Money Saving Tips

Let's all post our efficient money-making tips; I'll compile them into a single thread later (and give proper credit, of course)

1. Piggy Banks
-Buy one of those piggy banks that you have to cut open to get the money, and every time you have the chance, put some change into it. When doing so, you have a lot of opportunities; the quarter you found on the floor, the change that you received after buying that 99 cent taco from 7-11...

These are efficient because it's such a pain to get money out of them, so you probably wont bother at all. And when it's full, you'll probably have at LEAST $10 in there (which would probably be very hard to do, unless all you put in there were pennies.)

 

2. Never having money on hand, you are far more tempted to buy something when you have the actual currency with you.

 

Never do this, haha. Anyone yes money jars are great, I got like $120 in mine.

 

If you have a job set up direct deposit. I personally set it so that 70% of my paycheck would go directly into my savings account while the other 30% to my checking.

Certified Deposit's are a good way to make a decent amount of interest off of your savings. If you need to access your funds I wouldn't recommend this.

Check your statements weekly. ( I do it twice a week. ) Not only can this save you from fraud if you catch it early enough but it also makes you more conscientious about how much you have, spend, and use.

 

No spam but, dont have a girlfriend. They waste your cash

Yes spam, infracted.

 

Withdraw the budgeted amount in cash prior to a night out, leaving bank cards at home to ensure you don't overspend and further withdraw when partying.

 

I don't do this nor do I know anyone that does this but:

Extreme couponing, scan all your sunday ads, online ads, etc. Get as many coupons as you can and only buy items that are on sale and you have a coupon for them.

There's a reality show based on coupons, seen it a few times, people can buy like $1000 of groceries and only spend like a few bucks.

 

If you're from the UK, Lloyds TSB bank have a system where if you spend, for example, £89.48, 52p will be put in to your savings account. Essentially it rounds your bill to the nearest pound and puts the difference into savings. It's like a piggy bank, but without the temptation to 'borrow a few £' or forget to put your change in, I thought this was an excellent idea, I might look in to it myself.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/savings/save_the_change.asp

 

I have stopped flushing my toilet completely to save water. I figure when the piss reaches the top of the bowl, I'll just bail it into the front yard with a coffee can or somethin. Whenever I have to poop, I just drop a snake in the shower and cut it up small enough to go down the drain. Don't give me shit about clogging either, I keep a gallon of drain-o under the sink for that.

 

Do not shop while you're hungry. It's incredibly easy to buy lots of food (especially junk food which is bad for you anyways) when you haven't eaten a meal recently. Always try to have a meal or even a snack before you go shop.

 

Truth. I go grocery shopping on Sunday and always have a fat meal at Portillo's first. I don't even wanna look at the food when I'm walkin around Dominiks with the Portillo shits.


(you know what I'm talkin about wit that Portillo's my chi town nigga)

 

I second your piggy bank idea, my father does this except he throws his change in a drawer and at after 9 months or so he cashes his drawer in for $150-200 which is quite efficient. I've adopted this philosophy as well and already have saved $30 or so if I had to make an accurate assumption.

 

Ojeez portillos, I want some right now.

OT: Just think about what you buy and if you really need it and why you need it. Also, whoever said the thing about not carrying money on you or eating before shopping, those are pretty good tips as well.