Living on a Budget

[Gymnoge]

I've been trying to play catch-up for almost a year now and I am making little to no progress. I have medical bills, a car that needs repairs, as well as pay the bills and make the rent. I'm currently working as a photographer in central Louisiana so I'm not making all that much money. I've done research online, and they just seem to copy and paste from each other.

Does anyone have any advice on how to catch up, or tips on making purchases?

[Swede]

...try eating cat food.

[Scarabomb]

If you have any IT skills or have the time (and/or money to get certifications) I would suggest getting a contracting job. If you get a contracting job that will send you to Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan for a year, you'll DEFINITELY catch up on your funds. Lower end contracting jobs can get you 80k a year. Only thing you're obligated to is the contract and trust me, suffering in the desert for a year as a contractor is nothing to sweat.

[Fred]

There are plenty of things you can do. Some of them are very utilitarian. Some of them are mental.

For example:

1. Write down everything you spend money on and look for places to reduce your spending.
2. Use cash instead of credit for every purchase you can
3. Get rid of your car, if you can
4. Stop buying processed foods – educate yourself on grocery shopping
5. Evaluate your living situation – are you paying too much for rent?
6. Change jobs or get a second job or ask for a raise (or all three)
7. Set up the following accounts and divvy up your paycheck between them:
A. High Yield Savings account – deposit money but NEVER withdraw money.
B. Investment Account
C. Retirement Account
D. Spend Money On Anything You Want Account
E. Checking Account

I don’t know how you feel about the power of changing your attitudes and beliefs around money, but I think it can be very effective.

My personal belief is that the experience we focus on is the experience we create. So, rather than focus on how much I need money, or how much debt I have, I focus on the joy and gratitude I have for the abundance in my life. (note that the experience I want to create is of abundance).

[Plekto]

If you can't get a real estate license(far better commission than a photographer, to be sure), you can always check out one of the local trade unions. The IBEW, for instance, starts at about $13-$14 an hour and it goes up quickly form there(bit less for low voltage work).

If you graduated high school with a B or better, getting in is a piece of cake. good pension and benefits as well, plus full medical.

[SlickWilly440]

Eat nothing but ramen (6 pack of Maruchan Brand sold at Walmart), I've been doing this for over 2 years, and has cut my food bills by 95 percent, also a great way to lose weight.

Try not to use all of the seasoning because that is packed with lots of Sodium.

You can also make cold ramen on the go by putting the ramen and water in a tuberware container.

So lets do some math:
6 pack of ramen: around 62 cents
.62 divided by 6 = .10333....cents a pack
eat 3 packs a day

Weekly cost: .103 x 3 x 7 = $2.17
Monlty cost: .103 x 3 x 30 = $9.27
Half a Year cost: 9.27 x 6 = $55.64
Yearly Cost: 55.62 x 2 = $111.24

Also drink water from the faucet instead of bottled or purified water, it's cheaper that way. You can also find a 1 gallon judge to fill up and put in the fridge.

So there you have your food and water.

The MOST important thing to do while eating nothing but ramen is to drink lots of water and take a vitamin supplement daily. You can probably get a on month supply of vitamins at Wal-Mart for around 6 dollars.

I would go on but my ramen is almost ready, and I have to go eat it.

WARNING: Eating nothing but Ramen maybe dangerous to your health, and my cause injury or death. Side effect may include but are not limited to headaches, lack of energy, the runs, and reduced eye site, and other problems. Consult your doctor before starting a Ramen Regement.

[Decade]

This is a great thread idea actually. Heres some websites to help you save cash:

www.fatwallet.com

^This site and forums are FANTASTIC! Type in ANYTHING you're thinking about buying, it'll help you find WHO has the best deal right now, WHAT coupons and discounts are out for it, pricematch to the right stores for additional discounts, and other ways to save cash. I LOVE it.


www.monoprice.com

^This site is the ONLY site you should be buying cables from (especially if you're in photography right now and you need a cable for your digital cameras).

This site has saved me so much cash I cant begin to count. Ethernet cables, television cables, HDMI cables, DVI cables, and just about any other cable you can imagine out there, they got it and at warehouse prices.

EXAMPLE:

I needed a DVI to HDMI cable cause my dad wanted to watch the Argentina Vs Venezuela game which I could only watch on my comp in my area. I went to Radioshack to temporarily buy one, and the only one they had cost me about $60.

The night before, I bought the same kind of cable off monoprice.com for $7 INCLUDING SHIPPING.

