As the economy worsens due to reasons that you may be able to discuss in one or two threads, what money saving strategies do you use?

Do you live frugally/spend frivolously?

Do you have a System when it comes to your finances?

There was an app that’s name escapes me where it would round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest it for you. (Say you bought something for $4.20 the .80c gets invested). I don’t know why I got rid of it but I found that quite useful.

A) Spend less than what you earn.

B) Live below your means.

C) Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

If you're worried about the price of bread and milk, it's not the price of bread and milk that is to to blame, it's because you don't follow Point A and Point B and you don't take into consideration Point C.

If you're not investing, buying & selling or flipping or looking to make more money - go back to Points A, B & C.

I live well below my means.

Set a monthly budget. I mean for everything. Track all of your purchases for three months. And put the expenditures in the proper categories. You may be shocked at how much you spend in a month on certain things. Then adjust your budget accordingly. Stick to it!!

Acorn is an app that does something similar. Maybe there’s another.

Automate all of your savings and investing so you don’t forget to do it or decide to skip it so you can spend more. Max out tax-advantaged accounts first.

Automate bills so you don’t pay late fees.

Have an emergency fund in cash or easily convertible assets. Six months of bills is a recommended amount but definitely have something.

I live well below my means but unlike Foos I don’t use a budget. All bills, saving, and investing are automated and we can spend the rest as we like. Our spending is pretty consistent so our checking account stays level with minor fluctuations month to month.

Lots of wisdom in this thread.
I can't believe how much prices are still going up.
Seems that people now find it hard to tell the difference between wants and needs.

It's a really hard time, on the radio there'sots of people ringing up talking about how much they've had to cut back with rising interest rates.
The sad part is that when rates are low it's the best time to pay down debt, people always get amnesia about this every economic cycle.

At the moment we are in a pretty okay position financially.
With our business I never have allowed myself to get carried away in the good years. I save anything we don't need to live, it never even sees my account.
My businesss owners group is a testament to the fact people's living standards just rise with their income...
I don't want a bigger house or a new car.

Controlling your wants is the only way to be free

Wants vs needs is always a challenge. Like Gyro LC all my payments are automatic. Mortgage, RRSP, RESP, TFSA, and pension contributions.

I want a new car. My 2008 Jeep is on its last legs, and has been for quite some time. But it's obviously loooong paid off. So, every month I drive it, it's a "free" month of no car payments (of course there's insurance and gas costs). So I put that money that I'd normally be paying into a car payment into an account for either maintenance on my wife's car, or to go towards payment of my eventual new car.

We have no vices. I have a few beers per month, and one bottle of scotch on the go that lasts me forever. We don't go out to restaurants. We don't use food delivery apps. These things alone save me so much more money compared to basically all my peers.

I want comic books so I buy those. But otherwise, needs are always prioritized and wants basically don't happen!

The wants v needs debate can be difficult, as we live in a society now that ranks your success as a human being on how big your home is - I partly blame lifestyle shows. And that's moving into an entirely different conversation.

I like to consider myself a man of moderation. I don't limit my spending or do I realistically budget but I also don't over indulge in anything in particular either and the end result by living in moderation is, ironically.. you could indulge.

People don't like to hear it, and they especially don't like it hear it from guys like me - you either live within your means, as I mentioned above, or look to make more money if your lifestyle creeps up. I'm betting half the cost of living crisis would be solved, or at least some pressure taken off if young people especially, lived within their means instead of wanting and expecting the absolute best of everything, despite the lack of income to support it comfortably.

Aug 11, 2024 3:48:45 GMT Foos said:

Set a monthly budget. I mean for everything. Track all of your purchases for three months. And put the expenditures in the proper categories. You may be shocked at how much you spend in a month on certain things. Then adjust your budget accordingly. Stick to it!!

This x 1000

When Mrs RT and I met I had a decent full-time job and lived alone (this was before rent was insane everywhere), spent my free time playing video games and watching TV, yet was broke all the time. After dating for a little while she noticed this and was like "what are you spending all your money on?"

Turns out when you eat takeout 5 nights a week and buy your morning coffee and lunches at work every day, then go out with your friends to the bar every Friday, then meet for hangover lunch on Saturday, you run out of money. Who knew?

I was irresponsible with money like a lot of people when they were younger and she sat me down one night and totaled up all my expenses for the past week and it blew my mind. You don't think about $5 here or $20 there in the moment, but it adds up so fast.

