October 2012 Weddings
aro1589
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
how do you save money?
Anyone have any tips and tricks for saving money?
H and I recently got rid of our debit cards. Hoping that's going to help us save A LOT. We had gotten really bad about our spending - we would just buy, buy, buy whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Reality finally hit us and we are desperately trying to turn over a new leaf and start seriously saving money. We keep saying we are going to put $50 per paycheck into our savings account too, but that hasn't happened yet - we've been saying it for three years
Anyone save change, obsessively turn off lights and appliances, etc? Walk instead of drive when possible? What do you all do to save money?
H and I recently got rid of our debit cards. Hoping that's going to help us save A LOT. We had gotten really bad about our spending - we would just buy, buy, buy whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Reality finally hit us and we are desperately trying to turn over a new leaf and start seriously saving money. We keep saying we are going to put $50 per paycheck into our savings account too, but that hasn't happened yet - we've been saying it for three years
Anyone save change, obsessively turn off lights and appliances, etc? Walk instead of drive when possible? What do you all do to save money?
Re: how do you save money?
Sit down and budget. Write out all your fixed bills, subtract that from your bring home pay. Then figure out your variables (groceries, gas, house supplies, health and beauy, hair cuts, eating out). Subtract that. Then see what's left over. Then set up an automatic transfer into savings. We have 2 savings, one attached to our checking that we tap into quickly for emergencies, and one in Capital one 360 that takes 2-3 days to transfer, but a higher interest rate.
We found our 2 biggest spenders by tracking on mint.com and focused on those. Our two - groceries and eating out.
Groceries - I started meal planning everything. Sunday we go to the grocery store with a list and stick to it. Now somethings there's a good deal on something that lasts and we will get it. I plan breakfast lunches and dinners. If our pantry/freezer gets too full I will go a month where all my meals need to use something we already have. We rarely throw away food.
Eating out - I'm fine not going out, H LOVES IT. We sat down and decided on an amount. It was hard to keep that in check, so last summer I decided we get 4 dinners, 4 bfast/lunches. So H has to decide if he wants a midweek dinner, he forfeits a weekend meal. It worked out GREAT!
Also, we were paying $115/month for gas for the house on a budget plan. It was only for heat... I decided instead up having it go up (68) and down (60 at night), we set it to 65 all the time. If you were cold you put clothes on/blankets. Our monthly bill is now down to $65.
We also budget for me getting paid twice a month, and H 4 times, so on the extra pay months, we put that towards debt (or for you savings). I love those months... it's like YAY we don't need to *need* this money!
The best tip I can give you is to treat your savings account like a bill. If you get it in your head paying X amount per month is just as important as rent/mortgage, it will help a lot.
Also, do you get paid direct deposit or do you get a physical check? You can set it up, with direct deposit, that $X a check goes directly into a savings account and the remainder in your checking. Then you don't ever see it, and you don't have to even think about it.
Also getting rid of debit cards may work for you, but my initial thought is if your funds are more budget, it's better to have your money coming from an actually account you can see deplete (if you balance your checkbook) than putting things in CCs and risking a big bill you can't pay off every month. But if you guys are figuring out your budget and carrying only the cash you can spend that week, that system would also be really effective. Want that latte at Starbucks but you look in your wallet and only have $20 to last two more days for the week, I bet you'll just drink the coffee at work! Ha
Good luck!
We pay insurance in full when it's due. My insurance would be about $300 more/year if we made payments.
Set a budget and stick to it. Like Nic said, I avoid shopping and stores. I barely read my email to avoid all of the sale emails and no matter how bored I get, I stay away from shopping websites.
If you take away all indulgences, you won't be successful. Budget in 1 meal out a week or a month or something else that you and H enjoy.
My school district has a credit union with a decent interest rate. I have a large chunk of my check deducted for the credit union. I never see it. I have a savings account at my bank. We put money in there for bills, like insurance and and extra money we may have. Overtime also goes in there.