Smart Spending Blog
Strategies for saving more
59Comments
Apr 13, 2012 1:57PM
Apr 13, 2012 4:01PM
What about those of us who don't buy coffee daily, or eat out/order in, don't go to movies, or the dry cleaners, etc , etc, etc. ? Many of us have already cut our expenses to the bone and are still struggling. Some of us don't even make it payday to payday. These articles always seem to be the same...'how I quit making unnecessary purchases and was able to save money'. Duh. Ranks up there with "I stopped eating a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon every morning and lost weight"
Apr 13, 2012 2:38PM
Apr 13, 2012 2:14PM
Apr 13, 2012 3:33PM
I knew it when I clicked to read this story it wasn't for poverty level incomes. I stopped reading on the second page. We already cut out everything we could think of that wasn't a "need" and one of the biggest things we cut was cable which was over $1000 a year. but we couldn't save that thousand. We had to buy such things as food and pay our monthly bills with it. At times we even ran out of food. We do not receive government assistance except unemployment because I got laid off. We also never went to food banks because even though we had nothing in our freezer I knew someone out there didn't even have a freezer. I would like to be able to save but in this economy we just can't. And it looked like people where saying save 10% of your income which is well and good but not when you have bills that are almost as much as you bring in. The entire government needs to make minimum wage and pay for their own stuff and then write an article on how to save.
Apr 13, 2012 6:24PM
Apr 13, 2012 1:56PM
These stories are always so "wonderful" and, obviously, about people making far more than most of us. I only read the first page as clear what the rest would be. Lets see "cut out yard maintenance". That's always been me mowing the lawn. "Expensive haircuts", that's the wife cutting my hair. "Clothes shopping"? Now I know amongst the wealthier folks, shopping is a recreational behavior but for the rest of us, it's "aw hell, need a pair of jeans". In good times, it's Walmart. Harder times it's the thrift store. "Gifts"? That stopped long ago.
I'm waiting for a REAL article designed for the masses. Something like "how I saved $500 this yr". I read very little, online, that isn't written by or for the upper 10% of the population.
Apr 13, 2012 12:33PM
Apr 13, 2012 2:42PM
Before you can save 10,000 don't you have to have 10,000. Many of the people I know around here are living on SS and getting less than 1,000 a month. Many were forced to take early retirement because they were unemployed to long and their benefits ran out. Now those people are no longer counted as unemployed but in a sense they are. The rosey pictures painted by the media and the politicans will not change the reality that most of us live with everyday.
Apr 13, 2012 5:21PM
Apr 13, 2012 4:52PM
Why It seems to me that every time I clicked to read such articles, the family is just another wealthy one with really bad spending habits. Why MSN don't feature a real struggling family that indeed has made it through. Of course, if you make decent money and take responsibility of your crazy spending habit you could save some money aside. But what about those who indeed had cut our expenses to the bone and still cant save to even fill up for gas!!!!! Waooo... MSN one more time you make no sense... The day that you feature a REAL family, the one living pay check by pay check, the one that miraculously saved 10k by cutting more expenses without starving their loved ones; that day you will have more followers till then you wont make any other sense like this family has either.
Apr 13, 2012 1:58PM
Apr 13, 2012 12:29PM
Apr 13, 2012 2:39PM
Apr 13, 2012 12:57PM
Apr 13, 2012 12:35PM
Apr 13, 2012 12:11PM
Your sooooooo Right!! Bill, the middle middle working class are the one's who've been suffering all of this time. 15% tax bracket GIVE ME A BREAK, if the rich had to pay 25% going back 16 years, instead of 10-15%, then half our national debt would be cleared. If the money that they have in off shore accounts were taxed, the national debt would be decreased even more, if the knuckleheads would stop sending our manufacturing jobs overseas then the poor could be pushed off of welfare and made to work, THEN the Middle Middle Class and Working class wouldn't have to support themselves and the rest of damn greedy/ lazy country!
Apr 13, 2012 5:06PM
Ha ha ha. I only read this to see if it was as unrealistic as the last one they posted. They have to stop letting the rich people write these articles! I have never been able to take my kids on a vacation, other than to the things in our area. They should have made the title how rich people save money. Oh, and really 7 pages???
Apr 13, 2012 5:50PM
it is so frustrating to listen to people talk about struggling to make it paycheck to paycheck and not being able to afford bills. take a look at your priorities and put a little discipline to practice. you don't have to have a car payment. sell your new car, buy an older car for cash (thus making your insurance way cheaper too) and put your extra money towards your debt. or maybe get rid of your iphone and just have a regular phone and save by not paying so much on your phone bill. or maybe just get basic cable (or no cable) and save $100+ a month by not watching so much tv and instead being more productive. its all about priorities. you want to have those nice things.... great, then quit complaining about not being able to do things like pay off debt because you can barely make it paycheck to paycheck.
Apr 13, 2012 5:40PM
you would have to have the money to begin with to save it. ...I could have written this article based on my own experience. Let's talk about cutting out your savings to keep above water.Sorry you had to cut out your starbucks, boo hoo. Or better yet let's talk about how to get a refinance when your income has gone below the bank's qualifications for a new loan. I ve got a good story there....the bank does't give a crap!. They'd rather have you living w/o heat food and electric as long as you make your mortgage payment.. Better yet, be in default , risk losing your home and ruin your credit, then maybe you can get help. Why not refi and reduce our payments??? ok blah blah blah...Times are too tough for saving right now. So take it from me, if you have got the money, cut out all the unneccessary crap, save as much as you can. You never know what the future will bring. For example...divorce, injury, loss of job, death of spouse, loss of business, illness and such.
