How Do You Save on MEAGER BUDGET

[TheDigestedRedPillParticipant 165]

Hi Guys,

TDRP here, I have not been in this Forum for a while. I will say more about that later on. It took me a long while to drum up enough guts to write this piece, but I feel a little ashamed about it and I feel like this is the proper time for me to come clean with my self after months of self repair and meditating and self introspection. I am now 31 and for years I was living a life of fear. More about that at a later time.

That fear caused a lot of damage for my independence Financially. Granted I have a job and also no car and commute by bus which takes a grueling 1.5 hours across town. For years I have been trying to save and build up a descent bank account currently I am finding myself depressed at my failures and at attempting to save money. Granted I make above minimum wage.

My question is have any of you found it hard to save on a meager budget and if so how did you do it and what stumbling blocks did you face during this time.

How did you keep yourself mentally afloat during that time of failure.

Would appreciate feedback if possible.

Thank you for your time.

Society live's as if we have reached the pinnacle of human potential. Technological Advancement and Innovation, intellectualism, critical thinking is substituted for useless innovations, nasty narcissistic games, tyrannical laws that destroy the very foundation of family, and the world as we know it.

[Anonymous 6]

No need to be ashamed. Everybody has money problems at some point. Get all your bills together and figure out what are the absolute necessities. Pay for the stuff you need and forget about the stuff that you want. Change up what you buy at the grocery store for example. If you can, go to a wholesale place like Sam’s Club or Costco to buy in bulk. That way, you won’t have to go out and buy food everyday. Buying in bulk will last longer. Pay the bills you need to pay. Save the rest. Look for any way that you can cut costs. It’s all budgeting stuff. Don’t worry brother, you can do it.

[Anonymous 14]

Dollar stores for snacks like chips/cookies/even some cereals and stuff.

Thrift stores for clothes outside of what you may need for work.

Don’t date.

Get a bicycle.

Don’t buy s~~~ you don’t need.

Find a living arrangement that works for you but costs very little.

Don’t eat out.

Don’t give money to charity.

[MarketWatcherParticipant]

I agree with Joe. Also, I know a guy who picks up spare change and deposits it into his savings account. It adds up fast. Last I looked he had over 2k after a year and a half of doing that.

[Anonymous 7]

I don’t know about your neck of the woods or your situation but when I was a little younger than you I worked a second part time job cleaning office buildings in the evenings through a service. Short hours, easy work.

Something that includes tips like bartender, waiter?
If you can score something that pays cash like construction helper on Saturdays? I have known many contractors that were begging for people to work a half day on Saturday.

[TheDigestedRedPillParticipant 165]

Thanks for the advice guys

Society live's as if we have reached the pinnacle of human potential. Technological Advancement and Innovation, intellectualism, critical thinking is substituted for useless innovations, nasty narcissistic games, tyrannical laws that destroy the very foundation of family, and the world as we know it.

[AutoliteParticipant]

TheDigestedRedPill wrote:

My question is have any of you found it hard to save on a meager budget

I buy old vehicles and do all repairs myself.

I buy used clothes and boots from second hand and army surplus stores.

I don’t have cable TV or Netflix but I buy used DVDs from the cheap bins or second hand stores.

I eat cheap. Lots of rice, potatoes and baloney.

If things are really tight, sometimes I just won’t pay my Internet access fee or my elec

[Two Time WinnerParticipant 1090]

The bus commute might make it tough but a second job is a good way to make extra money. Also time while working is time you are not able to spend money.

I’m working an eight to five day job and delivering pizza five nights a week. That would not work for you with no car but most retail stores work a lot of part time people. Get a weekend only job in retail

Most of all you need to get confidence in yourself. You have it tough now but you will overcome these obstacles and get in good financial condition. Follow the money saving ideas above and get a second job. Get angry with your current situation and use the anger to spur yourself to follow these steps and solve your problems.

TTW

I ain't got a wife to spend my money, I have to do that all by myself.

[TaxGuyParticipant]

I know there is an app called Fiver, or something like that. They hook up people to do small part time gigs. Like someone pays you $5 to proofread a paper, or pick up their dry cleaning. I haven’t looked at it but it might be something to look into. Maybe you get paid to walk someone’s dog or something.

I guess the point is you either cut cost or make more money. You seem to be in that spot where you can’t really afford to do anything so you’re bored. Since spending money isn’t in the picture, maybe you can do some small gigs to make more. Then you’ll have more money and won’t be bored.

