Money Saving Tips - Discuss how you save money and spend less

Uncle June said:
Do you do this through excel?

Maybe I'm just retarded, but I have a hard time using Mint or YNAB like a lot of milennials do. Though my budget isn't exactly complicated, it is a weakness of mine and I need to improve my tracking.
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I do this and think it is very much worth the effort. I manually track my spending with a custom spreadsheet on Google Sheets. Having easy access to the info means I'm more likely to use it to inform my purchasing decisions and also more likely to update it regularly, as I spend on things.

I have a summary "at a glance" sheet and 12 sheets to cover each month. Spending gets logged here based on budget cagegories I define. Each receipt is a line item and I place the individual items into the appropriate category with the sum of that line equaling the receipt total. I can see if I am close to exceeding my monthly budget and can make decisions based on that. Like if it's worth waiting longer, skipping altogether, or dipping into discretionary savings. I don't include things like monthly bills, just purchases and non-recurring expenses. The reward for spending less than my budget is that, after paying all my bills and leaving a buffer in the checking account, I get to add that surplus to my savings, a portion of which is specifically for me to spend on things that aren't budgeted for.

At the end of the year I can assess if my budget needs to change or if my allocation of that budget needs to change based on that data. Then I start a new one for the next year, leaving the old ones there in case I need to see how my spending is changing over time or maybe see how much a trip I took cost me last time verses this time.

It was very helpful when I was starting out on my own and needed to acquire a bunch of stuff and start paying off debts. It kept me second guessing any purchases and delaying things until later dates. At this stage though, my actual necessary expenses are pretty low so it's mostly just informational and a way to check when I'm going a bit overboard on discretionary spending.

There are existing excel sheets designed for this but since budgeting is pretty different for each person. I think it's better to just build something for your specific needs from scratch and reference other people's work for inspiration.
 
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Joshuan Moon said:
I do this and think it is very much worth the effort. I manually track my spending with a custom spreadsheet on Google Sheets. Having easy access to the info means I'm more likely to use it to inform my purchasing decisions and also more likely to update it regularly, as I spend on things.
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I second this. I don't have a budget as such but track my spending and it helps being able to see where your money goes so you can change your spending habits. I've been using a basic spreadsheet I put together from a youtube video with some minor changes (I basically got rid of all the graphs other than the bar chart and the category summary). Works well for me.
 
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Uncle June said:
Do you do this through excel?

Maybe I'm just retarded, but I have a hard time using Mint or YNAB like a lot of milennials do. Though my budget isn't exactly complicated, it is a weakness of mine and I need to improve my tracking.
Click to expand...
I've been using Microsoft Money ever since it was included as a freebie with a new pc back in the mid-90's. It was fantastic for tracking multiple accounts, bill reminders, categories and reports, fund transfers, loans, investing/retirement, budget planning, future savings goals etc. But alas they retired it a few years back, and I continue to stubbornly use the "Sunset Edition".

Funny how my data started out so small... just a checking account and a pair of credit cards, and now contains 25+ years of history on dozens of accounts I've held over the years. That's the biggest thing preventing me from moving to another platform at this point. That is a LOT of individual transactions, and I don't really know if any other program would support all of the features and options that I've used (especially the investment data).

No way would I try to load it into spreadsheets and have to implement all the categories, calculations, linked data, and whatnot. And forget about keeping it all online, I'm not trusting 25 years of financial data to the cloud.

Anyway, there are a few alternatives available, here is an article which mentions a few (Moneydance, Quicken, AceMoney, Moneyspire, GnuCash):

More info on Moneyspire which looks like a really close "spiritual successor" to Money:
 
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Since annual bills in the UK are estimated to reach 5 fucking grand for the average household here's some energy saving tips for poor Britfags: Coffee with cold water and milk is actually pretty drinkable. Don't need hot water to get your caffeine fix.

Take advantage if this unrelenting heatwave and take cold baths to wash. When pouring water over your head, start with small amounts so you're not immediately hit with the chill of cold water

Avoid cooking by filling your cupboard with non-persishables such as pickled veg, crisps, nuts and jerky to snack on.

Tape over/turn off the button that switches the light on in your fridge just to be even more miserly.

I am currently considering handwashing my clothes in a plastic basin. Apparently this is even recommended for quite a few types of clothes have their quality affected by the rigorous washing of a machine. Don't really need to point out that the downside to this is that it's time-consuming.