Anyone else got good sites to shop from?

[mawande]

Also, taking any credit cards you have, putting them in a jug of water and sticking them in your freezer will help a great deal.

Myself, I don't have all those accounts set up. I do, however, try to get any money that comes in cash to me into the bank. Money burns holes in my pockets. Oh, I buy lots of little things. Which, of course, means a lot of money over the course of time.

Bills... though. The fun thing about bills is that they only go away when you pay them. But pay them as you can and eventually they will go away. Except for the monthly ones.

Right now, my monthly bills consist of paying for my Satellite usually 4410
Paying for my house telephone line 6500 or so
Paying for the Internet connection. 2824
Paying for my cellphone variable, but generally in the 6000 range and about to go down
Paying for my SON'S cellphone runs to 11,000 yen
Paying for our gas (stove, hot water) also runs to 10,000 yen (son takes long, hot showers)
Electricity wait for it.... 10,000 or so (see remark about hot showers but also it was summer until recently)
Health Insurance 21,000 each time, but only for six months out of the year
Car Insurance (me and underage driver son) 19,580
and donating 10,000 yen to ARK
I fill my car's gas tank approximately five times a month, and being as how I'm in Japan that amounts to $50 a pop. So if I got rid of the car, hahah... well, then I'd probably lose some of the positions which pay for it. One job alone pays me 4,000 yen a month for travel expenses. I only work there 4 hours a week. Another job in the same area gives me 5000 yen a month for travel. So between those two, that almost covers two fill-ups. A third job provides 1500 yen a month (but that job is rather close to my house and only three times a month).

However, aside from feeding son who eats like a horse I also feed three cats, eleven gerbils, and one dog. And a betta, but it hardly eats anything and the last time I bought food for it was... when I bought the fish three years ago. Monthly those expenses run to over 10,000 (cat litter too, see).

Aside from that there are the irregular bills such as for vaccinations for said pets, medical bills for son (reduced by health insurance). Things that go wrong with important machines in the house (I'm worrying about the water heater right now and our fridge is getting on). Not to mention just the odd purchases.

But despite that, I usually manage to bring in more than I spend. But if anything drastic goes wrong, well....

[Swede]

Eat nothing but ramen (6 pack of Maruchan Brand sold at Walmart), I've been doing this for over 2 years, and has cut my food bills by 95 percent, also a great way to lose weight.

Try not to use all of the seasoning because that is packed with lots of Sodium.

You can also make cold ramen on the go by putting the ramen and water in a tuberware container.

So lets do some math:
6 pack of ramen: around 62 cents
.62 divided by 6 = .10333....cents a pack
eat 3 packs a day

Weekly cost: .103 x 3 x 7 = $2.17
Monlty cost: .103 x 3 x 30 = $9.27
Half a Year cost: 9.27 x 6 = $55.64
Yearly Cost: 55.62 x 2 = $111.24

Also drink water from the faucet instead of bottled or purified water, it's cheaper that way. You can also find a 1 gallon judge to fill up and put in the fridge.

So there you have your food and water.

The MOST important thing to do while eating nothing but ramen is to drink lots of water and take a vitamin supplement daily. You can probably get a on month supply of vitamins at Wal-Mart for around 6 dollars.

I would go on but my ramen is almost ready, and I have to go eat it.

WARNING: Eating nothing but Ramen maybe dangerous to your health, and my cause injury or death. Side effect may include but are not limited to headaches, lack of energy, the runs, and reduced eye site, and other problems. Consult your doctor before starting a Ramen Regement.


Holy shit, are you serious? I always joked that when I go away for college I was going to do this, but I thought due to the fact that they have like 0 nutritional value... I didn't think vitamin supplements could completely negate that :boggled:


Also, credits are fine assuming you have the cash to pay them off on time, yeah? I've been using mine for everything just out of convenience, but I'm not buying anything I wouldn't have normally with cash... I also started investing a few months ago, since I get paid by the college in my area to go *have to go to a more expensive campus next year to study Japanese, life tips would be nice*
*is new to the real world*

[SlickWilly440]

^
No I'm not serious, but Ramen is one of my favorite unhealthy foods

[Fred]

Don't do the ramen thing.

If you are concerned about reducing your grocery bill, get lentils and other beans. Onions and potatoes are cheep. Cabbage lasts a long time. Carrots are good. There are plenty of healthy foods you can purchase without spending a lot of money.

[erbiumfiber]

Don't have kids. See mawande's post outlining kid expenses. Don't pay for college, it's even worse (it's about one luxury car a year in expense).