Order the good wine

[KeymasterKeymaster]

I’m gonna tell you something about “saving money”.
And allow me to elaborate on what @Grue (above) just suggested.

My mom POUNDED this into our heads – constantly – to the point where I was 36 and she told me to close the fridge door to “save energy”, and reuse a paper napkin to “save money”. I’m serious. She is RIDICULOUS about it.

I once prepared sea bass for her ( at $20 a pound ) for dinner because it was a special occasion, and she told me to save the f~~~ing paper napkin.

OF ALL the lessons she taught about “saving money”… there was not a single lesson about how to EARN more money. Not once did she ever have anything to say about that. It was as if “money” fell from the sky….. and all she had to do was “save” it.

—-

A few days ago, I stumbled on an article entitled “why you will never be rich” and I don’t remember on what website it was – or how I arrived there….but the number one item was “too concerned with saving money – rather than looking for ways to earn more“.

An excellent point.

Through my early 20s I made very little money. I couldn’t really live on my salary which was only a 9 month contract. 3 months were unpaid and most of my peers tried to “save money” to get through the summer. But not me.

Even with my conditioning to “save money”, I wasn’t content with what I was earning so I ALWAYS had another side job 12 months out of the year. Part-time bartender. I worked to the point of exhaustion. When everyone else was finishing their work week, I would go to work slinging drinks until 3:00AM – every weekend – for 7 years.

You know what my peers said to me?
“You’re crazy. You need to get a life”.

But in those 3 nights bartending, I made more than I did all week. And I had that job all year long. So now I didn’t need to obsess or worry about “saving money”… because while everyone else was going out partying, and blowing $50 on beers, cover charge, or going to the movies…. I was working and getting paid.

When New Year’s Eve would come around I never took it off. I ALWAYS worked , because it was the best night of the year. Rather than going out and blowing $200 in a night, I would make $500 (or even more!!).

Isn’t that exactly like having $700 in my pocket????

So…

You can not go out tonight and “save money”.
Or you can go to work tonight and MAKE money.
Not only will you have what you didn’t spend.
You’ll also have what you earned on top of it.

I should be clear. I hated that job, and one day I walked out in the middle of my shift because I couldn’t take it anymore. But at least I could buy something I wanted when I really wanted it. As a nice bonus, I could also save some too.. instead of barely scraping by.

I know what it’s like to live on a “meager budget” but you don’t have to be content with that. Do anything else. Wash cars on weekends. Tend bar. Be a waiter and you can even eat a meal for free and you’ll learn something about cooking while you’re there too. The beauty is, you don’t have to like it. You just have to do it.

If you keep doing what you've always done... you're gonna keep getting what you always got.

[Anonymous 7]

Dang were was this place when I was young.

Like KM, no one ever taught me how to properly deal with money earning, spending and saving. I didn’t know, I needed to know more (say that 3 times fast).

And like KM I spent many of my younger years working 2 jobs. Hell for a couple of years after I got off my full-time night job I cleaned a bar on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Yep, puke in the stalls, cigarette butts in the urinals, the whole experience but I paid my bills including my car. It was just a few hours after work 2 times a week.

Then when I about was about your age a good friend loaned me his Dave Ramsey book.
See if you can find some Dave Ramsey vids online or his books at the library.

He is not a ‘get rich quick’ guy but he does give really good advice on how to climb out of debt and yes how to earn and save money.

Be warned; Ramsey is tradcon as f~~~-all and if you can over look that it is good advice.

[StealthParticipant 5335]

I have gotten out of poverty on a modest income by following these steps for myself:
1. Don’t spend money. Buy groceries and bare essentials, nothing more. Keep your overhead as low as possible for this.
2. Pay off all debt. Otherwise it will multiply and chase you.
3. Work your ass off, and work smarter.
4. Create a budget. Do this by recording every expense you make and every penny that comes in, to figure out what you really need. Challenge yourself to spend even less where you see the opportunity. Everything that is not spent gets saved in a bank account.

Until you have life savings in the bank, you are a survivalist.

It works like magic. Money will just start appearing.

"Once you’ve taken care of the basics, there’s very little in this world for which your life is worth deferring." -David Hansson. "It’s not when women are mean or nasty that anything is out of the ordinary. It’s when they are NICE to you that you have to be on high alert..." -Jackinov.

