Comments on: Rule #1: Spend Less Than You Earn.

By: Ram

Ram — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:06:16 +0000

great post
what would you recommend for people who are already under control for aspects like “eating out (always pack home food), no coffee a day, no overly clothing expense, no cable tv, no netflix, no land line phone, etc” pretty much every expense in a month is fixed except for groceries (~$300/mth for a fmly of 3) and gasoline (~$150 a mth)

for past 4 months, I have started keeping track of grocery amount the Safeway store mentions on my receipt that the purchase saved for shopping there and set aside that amount under grocery category as though it was spent but kept the cash aside. I hope to make a better use of it at the end of the 1 year, seeing how far it gets in a year.

I had once blogged about this topic, and I am still figuring out…
http://ramsblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/about-cutting-down-monthly-personal-budget/

By: soulturtle

soulturtle — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:11:57 +0000

Great article, and overall, a great site! I especially like how you bold the important points in your articles, it is a HUGE HUGE help in browsing through your posts.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:39:40 +0000

I have stashes of money in savings accounts without ATM cards attached, I’m down to 1 credit card, and I’ve haggled with various clerks at various times to keep the interest rate low. I knock the balance DOWN to $5,000 and the next thing I know there are emergencies that wipe out the cash stash and run up my balance :( It’s the saga of the single mom, my statements show wild luxurious spending on doctors, pharmacies, mechanics, and the rare grocery purchase… 3 jobs and never enough for a family of 6 to live on.

By: liz

liz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:52:39 +0000

This is a great list. I’m working on my last debt, a student loan, while at the same time looking for ways to increase my income, a.k.a. side income and improving my overall skills. BTW I really enjoyed the sketches on your PF download book.

By: JoannMe

JoannMe — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:06:20 +0000

I wanted to make the laundry detergent found on your website. However, I cannot find the Arm & Hammer washing soda at any store in our area. There is Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. But what is the use of using that when I’m trying to save money by making my own laundry detergent. Any ideas how to go about finding it or is there something else I can use?

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:46:02 +0000

Looking forward to the series! I’ve read your blog for 2 years, and am in great financial shape, but I never get sick about hearing about the basics. :)

By: Lis

Lis — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:32:58 +0000

@kat (comment #1) The Dickens quote you’re thinking of is made by Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield. :)

By: Adventure Mom Janna

Adventure Mom Janna — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:58:09 +0000

Great ideas. Debt gets depressing fast.

By: Quintin

Quintin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:09:46 +0000

I love this post. I really like how you tie other aspects of life into money management and being frugal. A lot of people are just looking for a few tips to save money not knowing that making frugality a way of life is where the real freedom is.

By: Leeann

Leeann — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:06:36 +0000

We u ING until very recently, but switched to our local bank about a month ago. We were only earning about 1.5 percent on our Oraange savings account by the time we left ING. Our local bank now gives four percent on our checking, which is free money we can’t pass up.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:18:46 +0000

@Kat. The quote you were thinking about is from David Copperfield.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

By: Sierra

Sierra — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:09:57 +0000

This was a great post. I wonder if you have more specific resources for people who are self-employed though? If I step up to the plate at work by empathizing with my colleagues problems, the only person who’ll notice is me. :)

By: Gwen

Gwen — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:03:09 +0000

I also have a checking and savings with ING, but to get money into those accounts you have to have a REAL bank. How do you navigate that?

By: tentaculistic

tentaculistic — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:39:45 +0000

Angie – check out Opinion Outpost. They are the only one that I signed up with that consistently has surveys.

By: Torrey

Torrey — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:17:26 +0000

How amazing is it that the stuff that makes the most common sense is the stuff we (as a society). In the back of our minds, we know that we don’t have the money to make that purchase and we don’t need another donut because neither are healthy to us.

But no matter how much we discuss these things, until the person wants to improve, the saga will continue.

By: ngthagg

ngthagg — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:33:00 +0000

I love this sort of post. Learning how to read grocery flyers or make laundry detergent is certainly useful, but they don’t get me fired up like the bigger picture posts do.

By: cecilia

cecilia — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:43:42 +0000

Your post is very helpful! Spend Less Than You Earn also equates to delayed gratification. It’s better to delay your wants for better opportunity to save.

I diligently keep track of my spending and make a monthly chart of my spending which is good but I have not fully utilize the data.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:35:59 +0000

Great post – I’ve starting keeping a spending diary, and it’s much less work than I anticipated. But I still have far to go to reduce my spending.

I have banked with a Big Bank for years, and I am not charged any fees. I don’t know how I lucked into that, but I plan to keep my money parked there so long as they don’t charge fees. :)

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:00:29 +0000

Good Post and one that everyone should read and think about. I know my life started turning around and became a lot less stressful once I started eliminating debt. Now I just have my house to worry about and I have a small emergency fund that I am building bigger and I have no other debt.

You comment about being able to look for a less stressful job and I can tell you that my job became a lot less stressful when I got out of debt. I don’t feel that I “have” to be there, now it feels more like I choose to be there because it is a good company and I enjoy what I do. My bosses have even made comments on how I seem more positive and I believe its because without so much financial stress, I am actually a happier person.

By: MKL

MKL — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:59:22 +0000

I enjoyed this post, Trent. Thanks for putting it up. I can add another avenue to the “earn” side of the equation… for those who are computer-esque, join a “crowdsourcing” group. The idea is that it lets lots of people get in on a project and do collaborative work. In some models, you get paid based on the level of the contribution (I’m a Q.A. Engineer in my regular line of work, and I use a crowdsourcing service to test applications, learn some new skills, talk with and get ideas from others, and yeah, make a little bit of money from it. Like anything, those that are awesome at this and make a lot of money devote a lot of time to it, but it’s a model that others may want to look into as well.