FH and I are trying to save money for our wedding because we are totally paying for it! But each week that passes I feel like we are spending more on BS than actually putting away! I work a second job 2 days a week but it brings in cash so last night I brought in 270 and I spent 160 today!! I am so upset at myself and discouraged what do we do!!!
jtgarsik
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Re: How Do You Save Money
figure out exactly how much the two of you are bringing home, and then what your bills will add up too. Then make a SET AMOUNT that you MUST deposit into a SEPARATE bank account each week.(not each month - it's to easy to spend). and make sure it is within the reality of what your wedding is going to cost so u don't fall short. i totally feel ur pain! DH & i went through a lot since we were paying our own as well. but u can do it! don't get discouraged!!!
bluegreen08
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Eat out less, rent movies or watch TV instead of going out to see movies, pack a lunch instead of going out to lunch, stay awaaaayy from the mall!
we've been saving $$ lately but spent a lot today -- we finally cleaned out and furnished/decorated the second bathroom in our apartment (we had been using it as a walk in closet/storage of engagement gifts) and then stopped at the arts & crafts store, went out to lunch and then bought a few cheap things for my halloween costume.
Hopefully most of it should be a one-time expense.
Set aside X aount of $$ into your wedding fund each month as if you are paying utilities and just don't think about it? If you pay yourself first then you wont have that money available to spend on crap you dont 'need'
Papillon25
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Set your account up to automatically transfer XX amount of dollars per week or per month.
'Pay yourself first'
missK
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Re: How Do You Save Money
First you need to know how much you need on bills to spend each month. this includes $$ for gas . Then take the rest and put that away. I opened a ING direct acct so that I make more $$ on my savings and its harder for me to take that $$ out (like if I wanted to spend it on say a really nice pair fo shoes . So far so good. And ING gives you $25 to start the acct. Free $$ is good too
jtgarsik
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Re: How Do You Save Money
ps: u also might consider getting a 6month cd...this way u can't withdraw any money for 6months, only deposit....and it'll gain some interest while it sits too...this is something good to do for say just ur RH fund...or AFTER u put down deposits for ur vendors and don't have to worry about giving them anything for a few months.
mrs k on the way
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Re: How Do You Save Money
LOVEEEEE I.N.G....been a member for like over 2 yrs now...and it makes you think twice about taking $$ out and putting in ur checkin acct.
drpepper318
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Well when I need to save $$$ I try to tell myself... NO SHOPPING for fun stuff... just the necessities... plus if we go out we're careful w/ how much we spend on food/drinks. And I try to pay cash for things and not to use my credit card because when I do I can get out of control.
angl2001
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Re: How Do You Save Money
save money??? oh please tell me more i havent been able to save a thing lol except the $33 in my change jug!
hannahshim
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Re: How Do You Save Money
you can get a product at a bank called installment savings account .. But unfortunately they dont sell this product in American Banks. I know they sell it in korean banks.. so if you live near queens you should open one..
Ok now let me explain what it is.. You basically set a amount and a term.. for example $5000.00 for 1year and you will pay a certain amount per month for 1 year.. then the rest will be interest... (sorry I dont remember the exact amount I'll have to go to work tomorrow to find out) the rate is 4.0%APY. If you'll like to know the exact amount FM me and I'll let you know ^^
you can do it for any amount so if you want a 1year 50,000.00 its possible..
if you are interested FM me and I'll give you any info you need..
if you have a set payment to make a month you will definitely spend less PLUS you will get interest!!!
