I would like to mention that I do not intend to open new bank accounts, so yeah…
Start by saving a penny a day. Get over your refusal to create a new account, and make a savings account if you don’t have one.
Baby steps are about developing habits, not about effecting change. A baby step is a habit that’s a seed. You plant that seed by establishing the habit. And your habit is moving money to savings every day.
Or you can do every paycheck if you like. It makes more sense operationally if your money comes in paychecks.
But don’t underestimate the power of doing it daily as part of programming your subconscious.
The fact that it’s one cent makes the amount not matter or affect your current budget. This allows you to cultivate the habit without having to deal with all the temptation that a pile of money creates, not the sacrifices required to actually move that money into savings.
See how long you can go putting 1¢ per day — manually, in your banking app — into the savings account, before the urge to save more starts to arise.
You need to train your subconscious to see saving money as a satisfying way to spend it. To see having $5 of savings as so delicious that it’s worth “spending” $5 on. “Spending” in the sense it’s no longer there ready to spend.
The other thing, the other mental aspect of this, is to assign a job to that savings. Don’t just “save some money”. Save it for something specific.
A buffer is a good thing to save for. A buffer means a reduction in anxiety. It can be a big buffer or a small one. It should be earmarked for something specific that you need, and the purpose is to allow you live without fear of losing that thing you need.
In my case, I keep a $100 buffer that allows me to charge my car. I drive an EV for Uber, and if my bank account is empty I’m screwed in terms of making money because I can’t charge the car and earn.
So to retain the ability to earn money when my checking account is empty, I have a separate bank account that always has $100 in it.
It’s not much. It’s not designed to cover all my expenses. It’s designed to charge my car three times, which in turn allows me to make about $500 by driving Uber. It’s designed to keep my earning system active.
Examples of other hypothetical buffers and their purposes (imaginary; I don’t have these)
- $5,000 to cover two months’ mortgage
- $200 to cover two weeks’ worth of groceries
- $100 to cover three weeks of bus fare to and from work to ensure one more paycheck before one’s dead in the water
- $500,000 to cover all living expenses from age 62 to age 90 (this kind of buffer is also called a “retirement”)
Also, you can save for experiences, for investments, etc:
- $3,000 for a trip to Cancun
- $4,000 for a down payment on a car
- $500 for massage therapy licensing fees (you save this up while taking night classes for massage)
Basically, for me at least, it works better to have a specific goal to save for. In my experience a “general fund” that I save into — without a clear vision of what the money’s for — tends to get eaten up by emergencies.
Emergencies seem like magic appearing at exactly the moment you finally have some money saved up, but I think it’s a subconscious thing. You only see things you can interact with, and when you have more cash you can interact with more things. Suddenly an unavoidable catastrophe becomes one that can be avoided for … exactly the balance of your savings account.
So I don’t want to advertise an expensive product but the only thing that helped me finally save money and stop worrying about unexpected costs was You Need A Budget (YNAB). The concept is you put every single cent into categories like groceries, subscriptions, rent, put some aside for car insurance, saving for a new TV, and so on. And you also add every current, future and recurring transaction and connect it to the categories. Once you have this running for a few months it becomes second nature and you will not only be saving lots of money but also be ready for everything.
It has a learning curve but it’s worth it. There is a free alternative called Actual Budget, but you have to host it yourself and the UI is not great.
You need to analyze how you are currently spending money. You can’t know what to cut if you don’t know what can be cut.
If you spend money on entertainment, stop doing that and pirate shit instead.
Sail free on the high seas! 🏴☠️
If full-blown piracy is too scary, start by at least using grey-market streaming sites for watching movies and shows 👍 c/piracy has a good megathread for sites: https://wiki.dbzer0.com/piracy/megathread/movies-and-tv/
Learning where your money goes.
Fill your time with free things that you think are healthy. Walk. Invite friends over. Go to the library and get something for the night (book, movie, video game).
The more free things you do, the less time spending money.
Do you drive? If you live, work, and buy groceries within five miles distance, consider ditching your car and cycling instead. If you’re nervous about how feasible this is, you can save on gas by keeping the car while you get used to riding. But the full savings come when you’re not paying for insurance, parking, and maintenance of the vehicle.
I haven’t owned a personal auto in a decade, and doubt I ever will again. The more you eschew our auto centric way of being, the more ridiculous it will look. When I see people in traffic now all I can think of is how fat, angry, miserable and lazy your passing motorists will look.
Everyone’s got reasons they can’t give up their cars, and unless you’re a farmer they’re almost all bs.
