Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Secret to Saving Money

Our biggest waste is spoiled food . I have a wife that will not finish the food she cooks many times. She cooks too much at once and some goes to waste. I am super frugal. There is little that gets by me. As for saving, I will never buy a new car or truck again and will run them till they are junk. I do simple car work myself. We do go to restaurants about once a month, no more and we go to good ones but only if they have a special 2 for 1. Here is one that has really saved me thousands of dollars. I have decided that the Lord with contentment is great gain. I ask myself before deciding on a trip if I would be happy with a cheaper , closer trip. We almost never go on expensive trips and therefore dont miss much work. An example is we are going to celebrate our 31st anniversary . We decided to go where we went of four honey moon. That is Sault St. Marie Michigan and Canada. We will stay a few nights and go on the Agawa Canyon train ride. I doubt we will spend $ 800. I dont even want to spend that but must come to realize that bread aint a nickel anymore. We will drive through Upper Michigan, look at a 20 ac. parcel in Manistique , Mich . and be on our way. This is once every few yrs we do something like this and almost always a cheaper trip than $500. We stay in clean but cheaper motels. Trina wont camp period. Another thing that Orange Okie will agree with is very important. Investing in the future. It is imperative to invest in low cost investment companies like Fidelity. A full service investment broker will cost you many thousands of dollars . Mom had me look at some of her annuities last week. I was sick to see they were in index funds. NOTHING WRONG with index funds but found they were charging her 5% per year charge for index funds. I can't bear to tell her they took a good $ 50,000 from her in profits just to manage 3 index funds that I could manage for her for about 50 bucks a year. Gets me sick. It takes NOTHING to manage your own portfolio and will surely do better than 75% of the investment managers out there. Dont ever forget, it is NOTHING TO IT!. I have decided that sitting on the back porch cooking 3 bucks worth of hamburger is more peaceful than a 20 dollar bill for 2 burgers at a restaurant. I save darn near every extra penny. Even recalling saving my change and at home loan time I would literally take a good 10 bucks a month in change for extra payments to my home loan. Another thing we do all the time. We shop at Good will and Vincent. I am just a carpenter slug and clothes dont last long so Trina stops in and gets jeans for me when there is a size that fits. Many times I get 40 dollar jeans for 7 to 8 bucks and are better quality than Walmart. Any other suggestions are welcome. I dont believe I have cheated myself in any way by being cheap. I also give 1/10th to my church and I always have enough.

You don't need a list of 15 things you must do to save money. It is much simpler than that.

Think of it this way, most people will give a waitress 15-20% just for doing her job. So here is a foolproof way to become wealthy:
No matter where it comes from, as soon as you receive any money at all (earnings, winnings, gifts, selling your stuff, etc) take out 10%, never to be spent (that's the important part). You will learn that you can easily live on 90% of what you take in. You may eventually decide to borrow against your savings, but never spend it--invest it.

He who dies with the most money in the bank loses. Live life, have fun, eat good food and travel. Too many cheapskates live miserly lives of boredom, always afraid that they spent $2.00 too much on something they didn’t need anyway.

I have no idea how much time I have left on this mortal coil and I’ll be damned if I have to ask my neighbor to borrow a blender, mower, weed eater or di.ldo.

We do fine and I know we could save more money but I don’t GAF. I prefer to make memories with friends and family, love deeply, laugh often and not worry about saving money by stiffing a waitress on a meal.

Nailed it.

I do so wish I could bring up the Red Green show. Daulton Humphreys, saves 90%. No socks, underwear, toothpaste, ect.

That is the real secret. It's pretty difficult to save your way to prosperity. It's a lot easier to increase your income. Being poor does not equate to being virtuous.

What's wrong with doing both? My wife and I have plenty saved, yet we took a 2 1/2 week vacation/cruise to Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. The key is not to spend money on stupid stuff you don't need. I always hear people talk about how many "safe queens" they have. That's just another way of saying "stupid guns that I bought on the spur of the moment and have no use for". How about selling them or, even better, sitting on wants for a month to see if you still want them after that time. The answer is usually "no".

.....and being rich is no indication of virtue either.

Some of the most miserable cock suckers I’ve known had more money than they could ever spend. I wouldn’t trade places with them for anything.

God is great, beer is good and people are crazy....

I’d add to that, being wealthy is no indication of being rich..JMO

My dad was not a book smart guy, but he was over-run with common sense. Two things he told me when I was young I didn't forget:

1. Spend less than you bring home.
2. Learn how to give. The more I've given away, the more I've made. Funny how that deal works.

Nor is being poor.

Look, you need more coming in, than going out.

It's not how much you make, it's how much you spend.
Learn to live BELOW your means.

I’d tend to agree with both of you. All one needs to do is look at high income areas and look at the misery in the lives of the wealthly. Extramarital affairs, domestic violence, multiple bankruptcies, kids that hate their parents except when they get their monthly drug allowance, road rage and a complete lack of empathy is endemic to those with fat bank accounts. Having worked in law enforcement and the fire department in some of the highest income areas in this state has shown me that there’s little difference between the ghettos and the rich suburbs. The only difference is that the scum in the ghetto know they’re scum but don’t care while the scum in the richer areas not only don’t think they’re scum but believe they’re more important and better than anyone else. Turn signals and common decency rarely exist in both extremes. I’d not piss on either one if they were on fire.

Passbook loans? It's more economical to just use your savings and make putting it back in your top priority as you're able. No interest that way.

In my opinion, the whole thing turns on being intentional in working towards your goals. Mine are to work at something that is meaningful and I enjoy, make enough money to not have to worry about money, be kind and generous to those close to me, and try my best to treat everyone with respect.

I really don't have material goals anymore. A newer truck, nicer recliner, better scope or fancy gun does nothing to make me happier. Neither does eating at the latest "in" restaurant, or traveling to exotic destinations. Being in the field or woods does. Going to see my daughter graduate with her masters degree is important enough to endure a 10 hr plane ride -- no small sacrifice at 6'5", but they sell extra leg room, fortunately.

It all starts with being intentional, in control -- with work, money, and expenditures -- and people.

Then all you've done is saved up enough to spend on something and you're broke again. Very foolish.

You skipped part two of my sentence above. Here, I'll highlight it for you.

80% return on 20% effort.

Me either.

Buy it or make do without it. I hate to lend stuff and have it come back messed up or having to go chase it down when I need it.

I have some in-laws that are notorious for this. Apparently it is a way of life for some people.

donsm70