Savings Tips

[Dawg52]

I had a cell phone for a short period of time but never used it. I do have cable tv at a ridiculous price of $50/mo, but I do like some of the news channels and of course the golf channel. I spend $9.95/mo for dial up internet(Juno) which works just fine. Other than my country club dues($200), I think I do a pretty good job of cutting out unnecessary expenses.

[JB]

Dropped the land line last year. Since I travel, and make frequent calls to the east coast cell only works for me.

[BUM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechoson I am only 22, and am surviving on a meagre salary along with my live in gf. We try hard to LBOM, but it's been rough. I thought I'd ask the wise sages of this board for some very simple advice, that has helped you in your own life, on tips how to save money each month.

One important key is teamwork. Few things can deep-six a savings plan faster than spender-spouse. I'm lucky that DW of 30+ years is a super-saver. I made the money, she made sure most of it was still there decades later.

ThanQhon

BUM

[unclemick]

POGO - like the cartoon character - we have meet the enemy and he is us.

The best frugal for me - looking back from 61 to 21 when I graduated from college - was to make sure a stranger got his cut first - then live on the rest. Maxed all availible tax deferred vehicles and then sometimes live paycheck to paycheck on the rest and sometimes when fat managing to to save some of that. 401k, IRA, and nowadays Roth - low cost diversified stock funds -plunka,plunka DCA.

If I had known then what I know now - would have not owned any fixed income until much closer to retirement - I went 50/50 Ben Graham during 1966 -1992 when stocks were flat.

The earliest $ are the best $ - time in the market. I gave my nephew, Bogle's 1994 book, out of the Naval Academy - he TSP'ed max the total stock market index fund equivalent from 1994 till now on military pay - his retirement is set provided he doesn't screw it up. Unfortunately he's read Bernstein's Four Pillars and probably won't do as well from here on out.

Reading a lot of investment books can be dangerous to your health - a big mistake(of many) I made when young.

Starting as early as possible in a low cost diversified stock fund trumps a lot of stupidity - at least in my case. Plunka,plunka DCA over my working career resulted in 80 -90% of my portfolio over and above all my 'brilliant moves' combined.

Heh, heh, heh - did I spend some of my winners and party a little in the stretch?? Yes - and I also turned some winners into losers.

De Gaul and the Norwegian widow ride on.

[lazyday]

I think a cell is worth a few $, if you get one of the cheap deals, and don't give out the number.

I keep in glove compartment in case of emergency. And once in a while, is very nice to be in contact. Can save lots of time&hassle.

I'm paying about $40 a year on a plan that's going away, but there may be other similar priced plans on the cell phone thread.

My outgoing message says something like "If I'm not expecting a call from you, please call me at home instead. I don't check messages from this phone, and it is almost always shut off."

Agree on the monthly bills. I've only paid for a total of maybe three months of cable in my life, and have sought cheap internet deals. No netflix for me either--library is free.
The biggest monthly of course is rent/mortgage.

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyday I think a cell is worth a few $, if you get one of the cheap deals, and don't give out the number. I keep in glove compartment in case of emergency.* And once in a while, is very nice to be in contact. Can save lots of time&hassle. I'm paying about $40 a year on a plan that's going away, but there may be other similar priced plans on the cell phone thread. My outgoing message says something like "If I'm not expecting a call from you, please call me at home instead. I don't check messages from this phone, and it is almost always shut off." Agree on the monthly bills. I've only paid for a total of maybe three months of cable in my life, and have sought cheap internet deals. No netflix for me either--library is free. The biggest monthly of course is rent/mortgage.

Good tips. No cable at all since I ERed and currently no cellphone either.
When I had a cell
I handled mine the same way, i.e. mostly turned off and I didn't give the number out unless I was expecting a call, then I tuned it on just for that
otherwise it was pretty much outgoing only.

JG

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUM One important key is teamwork. Few things can deep-six a savings plan faster than spender-spouse. I'm lucky that DW of 30+ years is a super-saver. I made the money, she made sure most of it was still there decades later. ThanQhon BUM

It can deep-six marriages also.

JG

[lazyday]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRGALT2U Good tips.

Thanks.

I'm surprised with a $400 truck and time outdoors like fishing, you don't invest something like $50 a year or maybe less, just in case.

Mine mostly gets used to keep in touch with girlfriend when we're not at the same place, or not there yet.
Or, no kidding, a couple times when at super wal mart together and can't find each other. Like getting split apart at an airport or disneyland. Now I won't go in there together unless we both carry cell phone inside.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Eh, if Johns truck dies he'll simply use superior brainpower and willpower to wait for his wife to notice he's late and go pick him up.

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grand Banks Eh, if Johns truck dies he'll simply use superior brainpower and willpower to wait for his wife to notice he's late and go pick him up.

