Saving Money - The Man Way!
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Let’s face it; this economy sucks. Millions have lost their jobs, and even the ones that have not are feeling the strain of a weakened economy. If you are looking for a way to save up some money, check out the tips below:
Steal From Yourself
Yeah, you read right. The best way to save up some money is to steal from yourself. More specifically, steal from your paycheck. Let’s say you get a check for $500. Instead of throwing it in your checking account, or worse, spending it, take a portion (10-20%), and put it in a savings account and/or that whole in the floor behind your dresser. This requires a certain amount of will power, but it works.
Allow Your Retirement Fund to Steal From You
If you don’t have the will power to steal from your own paycheck, have a company do it for you. Set up an account (either through your 401k or another retirement/savings account) and have your paychecks set to auto-deposit a certain amount each week. At first this will suck because your checks will be smaller, but soon enough you won’t even notice the difference - except the 100’s in your bank account!
Make a Budget
Making a budget, and following it, can help you greatly in saving some money. Make a detailed, strict budget documenting how much you can spend daily or weekly. If you cannot bring yourself to make a schedule, have your “significant other” do it. If you don’t have a “significant other”, ask your mom. Also, if you know yourself to be a weak willed person, it may be wise to get someone to police you.
Eliminate Superfluous Activities/Items
This can be really tough, but the fact is that 99% of people have something that they do or buy regularly that is far from necessary. A treat here and there won’t hurt you, but if you find you are spending a lot of money on nonessentials, consider eliminating a few of them. I’m not saying that you should completely stop treating yourself to luxuries, but rather to use your head. I would say a good amount to spend on nonessentials is about $50/week.
Set Goals
Setting goals can bring great results if you do it right. I suggest setting a nice realistic goal - either “I want to save ____ by ____”, or “I want to be able to afford ____ by ____”. Obviously a savings goal would be better, but it is much easier to save money if you are saving it for something. So, if you have trouble sticking to your goals, just envision a particular object - a new TV, a new car - whatever. Figure out how much money you need to save before you can afford that item, and start saving up extra money!
Save Your Change
It sounds stupid, I know, but saving change can actually end up saving you quite a bit of money. Most people don’t spend change, and they just throw it on their dresser or table. The key here is that if you have change as opposed to bills, you won’t spend any money!
photo credit: ThrasherDave
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Tags: money, save money, tips
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