Want to save money? It's all about a single word

[Grymm]

If it's one thing I have learned is that saving money is about one word. And this one word is what retailers and Corporate America hate and fear...

The word is Patience.

Today's society is all about "gotta have it now". Look at the IPhone/IPod. The IPhone is a wonderful device, but when the IPhone II released, those owners were lined up around the block trying to get the new version. Why? Sure there were some great new functions, but the original IPhone could still access the web, it could still access ITunes, and it could still store music. Is the "facetime" function soooooooo important that you can't wait? And look what happens a year later....another IPhone comes out with more "cooooool" functions, and the whole process starts again.

But, if you are patient, you save money. If you are patient and stick with your IPhone, eventually the IPhone III comes out and the IPhone II drops in price
.
And with that I give just a few examples of how patience has helped me save literally hundreds every year.

1. Stop going to the theater to watch movies. Sure the theater is an "experience", but if you're patient, that movie will be on DVD before you know it. Notice I said DVD. If I were you I would dump HBO and all that other cable/satellite crap. But, nothing beats making your own popcorn and having movie night at the house.

2. And to follow up .1 above, stop buying your DVD's new. I was at a yard sale the other day and found a copy of the recent Conan movie. Not the Arnold Conan, but the new one that released last Summer. I bought it for 50 CENTS! Go to Pawn Shops. Many sell DVD's for no more than 5 bucks. Heck, I got an entire season of Farscape for just 6 bucks at a Pawn Shop.

3. Yard sales, Pawn Shops and Fleah Markets. If you're not shopping them you're crazy. I find more brand new stuff at Yard sales and Pawn Shops. And if I ever need Socks and other minor items like that I only go to Fleah Markets. I get a bag of 12 pairs of comfortable, new socks for 3 dollars. Nuff said.

4. Stop doing the following. It's just plain uneccessary if you're patient.

-Theaters
-Fast Food places
-Netflix
-HBO, Cinemax, etc. (the good stuff will be on DVD anyway
-Mall Shopping
-New Cars

Yeah, I know what you're going to say, that I lead a boring life. You would be very wrong. I'm in great shape, have money put away, and by living "last year" I'm able to put away even more money....

Something to think about at least...

Grymm

[thesmartnickel]

Totally agree. People who can delay their gratification often get rewarded immensely for their capacity to do so. I feel like one big expense many people have is their laptop, but if you just wait a couple years, the price of memory is going to continue to plummet and processing power as well so you can get a really good laptop for a great price. Of course, if you are the type of person who wants the latest technology and toys, you are going to have to pay up for it.

Patience is also extremely rewarding for investors.

[jeffrey]

Friendly reminder to all -- this is a financal board, not a politcal board.

[Grymm]

I have no idea what you're talking about...political????

Grymm

[josetann]

I'm guessing that someone posted a long political rant about something, it was deleted and a mod posted a friendly reminder to keep it clean. Would probably make more sense if the offending post was kept but simply edited out, with a note below it saying that political blah blah is not allowed.

But back on topic...yup, that's just one of many things we do to save money. Don't have to have the latest and greatest. Wait a bit, be patient, and it'll either drop in price OR someone will want to get rid of a barely used item to get the NEXT latest and greatest. Been keeping an eye out on a surround sound system...almost bought one for $250 that was $800 just a year or so ago. Haven't had a cable/satellite bill for years. Netflix...we've paid for a month here and a month there. First and last new car was bought in 2000. But we do occasionally go to the mall and to fast food. Definitely not an every day or even every week occurrence though.

Oh, and my mom was looking at a new netbook or a tablet...she settled on the ipad, and I talked her into a refurbished ipad 2 (vs the brand new ipad 3 or "new ipad" or whatever they're calling it). Saved $150 by being a year behind...virtually brand new, same warranty and support, etc. It's the exact same thing that everyone was going bonkers over exactly a year earlier. She gets it with no waiting in line, there's better support for it (i.e. it's matured a bit, more apps optimized, etc.), AND saved a bunch.

[breathemusic]

I agree with all that stuff though I'm not so sure about netflix. It's only a few bucks a month, and with all the streaming or movies you get access to, the cost per movie turns out to be really cheap. Of course, if you pay for the service and only watch 1 movie a month, it's definitely not worth it. But for people who watch several a month, it's actually a really cheap deal comparable to buying movies at a yard sale.