Go back to school.
Get better-paying job.
Profit.

[Angelyne]

My advice in no particular order:


If you have a cell phone or cable TV, get rid of them. These are luxuries, not necessities.

Medical bills? Have you called your doctor/hospital/whatever you owe money to and tried setting up a payment plan? This might make it easier to pay these bills on time.

If you can't responsibly use a credit card, get rid of it for now, so that you don't end up driving yourself deeper into debt.

Don't buy anything that isn't a necessity until you have your financial situation under control and some savings put away. This sounds like obvious advice, but it's one people often forget or willingly ignore. Do you really need that new CD or DVD? Do you really need that $3 cup of coffee from Starbucks? That $1.50 bottle of soda from the vending machine? A $1.50 might not seem like much money, but it adds up.

Learn how to cook and learn to how to properly use your freezer. Find a recipe you like, make a large batch of it, and freeze it. On days you don't feel like cooking, you can just reheat something out of the freezer instead of buying fast food.

[jindojim]

WARNING: Eating nothing but Ramen maybe dangerous to your health, and my cause injury or death. Side effect may include but are not limited to headaches, lack of energy, the runs, and reduced eye site, and other problems. Consult your doctor before starting a Ramen Regement.
And apparently brain damage as well :bored:

IRT: Um...get a second job? I mean, if you have the motivation, there's always a way to get money.

[The_Penguin]

If you're broke and need cash, there's always prostitution.

Plenty of kids in Japan do it for Gucci bags and other shit.

/one ticket to hell please

[Shuft]

think outside the box

deal drugs
rob a bank
don't pay for what you need, just take it
have kids just for the welfare check
find a sugarmama
eat something that costs NEGATIVE money (like toxic waste)
sell your SS# to an illegal alien
prostitute yourself
sell ad space on your body
sell as space on your welfare kids' bodies
embezzle (white collar crime only lands you in the type of jail where your ass doesn't get raped)
counterfeit money
racketeer (caution: not as much fun as racquetball OR rocketeer)
rocketeer
motivationally speak
pirate (the pillaging kind, not the nerdy kind)

that's all I got

[The_Penguin]

Ooooohh, so many possible choices.

[The_Penguin]

Don't do the ramen thing.

If you are concerned about reducing your grocery bill, get lentils and other beans. Onions and potatoes are cheep. Cabbage lasts a long time. Carrots are good. There are plenty of healthy foods you can purchase without spending a lot of money.
Ya, taters are dirt cheap. Add some cheese to a baked tater and you're in business.

[Citizen]

Ya, taters are dirt cheap. Add some cheese to a baked tater and you're in business.

Frying them with extra virgin olive oil and onions is superior.

[Shuft]

Frying them with extra virgin olive oil and onions is superior.
Whoa there Rockefeller! This is on a budget. Extra slutty olive oil please.

[The_Penguin]

Frying them with extra virgin olive oil and onions is superior.
I'm more of a baked tater man myself :) .

[Plekto]

Tater Tots and sausage in a tortilla. :)

Basically, what it does boil down to is that if you make your food entirely by hand/from scratch, you'll be healthier AND your food bill will drop to nearly nothing. Well, the first month will be nearly double if you don't have proper storage bins/containers(plus storage jars), but after that, it's silly cheap.

After that, cable TV goes. Download TV bittorrents instead. Most companies offer a $20-$30 a month package for basic DSL. Use it. Also get telephone connected in via it/internet telephone(skype/etc). KIll all other things like pizza, cell phones, video games, and so on.

A normal family can easily get their basic bills including food down to $500-$600 a month. I do.

Also, sell the car and buy a budget one instead. It's far better to own a car outright for $3000 and have no payment than a new one. I just did tires, brakes, transmission(brand new 5-speed), and clutch on my old 4Runner and it was $2000.

A lot, yes. But increased insurance, taxes/registration, payments, and so on for a new car would add up to that in as little as 6-8 months. The original transmission lasted 13-14 years, so I think I'm fine on that area for a while...

But no payment is a godsend. And the truck is cheap enough to not need collision on it(and tough enough to go THROUGH a modern plasti-Cdes or tupperware car like a Yaris.)

Total cost for everything in my life other than rent: about $1000 a month. Not bad with a child, music lessons, clothes, soccer, and all the rest, plus a car, insurance, gas, food, utilities, and so on. Add in rent and it's about $2000 a month, total.(need to get a home of course, but $1000 is cheap enough for now in Los Angeles). Not a problem at all to get a job making that much, really. And I could probably cut $200 out of rent for a smaller place, and $300 a month if I took the metro/subway to work.