[Anonymous 3]

Keymaster wrote:

“why you will never be rich” and I don’t remember on what website it was – or how I arrived there….but the number one item was “too concerned with saving money – rather than looking for ways to earn more“.

That is sort of correct! Almost everyone can earn more. But, that does not mean you don’t have to save money, just don’t overthink it.

But I have a few tips for saving
1.Log all your spendings on a spreadsheet for a few months, that will help to see clear.
2.Pay first for yourself (into savings) on pay day and do not touch it.

It is okay to not have car if having it is more expensive than public transport. Just make sure you have to read / listen something useful while being on the bus to not waste that hours. Car in a traffic jam won’t be faster and you cannot do anyting while that. I have only a bicycle for commute, but that won’t be fast enough for you.

And: there is no “free time”, there is all your life time. that “free time is actually a work time you can spend on making useful good stuff in your private life. Learn stuff, fix stuff, have fun, whatever.

[Knight of the ApocalypseParticipant 326]

Look into a part time security guard job. Stupid easy work especially if you work for an agency, they are always looking for decent guys. I did it part time for ten years when I was married. Nursing homes, condo’s and office buildings but stay away from retail stores unless you want to deal with shoplifters and loud fat chicks.

"Just ignore everything women say and nothing will annoy you ever again." - Cu Chulainn

[KeymasterKeymaster]

As an afterthought….

My parents bought me “the Wealthy Barber” for my 12th birthday. It’s about how an average working man can still make himself a millionaire by saving – and starting early. It’s a good book.

On saving, it also doesn’t matter what you “make”. What matters is what’s jingling in your pocket at the end of the year. But at least 51% of the focus needs to be on making more.

Most Americans don’t even max their IRAs contribution. That should be something every working person needs to CLAW their way to save at the minimum. If you don’t pay yourself first that way, you’re just gonna give that money to the government.

If you keep doing what you've always done... you're gonna keep getting what you always got.

[JVBParticipant]

The bigger picture bro is you are doing the very best in the situation you are presently in. If that leaves you with nothing left to save dont stress bro. Situations change and so will your paycheck.

Peace is > piece.

[Anonymous 43]

I put $1 in a jar every day.
I put the rest of the roll of quarters from laundry in the jar
I walk parkinglots, drive thrus and car washes picking up dropped change

Doing this I saved $1000 a year.

$365 from me
$4 each week = $250
the rest, dropped change

Doing wash in the tub with the “free” water and using a clothes drying rack increased my savings.

Write down every thing you buy, how much it cost and time of day.

[Anonymous 6]

And start using coupons! Ever watch that show called “Extreme Couponers”? People go into the school and getting multiple shopping carts full of s~~~, and pay minimum for it. Now some of that is just tv, but the premise is real.

Research stores in your area and look at the deals they have. There are hundreds of coupon apps that help with this. Just do your research to get started man. That could cut down on your grocery bill and allow you to save more.

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

It’s not what you make. It is what you save/ spend.

Identify your needs vs. Your wants.

I get $50 shirts at goodwill for $5 dollars.

Kill cable tv. $60 a month.

Pack a lunch. Google can give you a hundred ideas.

Most importantly, there is no shame in being that way. Hold your head up.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[Anonymous 7]

Keymaster wrote:

Most Americans don’t even max their IRAs contribution. That should be something every working person needs to CLAW their way to save at the minimum. If you don’t pay yourself first that way, you’re just gonna give that money to the government.

Yeah, this.

TLDR: at the bottom.

In my mid 20s a really good friend of mine gave me the investing for retirement speech.

This was his advice. He said you have to start NOW.

He goes on to explain that right now at your age it doesn’t matter how little the amount is, only that you do it. You will get to a point where you can max it out. Just Start.

He goes on to explain:
1. The hard part is starting. After that it becomes a habit.
2. If you have it done automatically, after a few paychecks you won’t even notice it is gone.
3. At your age don’t obsess over it. It is not going to grow much and you will get discouraged. Just keep an eye on it every now and then.
4. Before you know it one day you will open your statement and go, dayum.
5. After 4 you will be motivated to learn and find ways to make your money make more money, i.e. start feeding more in.

It was like he could see into the future. It went down almost exactly they way he said it would/should.

Disclaimer: Investing is Risky and this is not investing advice.

TLDR: An older friend of mine in my 20s talked me into start investing in retirement. Glad he did.

[Author]

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