Big talkUnfortunately, that’s a huge ask if you’ve never crossed a six lane stroad on foot. The American transit system is often downright hostile to anyone not in a car. It can be goddamn terrifying. Adding: If OP can get around safely and feasibly on a bike, this is great advice.Otherwise, there are ways to cut down on car costs if you need one. What car you own matters. Get something extremely common that never breaks. A 1998 Camry or Corolla are probably two of the most solid cars money can buy and junkyards are full of them. Parts are cheap and available.
Learning to do your own basic maintenance will also save you lots of money.
- A dealer might charge sixty bucks to swap a cabin air filter. It takes one minute and a replacement for my Honda Civic is eight dollars on Amazon. Same story with the engine air filter.
- Check your oil and transmission dipsticks every once in a while for level and condition.
- Check your brake fluid level and clarity.
- Tire pressures are on the inside of the driver door jamb. Learn how to properly inflate your tires, including the spare.
- If your car came with a scissor jack, a tire iron, and a compact spare, you can rotate your own tires in 30 minutes without buying any tools.
- On an inline four cylinder engine, spark plugs are often on the top of the head, below a cover, and are insanely easy to replace. Just be aware of torque specs, especially on an aluminum head. A torque wrench can be yours for ten bucks at Harbor Freight.
- Check your lights and blinkers every once in a while and learn how to replace bulbs. This is important on older cars that use halogen and incandescent lamps. A tail light is a few bucks, takes 15 minutes to replace, and will probably save you from a ticket.
Learning how to replace some parts is also a big plus and parts stores will often lend you small tools for some jobs free of charge.
Many states also offer discounted rates on yearly registration for older cars. In Oklahoma, it costs me $26 a year to tag my '97 Honda.
Finally, get a dash cam and the cheapest insurance you can, and drive like you’re on probation and on thin ice with your parole officer.
Big talk if you’ve never crossed a six lane stroad on foot. The American transit system is often downright hostile to anyone not in a car. It can be goddamn terrifying.
Unfortunately you’re right, I remember needing to take the car between the hotel and the Starbucks 500m away because there was a flicking big road on the way(which is insane for a European) .
I don’t get how American Karen don’t get mad at their mayor for the lack of way to cross the street
I’ve crossed a six lane highway on foot twice this year. That had little to do with my suggestion to consider cycling if OP lives in a denser area.
Your suggestions on reducing car costs are good ones and I’m upvoting your comment because of them. But chill out, dude. We’re here to offer OP advice, not take potshots at each other.
Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to come across aggressively. I get a little fired up at the thought of crossing a huge, fast road, and it doesn’t help that cars are way bigger and drivers seem way worse these days.
No question bikes are the best way to get around in a densely populated area. My wife and I stayed in a condo in a building that housed a Target (Newmark Tower) when we vacationed in Seattle a couple months ago. If I could afford it, I’d buy that condo and live that way. We rented a car while we were there, but we barely drove it. It was genuinely liberating not needing it. We rode the monorail. We took the bus from time to time. We climbed a stupidly steep hill to get dinner one night. It was awesome.
But man, I live about a mile and a half from the grocery store and I refuse to bike there for the simple fact that there are way too many fast, wide roads to have to cross to get there, and there are zero bike lanes along the way. Unless you’re on the college campus, everything here is built for the convenience of the car at the detriment of literally everyone else.
And if OP also lives in the burbs, I reckon their situation is pretty similar.
Again, sorry that I came across aggressively. I didn’t intend to get so riled up about it.
Yep, owning a car costs thousands a year
Define “healthy”, OP. Like, mentally healthy? That’s pretty dependent on what your personal tastes are - the game is to find the things you can tolerate that most people can’t as well, and to save on whatever those may be. Medically healthy? Aside from food most unhealthy habits are expensive anyway. If food, canned veggies are underrated, at least where I live.
One pretty universal thing, I guess, is not spending on the first thing put in front of you, metaphorically or physically. The entire surveillance capitalism and marketing economy is set up to part idiots from their money that way.
Find out how much you’re spending on what. That will let you determine whether the amount you spend on which things is actually worth it to you in the cold light of day, and show you where you can make the most effective cuts. Diagnosis is the first step: treatment without diagnosis is not helpful.
Tons of expense tracking apps out there that will download straight from your bank & credit card. You Need A Budget/YNAB seems t be pretty popular.
This is the true answer, especially for such a broad question.
You dont need to be fancy about it either. When I started I downloaded a years worth of credit card transactions and put them in a spreadsheet. I took the time to go line by line and assign a category for it.
Then I made a chart and could visually see where my money was going. On top of that I then calculated each category as percentage of my annual salary.
It’s very eye opening. Even things that aren’t an issue at least I now know that so don’t need to feel worried/guilty about it.
It starts with understanding what you’re spending money on. You can’t control what you don’t measure. Get some idea of what you are buying, be aware of the cost of things.