[Jtuxyan]

I wouldn't say patience exactly. After all, if you're looking for something that will make/save you money, getting financing (a loan) for it might be exactly the right thing to do. Instead of saying you need to be patient, I would say you need to be unhurried. Stop and think about when it is best to get something, and don't let either need (that you gotta have it now!), or fear (that you can't take out a loan!) change your mind.

[ShawnaC123]

I agree with most of this, but you've still got to live and have a little fun. I used to never go to the movies, but in the past couple years I've started to really enjoy it. However, I hardly ever pay full price for tickets. I look on slickdeals.net for Fandango deals (or other movie deals if your local theater doesn't use Fandango) and find discounts. I also go to matinees usually which are cheaper, or on Tuesdays which is a deal day at my theater.

Also, Netflix is fairly inexpensive and can save you a lot of money if you use that instead of cable.

[jpg7n16]

I'm a bit surprised that 3 out of the 4 suggestions to get you on the path to financial success -- have to do with where/how you watch your movies. That's just odd.

Maybe if you're impatient, you feel like watching more movies? I don't know. That sounds like the beginning of a DirecTV commercial. (... When you feel like watching more movies, you blow a lot of money. When you blow a lot of money on movies, your girlfriend leaves you. When you're girlfriend leaves you, you spend even more time at the theater. When you spend even more time at the theater, all your clothes smell like dirty popcorn. Don't make your clothes smell like dirty popcorn - switch to DirecTV )

I don't think that your financial success will be determined by how you spend $10-20/month.

IMO there are much more important things. Like having patience on larger items. (House, car, electronics, food, etc.)

[josetann]

I'm a bit surprised that 3 out of the 4 suggestions to get you on the path to financial success -- have to do with where/how you watch your movies. That's just odd.

....

I don't think that your financial success will be determined by how you spend $10-20/month.

IMO there are much more important things. Like having patience on larger items. (House, car, electronics, food, etc.)

$10-$20/mo on movies? When's the last time you went to a movie? Just for two people, you can easily spend $40. $10-$15 per ticket, large drink with large popcorn (easily $10+), couple boxes of candy (at $2+ each). What's that, you have two kids, and they each want a different drink and their own popcorn? Of course they each want their own candy. Timmy wants nachos instead of popcorn, but you just bought popcorn...argh! Billy wants gummies AND raisinettes...etc. Not saying you SHOULD spend this much; rather, it's incredibly easy to do. Family of four could spend darn near $100. Once a month is bad enough, but what if it's a weekly event? Even if they aren't TOO bad, at $75 * 4, that's over $300/mo (cause some months have five weeks). OUCH!

If you can just be a little patient, you can cut that down to $60/mo. Only go to the movies once a month, hit matinees or some kind of sale (we'll assume tickets will be under $10 per person), and just drink water (I won't mention sneaking in the $1 candies you can get at Wal-Mart...oops I just did). So we can keep that under $40, and the other $20 goes toward buying cheap movies on dvd (on sale, or used, whatever).

Be a bit more patient...and we can cut that back to $10-$15 a month. Go to the movies a few times a year; use netflix occasionally (I like to subscribe for a month or two, then cancel for a couple months or more, then repeat), additional money can be used to buy used dvds (if you're using netflix to watch Monsters Inc 10+ times a week...just buy the movie and suspend your netflix account for a while).

Lots of things can be a big money pit without us fully realizing it. And for many, movies are just that.

[jpg7n16]

$10-$20/mo on movies? When's the last time you went to a movie? Just for two people, you can easily spend $40.

Just a few days ago. Spent $20 for two tickets to see MiB3. Didn't buy popcorn or drinks as we went to dinner first.

Time before that was last month for Avengers. Same. $20.

I may go see one movie a month. Planning on Batman being the next in July, meaning I likely won't go to any in June. Many times I won't see any. Or I'll get a Redbox DVD for $2 (blu-ray). I only see the ones I really want to see in the theater. Others I prefer to watch at home.


So given that I've spent $80 this year on movies, and we're 5 months in, that works out to $10-20/month.

[josetann]

Just a few days ago. Spent $20 for two tickets to see MiB3. Didn't buy popcorn or drinks as we went to dinner first.

Time before that was last month for Avengers. Same. $20.

I may go see one movie a month. Planning on Batman being the next in July, meaning I likely won't go to any in June. Many times I won't see any. Or I'll get a Redbox DVD for $2 (blu-ray). I only see the ones I really want to see in the theater. Others I prefer to watch at home.


