MSN Money advise BLOWS
In the past week, maybe two, certainly to coincide with tax season, MSN Money has had articles on "great ways to save money"...
They all assume that we are blathering idiots who throw our money away willy-nilly until they swoop in with their sage advise to save us. Give me a break...
Examples? You want examples? easy.
"Stop buying those $4 Starbucks coffees every morning on your way to work" Um, dumbass, I never did that... next.
"Stop going out to lunch with coworkers, bring leftovers from home instead" Not only do I not really care for most of my coworkers, I sure as hell wouldn't go spend my LUNCH with them, I use that time to get away from them; I sit out in my vehicle, drink a Diet Pepsi (from home) and smoke. No food = no expense. try again.
"Try store brands instead of name brands when grocery shopping" Dumbass, that's pretty much ALL I get.
What brought this rant on was the crap they spewed yesterday...
"Try the 50-30-20 budget"
50% for needs
30% for wants
20% for savings
They gave readers the opportunity to plug in their numbers, see where they sit. I tried it, just for "fun"... what a load. Now, we are doing better than we used to, we opened a savings account at a different bank than our normal... direct deposits from both of us each payday. Being at a different bank than usual, it's out of our way if we wanted access to the money. We don't have online access to it, no card access, nothing. It's working pretty good so far, but it sure as hell isn't anywhere near 20% of our monthly income.
But some is better than none, right?
I guess what I'd really like is some REAL advise, tips, ideas on how to shave a bit more off the monthly expenses. Main reason: shave some off the wants and send it to the needs, er, um, bills.
We'd be sitting pretty good without that one credit card bill. Not that it's hard to pay, the minimum in only $150 per month. But we send them $300 every two weeks. They get $600 from us each month. That's because the balance on that one card is so damn high, it would still take probably 3 or 4 years of payments that size to get rid of it.
Thought about/ thinking about looking for a part time job, Hell, I work 5 am to 2pm, so I've got time in the afternoons. Even if I only made $150 per week, that right there would be the $600 we send to Discover.
If anyone reading this has any advise for people who are already doing the basics, the obvious things, people who want REAL ideas, please, post them in the comments.
Other than that, I just wanted to whine and bitch a bit. I am a woman after all...
15 comments:
oh, how I can relate to this. Whenever they send these out there is never anything that I can use or am not already doing. I need serious money saving advice, and honestly, saving even 10% of my salary is a stretch, so I am happy when I am indeed able to do that.
In South Africa we don't have the coupon structure, which I think could work rather well. These days I just keep away from the malls and honestly, I don't even do the 30% for wants. I just pay attention to the needs. Having a 2 year old makes shopping really hard anyway, plus I am studying a BA and a Yoga teacher's course, so my time is limited. That is really the only things that has kept my spending curbed. Staying away from the malls.
But things will look better once your ct card is paid up. we did that, then made the limit the very minimum, because the bank costs on a ct card swipe is less than on a debit card swipe and I rarely get to draw money to carry cash with me.
of course, attending to things like switching of the lights, switching to eco-friendly bulbs and buying fresh unpacked produce, really helps. It is cheaper and eco-friendly, but not all eco-friendly is cheaper, but have a look at those guidelines as well. Sometimes there is just one more little thing you can do...
Good luck. This has been a thorn in my side so I know what you're going through.
We do a slightly different thing... we have a bank account that the mortgage, and all the bills go out of, and a "current" account that we use for every day stuff.
We pay each other X amount per month into the current acount, and when it's gone, it's gone...
I cut a bunch off my car insurance by scouring what our policy covered and cutting off a bunch of stuff we didn't need. Do you have cable TV? Cut that bill straight out. How 'bout cell phones? Get rid of 'em. For us the savings per month by doing just that tallied to about $310.00. Adds up over time... put that toward the credit card bill and once that's gone, that $600+310= $910/mo going into savings.
Also, sell stuff on ebay... you wouldn't believe what people buy on ebay. Scour your house for stuff you don't use, and the money will roll in.
ok, these are all helpful, except the spammy idiot that I deleted, haha.
Sara, I love the ebay idea, will start hunting up stuff for that! cannot do the cell phone idea (that's all we have, no land line, and 3 teenagers. We have family locator on all their phones and WE USE IT, so that has to stay put!)
Jonathan, we have a seperate acct for mortgage and the one vehicle payment, auto withdrawls on those, after we leave money in the main acct for bills (online bill pay there) we take most of the rest out in cash and live on that. Leaving a bit in the acct for emergencies.
The hubby & I are working on something new, will take a few months to see if there's a benefit to it, and I'm sure I'll go into more detail later, either to scream happiness that it's working, or to whine at our stupidity...
Dave Ramsey's book the money makeover seriously helped our finances. It takes a few years to overhaul everything but we are in the growing pains and it's working.
No starbucks or name brands here either. Never did, never will.
Anon, I wish you had put your name! Usually people stay "anon" when they have something mean or snarky to say, but your commment was fabulous! I LOVE Dave Ramsey! His "total money makeover" is on my bedside table as I type this!
I even gave copies of that as Christmas gifts one year! LOL
I read Mr. Ramsey's book as well. I agree with many of his points. If you use it as a basic startimng point, you are in good starting conditions.
Shaving money is hard, but there are things you can do; taking fewer car trips, carpooling, not buying beer/wine/booze so often, no fast food are all ways I am currently working towards my goals. Good luck! You can do it!
We started the Dave Ramsey program way before anyone heard of Dave Ramsey. I read his book recently and My Wife and I agreed that we have been doing this ever since we got married. Dave is a genius in my mind and tweeking his program to fit your life style will work. I guarantee it. We started our lives in debt like most people. Mortgage, car payment, credit cards, you know the drill. By following the basics of the Dave Ramsey program, the most important being the "pay your self first", We were able to get out of debt and accumulate enough savings to retire when I was 59 and my wife 50. Not easy and it took many years.
The funny part is; We are now millionaires, something I never ever dreamed of, and yet we still shop at Aldis, Dollar tree, Dollar General, ect. I hate bragging but as encouragement for those who want it My wife is 53 and I am 62. We have a place in Ohio, we are buying a condo in North Carolina and we spend the winters in the south in an RV. We do not have a pension and live completely off our savings and investments all from following the Dave Ramsey scenario. Good luck to you all and remember, "Attitude is EVERYTHING".
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