Ever since she has been my free accountant and controls all the expenses in the household. I participate obviously but she takes the lead and has all our payments set up automatically, and every last expense broken down on a spreadsheet that she updates every week. It's a game changer, especially for those times when things get rough, like you get laid off from your job or need to drop $1200 on your vehicle.

Aug 11, 2024 19:44:37 GMT NATH45 said:

People don't like to hear it, and they especially don't like it hear it from guys like me - you either live within your means, as I mentioned above, or look to make more money if your lifestyle creeps up. I'm betting half the cost of living crisis would be solved, or at least some pressure taken off if young people especially, lived within their means instead of wanting and expecting the absolute best of everything, despite the lack of income to support it comfortably.

But then we’d have to endure “people aren’t spending enough, the economy is in the toilet and it’s ______ fault.”

Aug 11, 2024 21:15:03 GMT Gyro LC said:

Aug 11, 2024 19:44:37 GMT NATH45 said:

People don't like to hear it, and they especially don't like it hear it from guys like me - you either live within your means, as I mentioned above, or look to make more money if your lifestyle creeps up. I'm betting half the cost of living crisis would be solved, or at least some pressure taken off if young people especially, lived within their means instead of wanting and expecting the absolute best of everything, despite the lack of income to support it comfortably.

But then we’d have to endure “people aren’t spending enough, the economy is in the toilet and it’s ______ fault.”

It's always someone else's fault.

Conservative media blame young people, progressive media blames boomers.

If people didn't over capitalise, half the cost of living crisis would be eased. Sure, at the bottom end, those people will always struggle regardless of how strong or weak the economy, but when I see people who realistically cant afford it, building new homes in excess and driving new vehicles on finance - usually excessively big and/or expensive and those people are complaining about the cost of bread at the supermarket, it says to me the problem isn't necessarily inflation and a few dollars at the register ( although it doesn't help ) it says to me you're living outside of your means.

Probably spend 110% to my income. Guess we're still in good times because life hasn't happened to force me to change habits.

I've never been a frivolous spender but I also don't have the desire to run to a strict budget. I naturally limit myself to one nice thing per month (last month was a new pair of glasses, the month before it was a new pair of running shoes) but life is too short to restrict yourself from enjoying things.

Aug 11, 2024 13:45:02 GMT Foos said:

Wants vs needs is always a challenge. Like Gyro LC all my payments are automatic. Mortgage, RRSP, RESP, TFSA, and pension contributions.

I wasn't having a go at anyone...
It just seems that people today don't have a hierarchy of their needs through to their wants.
What I refer to is people who tell you that they have no money for "X" and then mention a couple of sentences about their "Netflix"
It must be infuriating to people who work in welfare agencies to see people squandering money on things other than what is objectively important.

For me the order has always been: Health, Shelter and Food first in no particular order along with the unavoidable bills like healthcare, electricity etc.
Cigarettes are near $60 a pack here and all the people who smoke are those who can least afford to do so.

I am also a big fan of credit cards, we NEVER pay interest and pay off everything every month always. (If you can't do that don't get the credit card)

Through points we have received for money we were going to pay anyway, we have got holidays for the family or cinema tickets at no cost to us whatsoever.

I am also not sure about people who say to cut up your credit cards, I mean sure... If you can't control yourself, but if people want to escape the rat race then they need to learn to control their relationship with money, not commit to abstinence.

Some of that Dave Ramsey stuff goes too far at times.

Tip
One of the greatest ploys of all time is to just ask the question before you sign or renew anything.
Just ask "Can you do any better" you will be surprised how many insurance, energy, bank type of institutions have something on hand for such a case.
It is so tiring, every time our energy comes up for renewal our incumbent supplier will tell us it is their best price, it is not until you call them to cancel because you have found a better offer, that you get the discount.


Tip 2
Pay yourself first, take whatever percentage you want to save and make it move before you ever see it.
Don't link it to your online banking, don't think of it as your emergency fund, just don't think about it except for once every 6 months, where you work out how to invest it.
Maybe that is next to impossible to do today with our cost of living... But many people who say it is impossible now would also have said it was impossible when they were paying half the interest they are paying today.

Aug 11, 2024 21:15:03 GMT Gyro LC said:

Aug 11, 2024 19:44:37 GMT NATH45 said:

People don't like to hear it, and they especially don't like it hear it from guys like me - you either live within your means, as I mentioned above, or look to make more money if your lifestyle creeps up. I'm betting half the cost of living crisis would be solved, or at least some pressure taken off if young people especially, lived within their means instead of wanting and expecting the absolute best of everything, despite the lack of income to support it comfortably.