Even if you don’t set down a full budget, you want to be able to go to the grocery store, say ‘x dollars is all I need to spend’ and then come out having spent less than that. If you don’t know how much you spend on an average shop, that won’t ever happen.
Second to this is any purchase that is a ‘want’ above ‘y’ dollarydos, sleep on it. Steam sale? Put what you want in your cart. Is it more than twenty bucks? Ok, no problem, I’ll buy it tomorrow. Half the time you wake up and forget you ever wanted it. Sweet, money saved. Nice pair of shoes at the shop? Cool, I’ll come back tomorrow and try them on. Gives you a chance to find it elsewhere, cheaper.
If you don’t do it already then start to Meal-Prep and cook more at home instead of going out. Saves you a lot in the long term and it’s usually healthier too.
I like this website for easy, cheap, sometimes healthy, meals
Seconding this, have made many recipes from it and generally is my go to when first searching for a recipe.
Restaurant, bars and cafe can be a huge spending. You can also do a romantic dinner at home.
Check all your subscribed services you may find a cheaper competitor.
Before buying anything ask yourself about whether you really need it, and whether there is a used alternative available
If you do have money, set an auto transfert of 100-200€ to a saving account at the start of the month, you’ll main account would feel empty faster.
Create a household account book. Either use existing solutions like apps, go the excel / sheets route (I did) or use pen&paper with a calculator to help you out.
Learn how budgeting works in the first place. This step is REALLY important! I recreated my household account book two more times because I was an idiot who ignored learning the bare basics on money and accounting. There’s a reason it’s a profession with proper wordings and not some obsure hobby. Use youtube tutorials for that, as you will need several examples to understand budgeting in general.
Once you’ve got that down, measure your income and expenses over a year. Estimate your last year by category and type of expense, write reoccuring yearly and monthly expenses down. Create a saving expense to build up a budget buffer. You WILL need a buffer for all the variations you inevitably will encounter throughout a year. Once you understand how much you spent monthly to stay alive, calculate how much you can spent freely (pocket money). Ideally, put that pocket money on a separate account with a separate card as access to it and “pay yourself” that pocket money. Your main account should be the houshold expenses account with strict rules on spendings. It’s also where all your income enters to finance it.
If you’Ve reached this point, you will need to let it run for a couple of months to work out a lot of kinks in it. Food budget, mobility budgets, health budgets, etc. all need to be tuned to fit your needs. Whatever’s left goes to saving or pocket money. That’s up to you. Set yourself a minimal safety savings point that will keep you alive for half or a full year without (relevant) income. That’s enough buffer for most expenses you will encounter.
So after all of this you should have a good understanding how much you spend on what. That’s when you dive deeper and look into each spending category, including food and rent (often the two major expenses). Cutting out or replacing certain type of foods or drinks with cheaper alternatives have huge impacts on your available money.
The rest should slowly become obvious if you’ve educated yourself enough to reach this point. It’s all about learning and understanding, really.
Stop going out to eat and or drink. Besides saving money you will probably lose some weight
Cook at home. Use mostly fresh ingredients. Staple foods are cheap… Rice, beans, etc
Beans and rice with oil and vinegar can hit the spot every day for lunch
Cold cut sandwich with fresh veggies. Bonus for homemade bread!
Eggs. Pasta. Eggs & pasta
For snacks, popcorn on your stove. Flavor with salt or spices. (I love Tajin!)
Keep a few spices in your kitchen. Have a decent olive oil and something high temp like grapeseed or vegetable oil
Avoid alcohol. If you must, don’t drink in bars. (I’m alcoholic… I know it’s hard to quit)
Learn how to properly operate your home’s thermostat in summer and winter. Set it for automatic and dial in your preferred temperature. Leave it constant. This is vastly more efficient than turning it on and off and on and off.
Don’t speed when driving a car. It takes more gas and can get you ticketed
Don’t pay for TV or streaming services. Just pirate. Pirate games too. Books from libgen
For internet access, it may be best value to get unlimited mobile data and make a Hotspot for your PC
Have a specific savings plan. Set X% aside immediately after receiving each paycheck. If possible, get a high-interest account where you’re required to make monthly deposits
If you have a hobby, hopefully it’s cheap. If you can monetize it without killing your passion, go for it. If you have an expensive hobby, try to make enough money from it to offset the costs (I study fiddle. I busk to pay for strings, bowhair, and occasional lessons)
Consider leaving the US for a place that’s cheaper or offers better terms. I left to teach English in Korea and China. Was able to save money and have a robust social life.
As an alternative to newspaper and magazine subscriptions, go to your local library’s (website).
My library card allows me to access a bunch of newspaper and magazines online, and cost me just a very low yearly fee.
