Comments on: What Tricks Help You to Keep from Spending Money?

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:28:05 +0000

I have been divorced for close to 5 years now, and that triggered me to be the old saver I used to be. I have still spent a nice little sum on my ‘remake’ but what items I own will stay with me. The BIG difference is that I have a save, save, SAVE mentallity again on almost everything. I spend money to live and stay sane, yes, I have treated myself. You MUST have an outlet in life. But I have worked very hard on saving as much as I can, when I can, for as long as I can. I have found one very effective trick. When I purchase a ‘want’ I match that amount in my savings. All of a sudden the reality of my ‘want’ stays locked in my mind. If my ‘want’ is worth 200 dollars, so is my future. I have 2 other items I will be apllying this trick to. Now I know what those purchases REALLY cost me when I had to pay ‘twice’ for them. Lesson learned!

By: Osadg

Osadg — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:36:00 +0000

One of our family’s spending tricks is to only use gift card purchases of daily “extras.” My husband pre-loads a Starbucks card each month and every time he does, they give him 1 free coffee. He know how much is on that card, and so it keeps him buying just the amount he wants throughout the month, instead of blindly going through each day!

By: Gail

Gail — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:07:58 +0000

With the calculation method of 10 hours at $10 a hour, it is really more in line with 13 hours for $100 because of the taxes, etc. that you have to pay when making that $100. One of the nice reasons to find as many ways as possible to NOT have to spend $100 or 13 hours of work.

I’m always thrilled to find what I call passive savings. Savings that after a few minutes worth of work save me a set amount on a yearly basis. I did this with signing up for on line maintenance of mine and hubbie’s IRA. We save $25 a year each for the life of the account (20-30 years). I’ve had other experiences like this and I love them. Signing up for automatic payments of my Medicare co-insurance saves me about $25 a year between the $2 a month savings and no stamps to buy. As I do this for both part C&D that is a bit over $50 a year of passive savings. Never have to work for that savings again, but it keeps on working!

By: lmlh

lmlh — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:27:47 +0000

I figure out how many hours I would have to work to buy the item, and THEN decide if it’s worth it. Here’s a vastly over-simplifed example: let’s say you make $10 an hour, and you are considering buying an item that cost $100. $100 divided by 10 = 10 hours you would have to work to buy that item. Still want it?

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:01:24 +0000

I couldn’t help but laugh at the deathbed reference, because chances are that I will not even think about the things that I own if I am given the opportunity to tell my loved ones goodbye. I will be too busy hugging them.

By: Destiny

Destiny — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:52:59 +0000

I really just keep in mind that I am practically always on a tight budget as a single mom. That huge responsibility makes it easy to not over spend.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:22:59 +0000

I have two tips:

1. Don’t shop when you are hungry. You will end up buying what you stomache wants you to buy.

2. Don’t carry cash. It might be a mental thing, but if I have a 20 in my wallet, it is gone quickly. I feel less guilty spending cash that I do when I use my debit card.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:48:54 +0000

A trick I picked up on this site that has helped: I wrote HOUSE on the credit cards in marker to remind myself of our current goal. Even without bringing it out now, HOUSE flashes through my mind when I’m considering buying something. It has stopped me a lot lately!

By: Texas Girl

Texas Girl — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:28:02 +0000

With ‘things’ such as kids’ toys, clothes, shoes…..my new rule is that for every new thing that comes into my house, something like it has to be donated. It makes me stop and think…which pair of my shoes do I want to give away to get these new ones? Usually I just put the new ones back on the shelf and walk away.
Plus like SaveForHouse I’m also trying to get on track to be a millionaire and financially free to give to people in need.

By: baselle

baselle — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:31:39 +0000

I go for the classic wait-24-hours-before purchase. During that time I really think about what situations I’ll use the item, see myself use and get pleasure from the item. If I can easily visualize it after 24 hours and I still want it, it still might be a want, but I know that I will use it.