Consider investing in a clothes wringer, they cost about £100. You can also buy washboards. Ourchase some stain remover for your bolognese splats/mustard

Obviously it'll be a lit more difficult to wash things likes towels or bedding so just stick to clothes and pillow cases.

I haven't got this one personally, but I learned a while back that the Amish keep their food refrigerated via a cold box, which is basically a metal or wooden cupboard with ice in it, these were around before electronic fridges and freezers were a thing.

Basically just copy the Amish (minus the beards and incest, we've had enough incest) Or march on Parliament.
 
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You can stream almost any HD quality movie or television series you can think of without paying a dime on stuff like Hulu or Netflix by going to

Goojara(dot)to

For live-action stuff,
Wcofun(dot)com

For cartoons and anime

I am not posting the direct links because of all of the copyright glowies on here.

EDIT: By the way, this is somewhat obvious, but if you get an HDMI-to-USB C (HDMI-to-Lightning for iPhones) cable that you can find at any department store, and a headphone 3.5 mm to audio L&R cable to plug the audio of your phone into the audio output of your television; you can plug your phone into your television and it will display the picture and sound that you have on your cellphone, and so it is just like watching something on television.

You could also set up a streamcast, but not all televisions are compatible.
 
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Order parts for your car yourself. Auto shops and brick and mortar auto retailers mark everything up, like most things ordering online is cheaper. The mechanics I know usually use https://www.rockauto.com for all of their personal needs.

Also, go outside and get to know some licensed mechanics in your circle of friends and acquaintances. Auto shops usually pay a pittance of what they charge to their employees, so somebody willing to do a $500 timing belt replacement out of their own garage will still be making significantly more than they would working out of a shop that charges you $1200 for the same thing.
 
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Ambiguous Morality said:
Don't buy physical books. Physical books takes up space in your room, not only that, you also spent money on a book you won't read again. You can save money and space by pirating digital books on the internet.
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Depends on people but having a physical book and paying for it makes me more likely to read it than having a file called [Hack4rman4000 Houises of FEal$$$30] and clicking on it.
We all have a ton of books/ebooks we we never finished.
 
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Ambiguous Morality said:
Don't buy physical books. Physical books takes up space in your room, not only that, you also spent money on a book you won't read again. You can save money and space by pirating digital books on the internet.
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Eh, I dunno. A lot of time what I want to read just isn't digitally available, because it's old (but not old enough for Project Gutenberg) and/or obscure. And if a book is any good, I'll read it multiple times. Some books I'll reread every six months or so for years on end. It's like playing a favourite album. Also, it's amazing some of the cool random stuff that ends up on the shelf for $2 at my local op shop.
 
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Cheeseburger Picnic said:
Order parts for your car yourself. Auto shops and brick and mortar auto retailers mark everything up, like most things ordering online is cheaper. The mechanics I know usually use https://www.rockauto.com for all of their personal needs.

Also, go outside and get to know some licensed mechanics in your circle of friends and acquaintances. Auto shops usually pay a pittance of what they charge to their employees, so somebody willing to do a $500 timing belt replacement out of their own garage will still be making significantly more than they would working out of a shop that charges you $1200 for the same thing.
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Everyone should be able to do oil and brake pad changes. Headlights and tail lights too probably. None of these are that difficult and you'll save a metric shit ton of money, especially on brake pads.

Timing belt...I'd rather use a shop for that since I can sue if it goes wrong. If you have an interference engine and the mechanic fucks it up then you don't have that engine anymore.
 
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Ambiguous Morality said:
Don't buy physical books. Physical books takes up space in your room, not only that, you also spent money on a book you won't read again. You can save money and space by pirating digital books on the internet.
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This is where we differ. I have books that I read and will continue to read. Especially technical manuals that you can not get over the internet because they are outdated, but they are still relevant in todays age.

std::string said:
Everyone should be able to do oil and brake pad changes. Headlights and tail lights too probably. None of these are that difficult and you'll save a metric shit ton of money, especially on brake pads.

Timing belt...I'd rather use a shop for that since I can sue if it goes wrong. If you have an interference engine and the mechanic fucks it up then you don't have that engine anymore.
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Everyone should but in my region we have too many Woke REEEEtards who have no understanding on what a screw driver is and what it is used for.
 
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