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No extravagant purchases, No impulse shopping and unnecessary new clothes. Theres certain things that I would just buy just cos I felt like wearing something new, even though I have a severall items in my closet that i've never worn. These days I just avoid clothes shopping unless its an absolute must. I usually get a new Jacket every fall but this time I'm stickin to my old ones. I think even minor changes to your lifestyle can make a big difference in terms of savings
I stay off websites that encourage shopping and list sale sites, It's REALLLY hard not to jump on the bandwagon and buy buy buy sometimes.
@bells: I totally know what you mean abotu wanting something new for the sake of newness. I decided to be a good girl and re-wear a dress for new years this year. I'm a bit sad, but the night will be just as much fun!
1 - unsubscribe from any "shopping" emails you get--no temptation
2 - pack a lunch. If you spend $7 a day, that's $35 a week, $140 a month, $1680 a year. If you count 2 people, that's $3360. If you eat breakfast out every day, it's even more
3 - watch your date nights. Even if you get restaurant take out and netflix, that is a lot less expensive than dinner in a restaurant (alcohol, tip, etc) and a cinema
4 - keep track of every penny you spend for a week or two. You would be surprised how it adds up-lattes, lunches out because you are running errands, etc.
5 - have a portion of your paycheck deposited right into your savings account. you never miss it (kind of like benefits). Do not link your savings account to your ATM or otherwise make it easy to access.
6 - put any "extra" money directly into savings--bonuses, gifts, tax refunds, etc.
7 - analyze your internet, cable/satellite, cell phone expenses. do you really need what you're paying for? If you work for a large company, can you get a discount on your cell phone? I can get a 20% discount on my cell service, but that info is buried on the benefits website.
I agree with the tips from before and I have one more.
Try to combine store sales with coupons. My local Publix has buy one get one free deals on a lot of basics and they reduce the price on each to half so you only need to buy one. Then if you can find a coupon for 50 cents off one and your grocery store doubles, you can get things really cheap. I also do this at stores if I need new clothes or something.
i like the envelope method! put the money, in cash, for each area of your budget in different envelopes: food, rent/utilities, fun, etc. once it's gone, it's gone.
i also had to unsubscribe from all store emails. i've pretty much weaned my crazy clothes shopping. it took a few months, and it was really hard, but i feel much better now even though i don't have new clothes!
@kitzy: I love the idea of the envelopes! That would be especially good for "fun" spending like Christmas!
I have decided that I will start saving next year. That way I'll have approx 24 months to reach my goal. I just got a raise at my job, I'm using the extra money on my next 2 paychecks to do my son's christmas shopping, but as of Jan 1, it will be deposited into a different savings account for our special day.
I am also in school & my job offers $5,500.00 a year back in in tuition reimbursement. I am planing to have that along with any other bonuses deposited into the savings account.
Also remember, if you get paid every 2 weeks, there are 2 months in the year where you get 3 pay checks! Put that into savings too.
I have also started a Way to Save account, so everytime I make purchases with my debit card, $1 goes into another savings account. This account is separate from my wedding account, and I have quicker access to this money. On average it adds up to about $30-40 a month. If I don't have to use it for an emergency, I plan on taking that and buying some of my diy material like paper, paper cutters, embossing stamps etc.
I hope this helps!
@diy-er: I agree with other weddingbees what I did was
Make a monthly printout of all I need to pay and put the amout next to it if the bill was in for that month if not I left it blank and wrote it in as they came in it should look something like this
Item/Due DAte Amout owed date paid
At the end I write in :
Check(s) received amounts
Total savings for the month
#2 tip Go into your job site and request that they take out an additional $50 to $100 from your check that way when you do your taxes if your lucky like me you get it all back and that way you do not get tempted to spend (this is the best one I have and it works I received about $1000 back that technically is all mine)
#3 If you open up a saving account refuse to get the card that way you will not get tempted to take out money. I declined to receive my saving account card.
#4. Allow yourself a monthly allowance for miscellanous items I give myself no more than $40 however your needs might be different if so make sure they are not more than $100 for entertainment
We've stopped eating out so much... we would honestly spend RIDICULOUS amounts of money by eating out regularly. Bonus: losing weight - who knew?? ;-) haha.
We've also stopped seeing most movies while they are still in theaters - or we'll hit the matinee showings. By NOT seeing one movie per weekend (not that we see a movie every weekend, but for example's sake.....) we're saving over $80/month.
As far as shopping goes, FI was dead-broke in college so he's used to not shopping and he's kinda, um, *trained* me not to shop anymore. But let me tell you, the SECOND that our wedding is done and paid for and we have extra money saved up I am buying myself a pretty new purse. Or some shoes. Hehe :-)
Also, FI has the wedding savings automatically taken out of his paycheck each month so that he doesn't have to see it leaving his hands ;-) my paychecks basically just cover bills, so I don't really add much to the wedding fund, but I definitely would if I could.
down here we have $1 and $2 coins and these go into a money box every day - we opened one about a month ago and it had almost $4000 in it and took us about 8mths to fill it..... the lady at the bank doesnt like me because we had 2 money boxes this year, the other one was silver coins and it had about $1200 in it :)
Coins1.jpg (64.8 KB, 27 downloads) 1 year old
@diy-er:The way to save account is offered with my bank. I bank with Wachovia, but other banks may offer them or something like them as well.
@diy-er: wow that is my blog! I'm glad it is helping you! I think a lot of people on here have some really good ideas too for saving money! When I was saving for my own wedding we got into a really good rythm and we managed to save about 17k in 18 months! Some of that was tax refunds and work bonuses but it was good to see what we could do. We definetly don't make very much!
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This blog post was on my google reader (I think it is a Bee here) and I thought I would share since I know most everyone on here is saving for a wedding!
Food Saving Advice
Her tips are pretty good!
What do you do to save? We have a while to save up since the wedding is not until 2012, but we have to pay ourselves so we are saving all we can!
I would love to hear some more tips from you bees!