But then we’d have to endure “people aren’t spending enough, the economy is in the toilet and it’s ______ fault.”

One of my sincerest beliefs is that a function of the education system is produce drones, who get jobs and consume.
It is perversely only the fact that people spend than they earn that we have any economic growth at all in a world with increasing Trade Deficits.
Private schools and families teach the money and investment strategies of the wealthy

But most people remain convinced the game is rigged and prefer to watch re-runs of two and a half men... Exactly as they wee programmed to think.

Alway loved that when a dem in the US white house, the media advisees to spend less and save, while when a rep is in the advice shifts to spending to invest in the future. Implications of this of course is utterly ignored by most.

These days I spend very, very little. For a lot of things as prices went up I stop buying them altogether or moved back to piracy. Generally end the month with like 30% to 50% of the budget I set aside left over. Once I figure out how to get an account set up that does not count towards my asset limit for programs likely will actually move to just banking a whole lot more.

Aug 12, 2024 9:58:43 GMT c said:

Alway loved that when a dem in the US white house, the media advisees to spend less and save, while when a rep is in the advice shifts to spending to invest in the future. Implications of this of course is utterly ignored by most.

These days I spend very, very little. For a lot of things as prices went up I stop buying them altogether or moved back to piracy. Generally end the month with like 30% to 50% of the budget I set aside left over. Once I figure out how to get an account set up that does not count towards my asset limit for programs likely will actually move to just banking a whole lot more.

Out of interest, I know you have health issues, chronic pain with digestive issues I think?

Any reason you don't at least attempt freelance work online.
The effort you put into posting here is the equivalent of what it would take to knock over a few freelance research tasks.
If you're worried about your social security, you could be paid off shore... Not that I advocate that, I pay every cent of tax I'm obliged to pay.

c vanished before his checks do.

Aug 12, 2024 8:43:19 GMT iNCY said:

Aug 11, 2024 13:45:02 GMT Foos said:

Wants vs needs is always a challenge. Like Gyro LC all my payments are automatic. Mortgage, RRSP, RESP, TFSA, and pension contributions.

I am also a big fan of credit cards, we NEVER pay interest and pay off everything every month always. (If you can't do that don't get the credit card)

Through points we have received for money we were going to pay anyway, we have got holidays for the family or cinema tickets at no cost to us whatsoever.

Mrs Foos is a huge fan of churning. We get several new credit cards every year depending on what the offers are. We spend what we need to in order to activate all the bonus points, etc etc. Like iNCY we use those rewards points to redeem for travel. Whether it's actual flight costs, hotel stays, car rentals, we save so much money doing this. And always cancel the cards prior to the annual fee kicking in. 

We pay off our cards every month as well and never pay a cent of interest. The secondary bonus of putting everything on credit cards is that it makes tracking our expenses easier every month. 

I work in the payment processing space and FYI when you have awesome rewards on a card, the cost of those rewards points are charged to the merchant by the bank that issued the card. Since the merchant has to pay the fee they raise their prices. So you are in fact paying for the rewards.

Aug 12, 2024 10:34:31 GMT iNCY said:

Aug 12, 2024 9:58:43 GMT c said:

Alway loved that when a dem in the US white house, the media advisees to spend less and save, while when a rep is in the advice shifts to spending to invest in the future. Implications of this of course is utterly ignored by most.

These days I spend very, very little. For a lot of things as prices went up I stop buying them altogether or moved back to piracy. Generally end the month with like 30% to 50% of the budget I set aside left over. Once I figure out how to get an account set up that does not count towards my asset limit for programs likely will actually move to just banking a whole lot more.

Out of interest, I know you have health issues, chronic pain with digestive issues I think?

Any reason you don't at least attempt freelance work online.
The effort you put into posting here is the equivalent of what it would take to knock over a few freelance research tasks.
If you're worried about your social security, you could be paid off shore... Not that I advocate that, I pay every cent of tax I'm obliged to pay.

Stomach stuff resolved itself so I went back to grad school, but now have extreme fatigue and mind fog stopping work.  We are looking into right lobe ECT soon which may resolve stuff, but until then work is really off the table due to the mistakes that comes from the mind fog which scrambles working memory.

Like the money is not the issue either, the healthcare is.  My meds are about 10k a month now without insurance.  Working I get to keep most of my benefits, which I did in grad school, but not medicaid, which is how I afford the meds.  On just medicare, the meds would be about 2k a month, which is twice what social security provides.