Actually that's not too far off. Anyway, the old "ranch truck" sold yesterday.
Made a few bucks for a lot of messin' around. Today I bought another
boat with trailer......cheap! However, DW has taken a shine to it and so I guess
I will have to keep it. It's okay. She's happy and very little invested.

Reminds me of what a friend of Mom's said her son did for a living..........
"Buys and sells, buys and sells"

JG

[MRGALT2U]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyday Thanks. I'm surprised with a $400 truck and time outdoors like fishing, you don't invest something like $50 a year or maybe less, just in case. Mine mostly gets used to keep in touch with girlfriend when we're not at the same place, or not there yet. Or, no kidding, a couple times when at super wal mart together and can't find each other. Like getting split apart at an airport or disneyland. Now I won't go in there together unless we both carry cell phone inside.*

I bought DW a TRACphone. She was properly grateful. I usually don't miss it much, although I will sometimes borrow her phone. I found that once I had ERed, it was a nuisance about as often as it was an advantage. When I was working I spent hours in the car, on the phone. Now, I usually prefer
to be out of touch until I want to be "found".

JG

[deserat]

TromboneAl is right on with the monthly recurring expense----lifestyle enablers - hah!

Still have rabbit ears for the TV (10 year old TVs, too), cell phone is only for work and paid for by them, no maid service, no lawn service (will be changing to low maintenance yard very soon), wish I could rid of some of the other services, but no go.

Save the rest (both tax-deferred and after tax for retire early plans and vacations :-)) or spend it on what I value--looking for bargain, of course!

Bridget aka Deserat

[uncledrz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by th Eh, if Johns truck dies he'll simply use superior brainpower and willpower to wait for his wife to notice he's late and go pick him up.

or he'll (heavens no!) walk.

[uncledrz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deserat no lawn service (will be changing to low maintenance yard very soon), Bridget aka Deserat

help me out with this one, sounds almost too good to be true. It seems that in our neighborhood we're in a lawn/garden/flowers competition. Need to break out of this mold. If only I could convince dw.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My old mcmansion neighborhood was like that.

My neighbor across the street blasted the whole yard with roundup, covered it with staked down landscaping cloth, had a bunch of different size gravel (crushed to walnut size) laid in rippled/waved patterns. A few small low maintenance shrubs, couple of japanese maples, and brought in a couple of small tasteful concrete lawn decorations (a little bridge over a 'river' of white gravel with gray banks, a little 'pagoda', etc). Looked really nice...classy and tasteful. Once a month or so he went out there with a beer and spent an hour or so sizing up which branch or sprig he was going to trim back. Small drip watering system to put a little h2o on the plants that needed it.

If you go to www.highcountrygardens.com and request their catalog, they have a lot of low maintenance, low water plants and the catalog includes little numbered layouts for garden plots. They have a number of ornamental grasses and groundcoverings that require no mowing, limited trimming, and dont need to be watered more than 1-2 times a month even in desert conditions. With a few of them you can kill your existing lawn with roundup and then plant plugs right through the existing dead lawn

[TK]

My suggestion for a young person to save and get a financial leg up would be to pickup a copy of the book "The Automatic Millionaire".

Good plain common sense advise.

think there is a web site too....

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deserat ... cell phone is only for work and paid for by them...

Every time the military gave me a "free" cell phone I realized that they might be paying the bills, but I was paying the price!

Based on the advice from this forum, I picked two cell phones at a garage sale for $1 each. The law says they should be able to call 911. I've been able to call 611 on one of them. I'm going to go into the police station to test 911.

It won't help with run-out-of-gas type emergencies, but life and death, yes.

[lazyday]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl I'm going to go into the police station to test 911.

That's a great idea! Before I got a cheap prepaid deal, I used to carry an old cell phone and car adapter in my trunk, but never tested 611 or 911.
Let us know how it goes. If it were me, I'd expect them to turn me away and make some threats about never testing 911.
(hopefully, i'll remember to check this thread again sometime.)

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It appears that the legality of testing a 911 call varies from state to state and county to county. Many areas have a law that more or less says 'repeatedly calling 911 without an emergency consitutes a class b misdemeanor'. I guess a single call doesnt constitute repeated. Look up the non-emergency number in your phone book and call that, ask them if you can do a test call from your cell phone. Keep the name of the person you talk to. Every article/post I just looked at said the non-emergency person gave them a good time range to do their test call when the 911 service isnt as busy. Be quick, courteous, and let them know you're just doing a quick test call to make sure it goes through.

And besides, you bought it at a garage sale. Theres nothing tying it to you. If the cops show up at your house, flush the phone down the toilet. Just dont wrap it in the koran first.