Apr 13, 2012 2:42PM
If you had joint accounts and "our" money instead of "his" and "her" money, you'd have caught on long ago that the two of you are in debt. This is the only reason why you would equate talking about money issues to discussing "prostate health." It should have been a perfectly natural extension of your everyday conversations. My husband and I have always had all joint accounts, and we discuss money on a daily basis. How much has been spent, what expenses are coming up, we review our savings and investments account on a regular basis and adjust according to performance. Money is a HUGE part of marriage and family and should never be a taboo topic where you feel that it's none of your business what your spouse does with "his or her money." That's bound to lead to problems.
Apr 13, 2012 3:04PM
Apr 13, 2012 4:46PM
Borrrrinnng. I agree, what's with these articles that don't help, I mean really help! My husband, whose in the Navy and I work as a civil service. When we got married it was our accounts. We watch each other's spending. I was the Starbucks culprit and quickly learned and just as fast stopped. In 2007, we bought a house, at that time we both agreed that no matter how much more we make over the years we would maintain the same budget, the extra money goes to savings. Our ER savings, stays at approx 6K, so if something happens we have a cushion mainly for the house payment. We plan our trips out the year before so we know exactly what we are saving for. We use a credit card to pay for this and immediately pay it off with savings. We never put anything on the card that we can't pay off at the end of the month. BONUS! Our card gives us points to use for gift cards which we turn around and use for Christmas gifts. We have 3 teenagers and often have to tell them no when it comes to wants rather than needs. While I will admit, we do not live pay check to paycheck but I think it's because of how we save and maybe everyone can't do it like that. But these folks are obviously not with the program.
Apr 13, 2012 5:12PM
Apr 13, 2012 5:38PM
I am feeling kind of disgusted by this article. In the first section she mentions buying an expensive video game system and mountain bike for her kids... they seem like they are old enough to have earned it themselves by doing chores or saving their own money.
My husband and I have a young daughter and we struggle to make ends meet every month even with both of us working full time jobs. This article provides no help. We cut out as much as we can and even have to buy food from the dollar store on occasion until we get our next check. Unfortunately there are a lot of people like me who make higher than poverty level but still live poorly. We make a combined income of $50,000 a year and in the area we live in it may seem like a lot but we hardly have money for gas and bills.
Apr 13, 2012 5:07PM
hey I dont know why or why i read these but I guess i cant help it. First of all If you have money You should be able to save it.For example if you make 100,000 a year you should be able to save about 70,000 a year.If it was 90,000 then about 60,000. My point is I make under 30,000 and i survive.Its rough by I do. and I still donate too.Its all about your lifestyle.sure if you make 50,000 a year in my opinion your doing real good.People cant see this.2/3 of the worlds population dont even have enough money for FOOD.If you can save 10 Gs God Bless you I still hope you think about those people that dont have food or shelter.Just Remember if you only made 50 grand a year.In america today.You could live with food and shelter.And not go hungry. oh yea and you see the sponser to this site BOA they were one of the biggest players in bringing this economy down Do you think they can save 10 grand after getting billions of dollars of bail out money from the fed reserve that doesnt really exist any ways
Apr 13, 2012 1:55PM
My family is a middle class family- my husband and I work full time and we have a one year old. I think this plan isn't going to save me $10K, but SHE'S RIGHT! That coffee I buy myself 2-3 times a week adds up over the year to $605/year!!! So no...you're not going to save $10K, but you are going to save if you ae concious enough to pay attention to what you really spend.
Apr 13, 2012 2:06PM
Someone, I really couldn't care less if Buffet works hard for his income, or just sits on his **** collecting it, once that combo reaches a certain "critical mass" it should ALL be taxed at the SAME RATE his secretary (or anyone else's) is taxed.It is equally crazy that oil companies making record high profits get tax welfare.
Or that millionaires and billionaires continue to get tax welfare from everyone else. One thing this recession has proven for all (except those who insist on trying to promote obvious falsehoods, ie, republicans) is that there is ZERO correlation between the rich getting richer and that EVER trickling downward. When they have RECORD HIGH profits, and clearly only "create jobs" elsewhere, then we do indeed need to refigure those tax bills and engage American workers, vets, etc... in public works. The more going into the hands of the haves (which has been going on for OVER a decade now, the worse off the average person is, between the growing deficit in part created by NOT keeping the Clinton tax rates, and engaging in TWO unpaid for wars, well all that has only benefited the 1 percent. And yes, I know how hard Paris Hilton has had it, but I think it is about time that she pays her FAIR SHARE on all that inherited wealth, that she did nothing, except get born, to "earn".
Enough of the nonsense, tax the rich.
Apr 13, 2012 3:08PM
Apr 13, 2012 2:43PM
Well, even if I didn't manage to save $10,000 in a year, any savings I could manage would be better than nothing. I have not had a chance to read the whole article, but I plan on doing so; I am sure I can get some inspiration to get a better handle on where my money goes. The savings is all relevant -- if you make $100,000 a year and manage to save $10,000, or if you make $50,000 a year and manage to save $5,000, it would be a step in the right direction!
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