Edit:  When I stabilize again will be volunteering to work with inner city high school kids here to help them with algebra and SAT prep through a church group that has connections with my clinic.  Worked with this group as an undergrad fundraising for this program.

Aug 13, 2024 2:04:07 GMT Gyro LC said:

I work in the payment processing space and FYI when you have awesome rewards on a card, the cost of those rewards points are charged to the merchant by the bank that issued the card. Since the merchant has to pay the fee they raise their prices. So you are in fact paying for the rewards.

No, everyone is helping me pay for my rewards, along with me. Thanks gang! 

Aug 13, 2024 2:04:07 GMT Gyro LC said:

I work in the payment processing space and FYI when you have awesome rewards on a card, the cost of those rewards points are charged to the merchant by the bank that issued the card. Since the merchant has to pay the fee they raise their prices. So you are in fact paying for the rewards.

Most businesses here pass on credit card interest charges if they don't have a good rate with the CC companies.
It's about 1.25% for Visa and MasterCard then 2.5% for Amex.

I use Amex wherever I can, I have the Platinum charge card.
Had a supplier pay for dinner once on a Centurion card, only time I have ever seen one in the wild.

Aug 13, 2024 1:56:47 GMT Foos said:

Mrs Foos is a huge fan of churning. We get several new credit cards every year depending on what the offers are. We spend what we need to in order to activate all the bonus points, etc etc. Like iNCY we use those rewards points to redeem for travel. Whether it's actual flight costs, hotel stays, car rentals, we save so much money doing this. And always cancel the cards prior to the annual fee kicking in. 

We pay off our cards every month as well and never pay a cent of interest. The secondary bonus of putting everything on credit cards is that it makes tracking our expenses easier every month. 

I'm a recent convert to credit card points too, once I got over my aversion to fees that probably was instilled by my parents. :lol: For a couple of hundred dollars I've got enough points for two flights to LA, it's a no brainer.

For a while when I had the kids I was in debt and managed via three credit cards to shuffle that shit around for 4 years at 0 APR until paid it off. Would do every single six month free balance transfer offers they made.

For points the years we had kids in the house we just saved points and used them for Christmas.

Like Foos, I never pay in cash as I want the electronic record for everything I buy. With mania too getting in the habit of not using cash or shopping locally works as a massive check to excessive spending.

We use our points to buy groceries. Flights sound much more fun but not having to pay $400 a month for groceries (I know this is a miniscule amount for some of you) is nice.

Aug 14, 2024 15:01:48 GMT iron maiden said:

We use our points to buy groceries. Flights sound much more fun but not having to pay $400 a month for groceries (I know this is a miniscule amount for some of you) is nice.

What do you at your mom eat? Broke college kid Ramen diet?

Aug 14, 2024 18:20:43 GMT Foos said:

Aug 14, 2024 15:01:48 GMT iron maiden said:

We use our points to buy groceries. Flights sound much more fun but not having to pay $400 a month for groceries (I know this is a miniscule amount for some of you) is nice.

What do you at your mom eat? Broke college kid Ramen diet?

No men. No kids. As mom ages she eats less too.

Plus every 3 months we buy $200 of meat which seems to last us until the next time. We try to do 1-2 vegetarian dishes a week and we make big batches of things and freeze them. Some months we splurge and it’s closer to $600 a month. But our points help.

God, we'd spend easily $400 a week on groceries between two adults, a 5 year old with the appetite of a 15 year old, a Lab and 2 cats.

I probably spend another $100 easily on lunch a week.

Our lunch costs are included in that. I work from home and mom will take leftovers or a sandwich, etc. We go to the local deli every weekend to buy bread, meat and cheese and save half of what we would spend at a Supermarket. Honestly, we don't skimp on food. We have lots of snacks - more than we need honestly. We actually get our groceries delivered most times, because we've found that by spending a bit more on it (plus tip) we actually save money than by going into the stores and buying things we don't need. It saves us time, gas and we are giving a job to someone. I hate shopping so it works for me. We have a grocery store 8 blocks from us (one that takes our points which is handy) so if we need to fill in the gaps, we'll make a quick list and go.

Cats are an extra $50-100 a month depending on if we buy the big bag of food that month lasts 2-3 months. Those spoiled bastards get a scoop of dry food every night (which usually lasts until the next night) plus 1/4 can of expensive wet food at 6am and again at 6pm plus treats twice a day.  They aren't suffering.