have walked away from if you weren't. Crap your girlfriend wouldn't dare pull on you now.

[NoCO2]

Some simple things I've done recently (some not necessarily by my doing, IE girlfriend) are listed below.

- No Girlfriend - I'm working on a new one, but it really is A LOT cheaper without one. The only thing is...it's kind of lonely. I'm the kind of person who loves companionship so I try to compensate by finding ones that don't care so much about what you buy them and care more about what you do for them. The kind of actions speak louder then money types of girls...so far so good in the past.

- Hypermile - I've gone from using a tank a week normal driving to just over 1 tank per month since I've started hypermiling...figuring it takes me $60 per tank roughly, that's about $180 a month in my pocket for a little extra time getting somewhere.

- Cook your own food - I know it's been said already at least once that I saw, it really is true. I used to eat out a bunch, and I was always broke. I then started buying some of the frozen dinners or things that I could just heat up like frozen lasagna or pizza...but that was still more expensive. Now I'm actually shopping at a place that is higher priced, but has organic only foods and I'm still spending less then before, not to mention cooking is fun.

Turn lights off when you're not using them - Every time I leave a room, I turn off the lights and shut off any other electronic devices. Even if I'm only going to be out of there for a few minutes, it's all turned off. I also switched to florescent bulbs, and I immediately noticed a $30 drop in my electricity bill the next quarter.

Minimize electricity use by appliances - Get a fridge thermometer and set the fridge to keep the temperature just above the line for "food" (I'll see if I can find a picture for better description). Turn down the temp of the water heater to what you use, like has been said already. Air dry and then just soften clothes up in the dryer. Let dishes air dry, or heck even hand wash your dishes after every meal, that's what I usually do since I usually eat by myself, it's not that many dishes.

Cut the phone services - If you have both a cell phone and land line, consider cutting the land line off and just use the cell phone. I've been doing that for years. Also, consider exactly the NEEDS of your cellphone and get a plan that only has that.

Buy used - I have a 42" HDTV, I payed $300 for it off craigslist.com. I have a Carbon Fiber and Aluminum race bike, I got it for $500 off ebay. If you watch the auctions and for sale items on websites, you will generally find what you want MUCH cheaper then you could new. I also buy a lot of stuff at second hand shops like thrift stores and flee markets.

I'm sure bunches of those have been mentioned already, but that's mainly what I do and so far I've managed to live very reasonably on a budget of just over $1000 per month.

[NoCO2]

Originally Posted by adam728

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!

Dude, that is epic...I wish I could find something like that for my next place...I'm currently in the market.

[dremd]

Man; you guys are cheap, 'm in the small leagues here.

My biggest money saver recently has been making all of my projects saving projects. Spending time and money to save money, I know kind of redundant, but previously they just cost $.

Things like Solar hot water, Bypass oil filter, air filter minder, dusk to dawn sensors, insulation, timers, removing restrictions in my pool plumbing etc etc.

Old things never drink soda at restaurants, order either the cheapest thing on the menu, or one above (I don't count pennies when eating out, but dollars definitely count),and don't be in debt to anybody ever.

[NoCO2]

I hate getting into debt. I don't have a credit card now and I never plan to own one. The closest thing I'll ever have to a credit card is my debit card, and I even minimize the usage of that because lots of companies will use the info collected from your card to send you junk mail...learned that one when I bought something for my ex from victoria's secret once and then started getting offers for free bras in the mail...I never gave them any info to my knowledge other then using my debit card.

[igo]

Originally Posted by Peakster

I make a monthly/yearly budget and divide all my expenses into very specific categories. Then I look for ways to minimize each one. A great website I use (it's actually my home-page) is http://www.expenseview.com/

I use www.mint.com you just put in you account info and it automatically catergorized and charted.