I don't live like a pauper, either. Not well off, but not bad, considering, AND I even have a bit per month for savings, medical insurance, and 401K.

[erbiumfiber]

think outside the box

deal drugs
rob a bank
don't pay for what you need, just take it
have kids just for the welfare check
find a sugarmama
eat something that costs NEGATIVE money (like toxic waste)
sell your SS# to an illegal alien
prostitute yourself
sell ad space on your body
sell as space on your welfare kids' bodies
embezzle (white collar crime only lands you in the type of jail where your ass doesn't get raped)
counterfeit money
racketeer (caution: not as much fun as racquetball OR rocketeer)
rocketeer
motivationally speak
pirate (the pillaging kind, not the nerdy kind)

that's all I got

Well, if we're thinking outside the box, become a sperm donor and sell your sperm. Works best if you're good-looking and educated.

[Comazon]

You could always join me and play on online gambling sites. :P

I made a whopping $3.50 today. Score!

[stsparky]

Be a process server as a 2nd job. Louisiana link (http://www.serve-now.com/marketplace/become-process-server/Louisiana/)

I'm semi-retired. I work to get out of the house.

[Your Mom]

Whatever you do, do not raid your savings account to pay for steel-boned Victorian corsets and trips to Las Vegas.

But easy part-time jobs at places you frequently shop (like the grocery store) are great, because you get extra income and employee discounts.

[Citizen]

Whoa there Rockefeller! This is on a budget. Extra slutty olive oil please.

^Only good post in this thread.

[amg]

Have kids, then sell them.

Uh, second that on the cooking your own food. After you get a bit better you can add it to your list of life skills, too. Cook something nice for your significant other and get blasted on boxed wine during. Best date ever

[Roxie]

get free entertainment from your local library.

[SlickWilly440]

get free entertainment from your local library.

Besides the excitement from reading books, I'm assuming you mean that one can rent videos, cassettes, cds, etc from the library, to take home and enjoy.

They have computers with internet. However you can't go to the "Enjoyable" sites because there could be little kids around, plus it might be illegal in some states. Although one time I went to the library and there was this guy casually looking at it. I was like :liar: except around the midsection.

[Roxie]

exactly :)

[Plekto]

$19.95 DSL. Slow but works. Get Azureus and download all the shows you missed(plus a ton for overseas) while you are at work.

Almost all major networks allow you to download current season episodes in case you missed on on T.V. Technically not legal, but they aren't enforcing it because of the potential market they don't want to miss out on(much like how the RIAA did with online music). You have to be quick, though - the milisecond the new season is started, the last one is yanked. Sometimes it only lasts a few weeks before they yank it.

[Roxie]

Or you can watch the episodes online..I do this with all of the tv shows I like.

Ugly betty, Heroes, Pushing Dasies, Desperate Houswives, Dirty, Sexy, Money, Bionic Woman, Medium--they're all online with the network websites.

[ellie]

I'm working hard to save money these days, too. I'm actually doing really well, once I actually decided to buckle down and SAVE. I used to spend ridiculous amounts of money on new jeans and fancy makeup and hair stuff all the time, but I've cut all that spending waaaay back.

Lets see. If you want just a little extra cash, you should clean out your closet! Once a season, I clean out all of the things that I haven't worn in a year, and take it to "Plato's Closet", which is a resale shop that will buy your old clothes.

Also you can take old CDs, DVDs, and video games to some stores and they will buy them for a reasonable price.

[Plekto]

There's also nothing wrong with buying some clothes used, as well. Here in Los Angeles, we have entire stores that are full of leftovers from TV(mostly soap operas) and movie productions. Worn for a day or two and then sold to a store which sells them for rock bottom prices.

A leather jacket - $250 new or $75 worn for two days. Kind of a DUH decision, really.

Oh - don't sell games and music unless you have loads and loads of it and you can back it up/rip it first. It's very hard to replace items like that and it makes your life a lot less enjoyable if all of your "toys" are gone.

That said, the pair of skis you never se or that old mountain bike... those sorts of things can also sometimes fetch some good money on Craigslist.(I avoid Ebay like the plague it is)

[Urban~Ninja]

Can i recommend the "Hat"

Its an idea me and a few friends came up with during the school term, its probably been done before but it made me like 200 dollars without really doing a thing.

