I am using this spreadsheet https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/2tymvf/poo... for budgeting
Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
121–130 of 195 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whenever I've had cashflow problems in the past, for me, spending less was never the solution. Having a good idea (and thus, making more money) always was.
It's great that you can have profitable ideas whenever you need them.
The thought of running out of money can often be a great motivator.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#123My father always says : "saving money is the beginning of being poor". So I always try to save money by thinking how can I make more. These days money = time is a strong equation, so just don't loose your time and use it in a way to make money. Stop thinking about saving money and spend your thoughts on revenue stream. That's why I rarely use services like that and don't count the pennies ( I'm neither rich nor bragg…
If you are very poor then clearly doing something to increase your income makes a lot of sense. For most people on HN I'm not so sure, most roles have a ceiling that is very difficult to get above without moving into upper management or starting your own business. The odds don't look so good then. On the other hand having some FU money will improve your quality of life significantly. Just being able to say no to that…
most roles have a ceiling that is very difficult to get above without moving into upper management or starting your own business
Considering we're on a Site Formerly Known as Startup News, starting your own business should definitely be a real option.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#124Since nobody else said it.
STAY SINGLE!!!
If it flies, floats or fks it's cheaper to rent than to buy.
If you can't stay single at least avoid kids...
I know that won't be a popular opinion but the numbers don't lie.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#125For me the simplest solution is to have a second bank account I never take money from. Then every time I get my salary a certain amount gets moved to the savings account. I do not miss money I never really had. Additionally some days before my salary all my money above a certain threshold gets also moved to the savings account, so that I have the same money every month, even when I spent less. Also I have my I am poo…
This is a great strategy, and I use it too. I've heard it referred to as "paying yourself first" since you're treating your future self as your #1 creditor.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#126Since nobody else said it. STAY SINGLE!!! If it flies, floats or f ks it's cheaper to rent than to buy. If you can't stay single at least avoid kids... I know that won't be a popular opinion but the numbers don't lie.
More realistic advice: live like you would at 2/3 your income and use the extra 1/3 to optimize for low cost as necessary.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#127Since I set a goal for myself(hose/flat/something like that), I looked for a lot of ways to save money, my tips are:
- keep track of every cent spent, i started using GnuCash, but there are a lot of other solutions available - don't buy yourself a lunch every day, make a sandwich at home, or buy a thermo-box for warm food (this saves me ~30€ every week)
- if possible, drive by bike instead of the car or public transport
- i changed my petroleum gas and power provider and save about ~100€/y
- my opinion about coupons and "best deals" (on the web) is: they only mislead you to buy something you don't need. I only use coupons for grocery, and here you also need to be careful and compare the reduced price to prices of other stores.
- instead of going to the cinema/restaurant my girlfriend & I make picnics in the park or nature near, sometimes a bottle of wine + glasses is sufficent ;)
- second hand buying, ebay doesn't have the good deals anymore i think, but there are other (local) platforms (maybe there is a plugin which cross checks other platforms and puts it next to te amazon price tag?)
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#128Since this turned into a personal finance thread, how about favorite ways to spend money?
Starbucks. Every morning. Latte and a danish/cookie/muffin. $7.00 * 30 days = $210.00
Eat lunch out. Every day. And not with a coupon or fast food, but a sit-down restaurant. Sandwich, fries, soda, tip - $12.00. Every weekday, that's $240.00
Vending machine snacks, my job doesn't offer free snacks. $2.50 for a Mt. Dew/chips when I get that craving at 3:30. Every weekday, that's $50.00
Spend more at the grocery store than you would eating out a restaurant. Throw food away, don't eat your leftovers, buy expensive meats, cheeses and fancy ingredients. $150/trip or $600/month
Now that we're past the daily items, let's go into the monthly expenses.
SUV instead of a small car. $600/month and another $250/month in insurance, $60/week in gas. $1100/month
Buy a new MacBook. Every year. You sell the old one but you're still spending another $700 on the new one and sales tax. Don't forget to buy a new case/decal for the new one.
Upgrade your phone. Every year. Buy new accessories for it, and get the mammoth dataplan. This can be $150/month.
Frivously spend $100/month on iTunes purchases. Songs you don't really like, movies you don't even end up watching, games you'll play once and never open again.
Drink heavily! What else are you going to do with $70/night? Inebriate yourself a few times a week.
Piss away $25/week on lottery tickets. Might as well try, right?
Impulse purchases under $500? Don't even worry about it. GoPro, new tablet, latest game console, high-end pots and pans for your house - just buy it!
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#129Food:
It wasn't until recently that started to cook my own meals every day. I felt time was always time limited when I worked for a company so I would get takeout a lot. Especially in my time in Toronto due to the large amount of good places to eat at. Switching to eating predominantly stuff I make has saved a lot; next to rent food was my biggest monthly expense.
Phone plan:
In Canada carriers have different plans for each province, with the prairies getting the best deals. It's gotten so ridiculous that there's a "black market" where resellers sell SIM cards from other provinces and carriers trying to lock that down.
Anyway I lived in Manitoba and got a phone plan there where I'm paying half the cost for 3x the amount of data and features I would get in Ontario. The only downside is that most people calling me would get dinged long-distance since I'm using a Manibota number in Ontario, but Canada-wide calling plans are so common for mobiles now that I don't feel guilty about it.
Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Saving money is the beginning of being poor. Investing it, however, is not. You don't actually need a ton of capital to make decent income off of compound interest (capital gains), which is taxed at a lower tax rate (or not taxed at all in some countries). If your money is working for you, you shouldn't have to worry too much about saving on purchases. That said, a lot of people are completely stupid with money. Some…
Investing is also not as easy as saving. How does someone goes from no-invesment-knowledge to not-loosing-money in investment (and possibly "decent income off of compound interest")? Just trusting the bank guy?
This is a great book, Four Pillars of Investing - https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portf...