Budget tips

[bran987]

word. Someone very close to me is a nine-figure guy, ($100M+) and absolutely HAMMERS people on everything he buys. He bought a car a while back, and he hammered the dealer for like 3 hours. I think he saved $4,000. He wanted a rental house out of town and hammered the owner of the house for an hour to save $750/month.

I asked him about it - I said, "In the time you spent meating up the dealer, you made enough money to buy 5 cars. Why did you hammer him so bad?"

And he said "I guess I have always been that way". It was just second nature to him.

There is a lesson there...and no, he is not hammering these peons to amuse himself.

this is hilarious, I have seen very wealthy businessmen do the exact same thing. The lesson for me is clear: you don't get rich by overpaying, and it's a mindset, not just a means to an end!

 

[Razorguns]

The reason they do this...

is to install "self-discipline". A commendable personality trait which can be manifested, to THEIR BENEFIT, in many other areas of their ways of doing business.

Someone who always splurges all the time, is careless with their money, never thinks twice -- is setting themselves up to make the SAME mistakes in their business life. It's hard to just "flip a switch" and get into conversative mode from liberal mode.

 

[gregory]

Simple.

Do money coming in for the month.
Then, fixed expenses. (subtract)rent, car note etc..
Then, flex expenses (subtract) food, gas,CC payment, you can make min or max payment.
Then you are left with MISC. These are things like haircuts, beer.

So just keep it simple. It will take 2-3 months for you to have it down like a pro.

 

[easy]

Simple.

Do money coming in for the month.
Then, fixed expenses. (subtract)rent, car note etc..
Then, flex expenses (subtract) food, gas,CC payment, you can make min or max payment.
Then you are left with MISC. These are things like haircuts, beer.

So just keep it simple. It will take 2-3 months for you to have it down like a pro.

I like this approach. When I got married my wife was still in school waiting tables and I made like $150.00 a week. We managed to rack up 27 creditcards between us and were paying cards with cards. It took us a LONG time to dig ourselves out of that mess but it tought us a valuable lesson. I WILL NEVER LIVE LIKE THAT AGAIN. We set ourselves up on a budget based on how much we could save a month. We would save enough to pay off a high interest card and then cut the check. Next month that payment went to savings to pay off the next card. It was long and painful but now we have no creditcards and put back $2000 a month. We spend alot of money but we still live within our means. It also helps that we make alot more then we did back then.

 

[gregory]

I like this approach. When I got married my wife was still in school waiting tables and I made like $150.00 a week. We managed to rack up 27 creditcards between us and were paying cards with cards. It took us a LONG time to dig ourselves out of that mess but it tought us a valuable lesson. I WILL NEVER LIVE LIKE THAT AGAIN. We set ourselves up on a budget based on how much we could save a month. We would save enough to pay off a high interest card and then cut the check. Next month that payment went to savings to pay off the next card. It was long and painful but now we have no creditcards and put back $2000 a month. We spend alot of money but we still live within our means. It also helps that we make alot more then we did back then.

Congratulations on getting yourself out of that mess. Planning a budget is pretty easy and yet VERY essential to having any kind of success in your financial future. I have been budgeting since i was about 12-13 years old.

 

[Ish]

I have started to use Quicken all the time now and it has helped me to keep track of my spending alot better. I think I bought it for $10. I also always round up to the next highest dollar amount when entering in stuff to quicken to give myself a little cushion. I don't know if this is a great idea, but it helps me to avoid screwing up.

 

[Synpax]

Break out excell and do for money and expensis what you probably do for your diet, workout cycle, anabolic cylcle, etc.

 

[Witold]

IF you have a modicum of self discipline, use ONLY your credit card. Use the credit card web site to pay it all off at the end of the month, and download the spreadsheet for that billing cycle. The downloaded data will categorize your purchases into general categories like "Auto/Gas", "Retail", "Lodging", "Restaurants" and so on. You can monitor your expenses, and decide where you can cut back. Depending on your self restraint, this method has the added benefit of stopping you from wasting money on 'convenience'... vending machines, for example.

In addition to being a good way of keeping your budget, using a credit card for all purchases has several other benefits. You can easily dispute charges, you generally get extended warranty, etc...

 

[SoreArms]

I've procastinated long enough!

I finally made an excel spread sheet for my pocket PC so I can enter every single thing I spend my money on. I made fields for dates, category (made a list of possible categories; this will allow me to sort by category), 4 different accounts (checking, rent, savings and pocket) and notes for adding extra notes about the purchase. I made fields at the top that will add the cells from each account and display the balance as I add things. This will atleast give me visibility of how much money I have and at the end of a month I'll be able to analyze what the hell I've been spending my money on.

One small step at a time!

 

[georgie24]

start saving recipts