Okay, need a little help from AF

[twospirits]

Originally Posted by freakray

It's the tokoloshes under your bed, they're stealing your money. Put 4 bricks under each corner of your bed and they won't hide under there...

I always knew you were into that African Voodoo for some reason.

As for you Toksin, you can always sell your body. That should bring at least a few pennies into the pot.

Seriously, Yogs said it best.

TS out (looking under my bed)

[mwrobe1]

I don't want to go all old school on you...but your problem really is a separation of needs/wants and living within/living beyond your needs. I've learned this...and have had to learn it...my wife stays home and takes care of house and the kids...I'm the sole breadwinner. We're not exactly rich but we're not in the poorhouse either...we're content and live within our means.

There is alot of needless crap we think we need...but its really just stuff that is wasting our money. Besides getting rid of eating out...try to look around at other things in your life that are burning a hole in your pocket. Cut the beer fund in half or get rid of it altogether. You have a cellphone? Cut the plan down to something cheaper...or eliminate it all together. What services do you have on your regular phone? (i.e. do you really need caller id, voicemail, conference calls, long distance etc.?) This stuff adds up every month. Figure out the best plan economically. You have a significant other at this time? Gotta cut down there too...if she's really into you...then she's in to you for YOU...not your money. You got a car? Do you really need it? If not...sell it. If you do need it...drive less, plan your trips, don't drive with a leadfoot. Regarding groceries...you could get really frugal there. You got cable tv/internet access? Do you really need it? If not...get rid of it. There are other things too...you don't need a new pair of shoes/jeans/other clothing item every month...you don't need that new CD/DVD/whatever that just came out. Etc., etc., etc.

As for savings...after the examination above...you may just find that you have money left over...if so...save half of that money left over at the end of the month...for starters. Work up from there. If you don't have any left...cut some more crap out and/or get another job...there's really nothing more to do. One thing you DON'T want to do is LIVE off of credit cards.

[Ian Szgatti]

The problem probably goes beyond not keeping a diary or not having a computerized buget program.

There are so many people effected by the same condition as you. It doesn't make you irresponsible or anything negative like that. Your not a failure or an idiot. The real problem is bordem. Life isn't that exciting for the most part, and people tend to buy things to alieviate that bordem.

One poster here replied to you saying... "I'm so busy I don't have time to spend".

That is the key. Get another hobbie or activity that can fill in the times when you might otherwise be in a shop. You know what you really need, so just buy that... Even you said you need more self-disipline... you answered your own question.
If you'd like a suggestion, why don't you play a little game with yourself... the game goes like this... you see how fucking cheap you can be, and just how much money you can collect. After a while, let it be a source of pride, because you know your doing something that 95% of people can never do... be the master and commander of thier bread.
As for me... I love this game, but I have to let the wife decorate sometimes, and I end up crying because she buys 20 dollar bushels of decorative bamboo, which in my eyes serves no other purpose than to accelerate a housefire... enough of me though...
Keep busy, and be your own daddy... stack it... period.

[MonsterBengt]

Only eat noodles.

[replicant_008]

Yogs provided some sound advice (but he generally does).

Budgets are about making forced choices. You only have a fixed sum coming in generally and you need to prioritise...

First up you need to pay your rent and utilities. Rent is generally a given, utilities are a variable - you can decide not to use your mobile... some folk get another (free) phone that may provide free texting on a prepaid plan. Also consider what internet connection you really need...

Anyway, next it's food. If you are serious about this... don't buy any ready made food. Whether it's a sandwich, burger, fries then its poor value generally compared with making it yourself. Don't buy branded stuff at the supermarket at all and look for specials... a recipe book might come in handy to help with cooking (otherwise holler out and I'll write you some simple and cheap recipes.) If you have some space, you might want to consider growing some stuff like tomatoes (you can freeze the excess for making spag bol in winter.)

Forget buying water, it's really bad value compared to the tap stuff. And vending machines are crud - the dollar you bought that last 0.333 litre can of soda would buy you 1.5 litres of branded pop on special or some of the unbranded house stuff.

Walk rather the car (sacrilege on a car site) but it will do you good and consider car pooling whenever possible...

Then it comes down to selecting your priorities. I have skiied for nearly 15 years with the same pair of ski pants (albeit goretex ones) which still do the job. Sure they weren't cheap but they have lasted a lot longer than most (and I do a lot of days)... but I've resisted the temptation to replace them.

A lot of expenditure and consumer debt goes on stuff that people buy to impress folk who don't care or don't notice... truly.

I've never regretted spending money on travelling but I've generally brown-bagged and backpacked rather than a package tour... a couple of weeks ago I went to Sydney from Auckland on air miles, flew to Gold Coast return for two hundy, got back to Sydney and then drove up to Hunter with a friend... stayed at a $250 a night resort for $99 by rocking up mid week and asking for standby rate (and we split the hotel costs.... fifty a night to stay at a resort with vineyard, pool and we got 25% off the meals at the restaurant and drinks!)

Don't pay retail for anything - there's always someone you know who can cut a deal... do your homework - whilst I was in Australia I bought my new laptop using a salary sacrifice... work claimed the tax back and instead of paying A$1800 out of my take home, work took it out of my pretax instead and gave me back the sales tax so it effectively cost me $950 out of my take home. (Can't do this in NZ but most of my colleagues who had lived in Oz for years did not know you could do this...)

See if you can barter skills - I swapped some business skills for dive lessons and got to instructor level... traded my business skills with plumbers, electricians, landscapers for services in kind...

Your choice is about sacrificing immediate gratification for long term benefit... believe me it's worth it. When I bought my last place, someone said 'you are so lucky to have this place...' I could have dropped him. When I bought my first place he had more money in his savings, was being paid more at the time... I reroofed, relined, rewired, replumbed, repainted and re-piled the first place, paid it off (even had a burn the mortgage party) before I sold to trade up and about to trade up again.

He still hasn't been able to get his first place as he hasn't saved much more and I've changed job 6 times since and make a lot more with each change giving me career advancement and greater rewards while he's still doing the same job and says I'm always changing jobs...?