what have you gotten out of reading the messages and answers on this site?

[SOAPPRO]

I read and sometimes reread messages and answers on this site and and it has helped me many times. It helped me a great deal when I was setting up my budget and cutting cost. What has SavingAdvice forums and this site done to help you?

[PRICEPLUS]

Hope!!!!

[LuxLiving]

Commraderie with like-minded people. Tips on methods and the crazy wild idea here and there - beets & corn mixed w/salad dressing. Starting my own $20 Challenge. Being able to support others in ways that I wish I had gotten as I began our struggles out of debt. Inspiration from seeing people far younger than me making sound financial decisions.

[tinapbeana]

the joy of knowing i am not a miserly weirdo alone in the world, i am in fact a miserly weirdo in the company of great folks

seriously, just knowing i'm not the only frugal frugie in the world makes life easier, even though *sniff* i don't know that many IRL (and those i know are family & thus aren't privvy to a lot of the detail i share here). i guess you could say it's cathartic.

[JanH]

A changed mindset and the feeling that it CAN be done. Loads of support. And the support is nonjudgemental. The feeling I'm not alone in this. As PP said: Hope.

[fairy74]

A reaffirmation that spending every penny you own (and some you don't) to impress family, friends, relatives or co-workers is not normal but stupid and dangerous to your financial/emotional well-being

[rduell]

I haven't been here that long but am already finding that it's a great place for inspiration and encouragement to keep on plugging along at being debt-free and saving for retirement.

[aurielle]

This is where the cool kids play

It helps me save a lot of money from being spend on useless things.. I open two mutual funds account, a 20$ challenge, putting coins in my piggy bank, found a job and help me making me dream slowly coming true.

[PrincessPerky]

Learning isn't all done at once, for a kid to know the alphabet they hear it over and over, in many different books, they see it in the world, maybe several different adults point it out, and eventually it sticks, actually for the most part it is always stuck, the retrieval is the hard part.

Well the more times you stored it, and in the most places, the easier it is to retrieve it...more paths back so to speak.

And that has everything to do with this site, the more I read frugal ways, the more I read about like minded non joneses, the easier it is to retrieve that info while off at the store or trying to fudge dinner.

[Broken Arrow]

That I am not alone. That is a very big deal.

That I am not crazy. Well, ok, maybe just a little.

That it's possible for the ordinary to reach for the extraordinary.

Thanks gang.

[lrjohnson]

I've been inspired to do my Challenge.

I've been reminded to be grateful.

I'm wiht like minded folk that are sometimes hard to find in my "real" life.

I've gotten some nuts and bolt tips...Thrifty Ray's pork is in my crockpot now.

[Ima saver]

I enjoy being with such nice people.The $20 challenge has been a great inspiration to me. To know that i could actually save over $18,000 so far this year without a job is a challenge that I want to continue you every year. The "freebies" have been fun too!

[MonkeyMama]

Comraderie is great. Living in a society where I feel a little lazy because we are miles of ahead everyone we know, it is refreshign to come somewhere where I Feel challenged financially - LOL. & we totally needed it. Honestly, I still feel like we are behind. & you are all VERY motivating.

I have learned a lot as well.

[Ima saver]

We have learned a lot from you too, monkeymama. I like that the interest rates on the best money markets are always updated.

[Diolla]

I like the way everyone here is so common sense and don't religiously follow this or that financial guru. I don't have to be so careful what I say but can count on the straight opinion of everyone here.

[greedy4chips]

Its not what you make, but what you save that counts!

Not my quote, I did learn it here though.

[nanamom]

Sometimes inspiration, sometimes ideas, sometimes the ability to hang on a little longer, knowledge that I am not the only crazy person that does.... to save money. Best of all I can stay in better touch with the family members that are also on here, and "meet" cool new people.

[Ima saver]

Greedy, that was one of the first things I learned as a young teen, it is not how much money you make, it is how much of that money you KEEP!!

[Fizgig]

This place has helped me set goals. I'm pretty fortunate that I never dug myself a financial hole, but I wasn't exactly building wealth, either. I was just floating along, not accumulating debt but with very little in savings. At the beginning of 2006, inspired by this site, I set a goal to build a four month emergency fund. I'm almost there and barring any big emergency, will be there by the end of this year. Yay!