You get a baseball hat, put it on your desk or table or something, and then proceed to put all your loose change in there every day. Say you come home one day with 30 cents in your pocket rather then just leave it there, put it in the hat. Don't take money out of the hat, unless you need it for like a road toll or train ticket.

After about 8 Weeks of doing it every day last term i made 200 dollar, mostly because i put 2 dollar coins and 1 dollar coins in there but you get my point, its money that you usually wouldn't care about (Small change) but it can add up.


If you want a new CD, ask your friends if they already have it and then copy it to your PC.
Walk anywhere that takes less then 1 hours walk, save money on petrol or trains etc.
If you have a Bike, use it for less then 2 hour trips if you know you can safely secure it somewhere.

I don't really have any idea apart from the ones other people have stated, but yeah living the thrifty life is hard at first, but you get used to it.

I'm on a thrifty budget until New Years because i need about 3 Grand WOOO.

[Roxie]

we don't normally use dollar coins here. in fact, ppl hate them. So, saving the change may take longer, but it's an excellent idea. I do that as well..pull out all the cash I'm going to use and just keep the change (in my change purse). By the end of the week, I have about $5 or so left over.

[SlickWilly440]

After about 8 Weeks of doing it every day last term i made 200 dollar, mostly because i put 2 dollar coins and 1 dollar coins in there but you get my point, its money that you usually wouldn't care about (Small change) but it can add up.


2 Dollar Coins? Thy must be huge! Here in the states the biggest coin we have are the $1 dollar gold colored coins the size of a Pong Slammer. And no one hardly uses them, I have a few, but they are mainly as a collection and not for real use.

[Urban~Ninja]

2 Dollar Coins? Thy must be huge! Here in the states the biggest coin we have are the $1 dollar gold colored coins the size of a Pong Slammer. And no one hardly uses them, I have a few, but they are mainly as a collection and not for real use.

2 Dollar coins are like the size of a ring in terms of circumference and a little thicker then an average coin.

[Angelyne]

Speaking of used clothing stores, the Goodwill in my area sells new clothes from Express and a bunch of other clothing stores that I can't remember at the moment at Goodwill prices. I have no idea why or how this is possible, but I won't complain about paying only $5 for a shirt that sells for $40 at the mall. I can write it off as a charitable tax deduction, too.

[The_Penguin]

those sorts of things can also sometimes fetch some good money on Craigslist.(I avoid Ebay like the plague it is)
Just curious, but why?

[Plekto]

ebay has problems - loads of hackers and trolls of course, wanting you to ship crap to places like Ukraine or Venezuela or wherever, high fees for small items, and also, it's terrible as a buyer for most used things because it's impossible to really know what you are getting unless it's new. And it's binding as well.

Craigslist is free and local. No pressure and cash on the spot 99% of the time(cars seem to be about the only exception - though usually they get a cashier's check)

[Roxie]

I used to ebay ALOT and I only had one problem with someone not sending what I won. I reported it to ebay and I got my money back.

[Plekto]

Most of the reason I like Craigslist is that I can set a price and that's it. It's a lot like how The Recycler used to be a decade or so ago. Just without the silly once a week nonsense and deadlines to get your listing published.

[Hitokage]

Currently, a month, I make roughly $1300 dollars (after taxes)

Insurance (med, dental, eye): 75$ x2 (per paycheck) = 150
401k = 20x2 = $40
Car Insurance: $110
Student Loans: $140
Verizon: $35
T-Mobile: $60 (this I could really cut the hell down on -.-)
FFXI: $15
Electric: $50
Rent: $405
Food: $100
--------------------------
$1105

+$50 = Savings
+$50 = Con Fund
--------------------------
$1205 a month

Gives me less then 100 bucks to play with a month. Arg. I really need to reduce my T-Mobile bill.

[Kenshin]

...Ukraine or Venezuela or wherever...Hey! :mad: May I ask what's wrong with Venezuela? (besides the current government...)
(And, I initially read it as "crap places like...", which makes it even worse...)

[Roxie]

Currently I make $600 a month and have $610 in bills, NOT including food.

[mawande]

Don't forget to tell the OP what to eat in order to get enough protein in his daily life.

[Trump]

If you aren't paying off your credit card at the end of the month, you had better put it in the freezer because seriously, 25% interest is ridiculous.

[Plekto]

There's nothing wrong with Venezuela. Lol. It's just that I'm NOT going to ship something halfway around the world that I'm only selling for $20.