So given that I've spent $80 this year on movies, and we're 5 months in, that works out to $10-20/month.

Let me ask you this: are those the ONLY movies you watched this year? If so...ok, I gotcha. You're not being patient at all, and it's only costing you $10-$20 per month.

On the other hand, if you watch an average of one movie a week, and you are being PATIENT enough to not have to watch every movie the instant it comes out in the theatre...then you're doing exactly what this thread is advocating.

The point of the thread is to help people who DON'T have the patience to wait. If you're already patient...why argue that being patient isn't going to help you any? I don't get it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We spent $15 on discounted tickets to the avengers (my mom was visiting) and then $8 for a large popcorn, even after I ate a big dinner (i knew I was going to experience the movie no matter what, it's my once a year treat). Last movie I saw with my DH was possibly iron man 2 in the theaters (I think we saw something last summer when my MIL visited), but I'm not sure. We were going to see Sherlock Holmes at Christmas but my DD got sick. I know the last movie we definitely saw in the theater was Avatar in January 2010 before my DD was born. Right now we barely watch movies at home because we don't have the time.

I like movie going to going out to dinner solo now. It doesn't matter what I spend because going out is such a treat. Probably around 3-4x a year so I am not going to cheap out when the amount of time hours) I get to talk to my DH solo is few. Our kid happens to be one who sleeps late so our couple time is limited and so is tv. We turn it on for 20 minutes at night for one show for her, and until she sleeps no tv for us. We don't have cable. We have netflix streaming only for her cartoons and that's it.

Personally I know I'm investing in my relationship. As a friend put it, she now pays for a babysitter, dinner, movie, hotel room for a couple of hours every few months because her husband threatened divorce. And he meant it. If your relationship as a couple after having small children, especially more than 1 close together isn't cultivated like raising a child you could end up solo parenting. So which is it?

Yes you can eat at "home" but then your kids are sleeping, waking, etc. You can go for a walk for free, you can picnic if it's summer, but what if you never have sex? What if you are a cosleeping family (see above friend)? I know they haven't been to a movie in about 4 years at the theater. They were so jealous we saw the avengers.

Sometimes spending money is a necessity and it's not about squeezing every penny.

[jpg7n16]

Let me ask you this: are those the ONLY movies you watched this year? If so...ok, I gotcha. You're not being patient at all, and it's only costing you $10-$20 per month.

Yes. Like I said, I see the ones I want to see in theaters. I don't want to see EVERY movie out there.

And if I don't really want to see it, I just don't go. Not worth $20 to sit through something I just think will be "okay." Might be worth $2 at RedBox though. Fortunately for my wallet, I'm picky about what movies I want to see

Maybe I just cant imagine a person who take his whole family to the movies EVERY week - because there just aren't enough good movies out there to do so.

The point of the thread is to help people who DON'T have the patience to wait. If you're already patient...why argue that being patient isn't going to help you any? I don't get it.

I think you're misquoting me, or misunderstanding my point. Please tell me where I said being patient won't help your finances.

I just said I found it odd that the ideas were all movie related - as though movies are the key to financial success. IMO another example of majoring on the minors.

IMO there are much more important things. Like having patience on larger items. (House, car, electronics, food, etc.)

If you spend $2000+/year on movies, you have more problems than just patience.

[josetann]

Sometimes spending money is a necessity and it's not about squeezing every penny.

I agree with you. But one could argue that you ARE squeezing every penny. Going to the movie theatre a few times a year can be a real treat. And you probably squeezed about as much enjoyment out of the money spent as you possibly could. While the thread is focusing on patience...I focus more on enjoyment per dollar spent. $60 to go to the movies a few times a year ($20 * 3) = good value for the dollar. $2,080 to go to the movies once every week in a year ($40 * 52) = not good value for the dollar (well, not MY dollar, but to each their own). Patience is more like an afterthought with how I look at it. I.e. will this 1yr old phone that costs half of what it did new, give me nearly as much enjoyment as the new whiz-bang model out (and I also tend to remind myself that just one year ago, THIS was the newest whiz-bang model that everyone was going gaga over)? I'll get more enjoyment per dollar spent on this half-priced discounted/used phone, than the newest out there. Same end result, but I'm just looking at it from a different point of view. And yes, SOMETIMES, the latest/greatest is the right answer; just not usually.