FutureMrsLehmann
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Re: How Do You Save Money
before you even think about where you'll be putting your savings...like the others said, you absolutely have to write down how much $ you bring in every month. then you have to write all of the expenses that are necessities (rent/mortgage, electricity, cable, cell, train/gas, food). then subtract the necessities from the amount you take in....that's how much you can save. obviously you'll need a little spending money so subtract that.
me and fh did this and it's amazing to see how much we save now. we've cut out so much extra crap!
november152008
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Re: How Do You Save Money
try opening a short term cd....online accounts if you look at HSBC online the savings account has 4.50% apr which is better then the .02% at a regular bank....
i bring my lunch to work....i try to get as many hours as possible....make coffee instead of buying coffee....do not go shopping....do not go to the movies rent movies instead....
if you have credit cards do a balance transfer to a 0% card...
anneandchris
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Re: How Do You Save Money
As many girls said once you figure out your monthly bills figure out much realistically you can put away each month. Pay yourself first -- i put a certain amount into a 'wedding account' each paycheck (l linked the account to my direct deposit so I never have to touch cash or go to the bank).
We also save with change. when we buy things with cash we always break a bill and then take the change and put it in jar. At the end of each week, any extra singles we have go in there as well. We saved a couple of hundred dollars in 3 months.
I know it is stressful but it can be done -- just have to have a little self control with the extra spending.
Espo22
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Re: How Do You Save Money
i calculated how much i would have to put aside each paycheck to cover the cost of the wedding...of course first i had to do calculations to see how much we're spending, then divide the amount of months to our wedding(when we first started planning of course) from the grand total...after i came up with an amount i would have to put aside each month i figured how much i put aside each paycheck...this way i automatically put aside the amount i need and whatever i have left can be spent freely without worrying.
AllJoy
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Re: How Do You Save Money
I am a very bad budgeter and $ burns a hole in my hand. You should go to INGdirect.com They will make an automatic deduction from your paycheck and you don't even miss it. It was the best thing.
SoontobeMrsMc
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Like everyone else said...
1st: Sit down with FH and figure out how much you both make (after taxes). How much do you both think you can comfortably live on (monthly spending $). Ex: I take out x amount on the last weekend of the month and unless there's an emergency, that is my spending money for the following month.
2nd: You need to figure out your individual and joint monthly expenses. How much do you need total each month in order to pay all of your bills? Also include gas and food-those are estimated bills. I would try to estimate a little more than you know you will spend- so you have extra money in your account... That way if you need a few extra things that month- you're not short money and if you end up not needing it, you can leave it there.
3rd: On the last weekend of the month, I put the total amount needed for the following month in our checking account. Then Fh and I both take our agreed upon spending $ for the month. Whatever is left over (after taking our spending money and depositing the total amount needed into our account) is automatically put in our ING savings. We do not touch this money for anything. I keep a seperate amount of money in my direct bank savings-for emergencies or extra expenses. On my personal accounts (and I'm sure I'll eventually do this with FH too), I take my ING savings once a year and turn it over into a 1-year CD. Then I'm making more and I won't be able to touch it.
ChristineAaron08
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Re: How Do You Save Money
STOP spending $.
We cut back on going out to dinners and movies and stuff like that. We still keep a once/week dinnr date just so we dont feel deprived and cooped up in the apt. Its usualy the diner or Fridays or somthing like that..nothing expensive.
I dont get lunch out at work either, I used to spend at least $40/week doing that.
I keep clothes shopping to a min. b/c that can add up quickly.
When we have extra $, we just hide it away an dpretend its not there..otherwise we would spend it.
Try writing doen everytime you spend $..even if its like $2 and you will actually see what you spend.
Good Luck.
MissAngel
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Just a helpful tip, once we had enough saved we opened a 3 month liquid CD at Astoria Federal and it was SO much better than a standard bank account because we collected a little less than $400 in interest in 6 months. Basically you need $5000 to open it...after that, any $ you add on top of that is liquid; meaning that you can use it like a savings account & deposit and withdraw the $$ so long as you maintain the $5000 min. The term is only 3 months each, so the $ isn't tied up for too long and you can get to it when you need to. I just wish we had known about it sooner. I think we got 4.5% interest back when we did it. I HIGHLY recommend doing it if you can!!!
Kara and Todd
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Re: How Do You Save Money
Well, what is all this BS you're spending your money on? Cutting out those unnecessary expenses would be #1 on the list.
Then, depositing (preferably automatically) a set $-amount from each paycheck into a separate savings account really helps.
