Are you good with money?

zissou'smom

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I hemorrhage money like it's my job. I don't know why, either, I don't buy extravagant things, I go shopping other than grocery maybe once a year, etc.

I just always seem to spend more than I have


I just recently cut up two of my credit cards and put the other one in a drawer so I can't use it unless I HAVE to (like, rush Zissou to the vet or suddenly buy a plane ticket, real emergencies), and I am paying them off pretty steadily. Hopefully that helps a lot.

What is it that seems to make some people good with money and some people like me? Any of you have advice for me? I'm trying to have no debt, first, and then start saving up some, and I don't get much.
 

lookingglass

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Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

I hemorrhage money like it's my job. I don't know why, either, I don't buy extravagant things, I go shopping other than grocery maybe once a year, etc.

I just always seem to spend more than I have


I just recently cut up two of my credit cards and put the other one in a drawer so I can't use it unless I HAVE to (like, rush Zissou to the vet or suddenly buy a plane ticket, real emergencies), and I am paying them off pretty steadily. Hopefully that helps a lot.

What is it that seems to make some people good with money and some people like me? Any of you have advice for me? I'm trying to have no debt, first, and then start saving up some, and I don't get much.
Pay for everthing in cash. Everything. It will make you think twice about how much you are spending.

Also, put your credit card in water and freeze it. If you want to buy something you'll have to let it thaw out before you can get to it.

I've started a 10% account. Every paycheck I stash away 10% of my paycheck. I pay it like a bill.
 

katiemae1277

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yeah, I feel your pain Julie
I make really good money, but haven't been able to save a dime over the last 8 years
the divorce didn't help, but a lot of it is my own darn fault! Food is a major expense for me, if I would just grocery shop and cook it would help tremendously
if I didn't have 12 cats that would help too! I've always paid my bills, but never had much left over
 

trouts mom

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Yes..I am awesome with money


I learned a hard lesson in college maxing out three credit cards.

My current Credit card balance is always at 0..and I have never paid a bill late. I don't shop for myself..unless its a new cd every now and again.

I have investments that I put money into every month.

I do sometimes feel strapped, but I have never actually been completely broke. I would gladly get another part time job if the need ever arose. (My car breaks or Trout gets sick).
 

diego

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Heck I am useless with money, I've got soo much debt its not funny, surprised the debt collectors aren't knocking down my door. And what do I have to show for my debt? absolutely nothing. I was working 80+hrs a week last year, and the $ was only just enough to cover my living expenses. have only 1 credit card, with a low limit. I have been to budget advisers and they offer little help and some of them just couldn't work out, how with my income and my out goings I had next to no money. My income was nearly 2x my debt, but yet I have no money. I keep receipts if I don't get a receipt I write it down.

I've got just enough money to support myself for another few months before returning to my home country. I don't care what my wife says or others, I won't allow her to support me. Even if it'd her idea that I be a house husband.

Sorry kinda took over your thread there. But I too am no good with money.
 

xulili

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I'm good with money just a poor student.. both me and my husband recently returned to school so money is tight. We pay our bills on time allways have food, rent and the cats get well taken care of so I guess were doing good.

Only haveing one 500$ limit credit card helps... I refuse to let them up my limit.

Pay things in cash!

Allways looking for the best deals for big items like furniture, electonics, etc. Scratch and dent! Sometimes even talking to the sales person gets money off or a better deal. Like incudeing a 3 year xtra warenty or a upgrade. Example, getting a free split boxspring for our new bed. Sometimes it pays to be a cheepskate!

Talking to lenders and credit card personel sometimes can get a lower intrest rate.

Setting aside a small amount of money to yourself in a saveings account before you do anything else is also a good thing.

I buy food on sale, all my dry and canned items are from big sales. Meats and other foods I get in the larger family packs or when they are really on a good sale, I split them into smaller portions and freeze them.

Every once in a while I splurge a tiny bit on my husband and I, it helps the spending sprees people can get on if they get more money than they normaly have.

And one last thing if you buy something or recive a service and are truely not happy with, say something! Nothing like finaly parting with your money and not being happy with what you got. Complaing can do some wonderfull things.
 

jujubee

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Yes, I'm good with money, I just don't have any!!!
My car is paid off but I have a feeling I will have to get a new one before the year is over.
I have a daughter that has been in orthodontic treatment for years, but that is totally worth it. I haven't bought a house, I'd like to, but am not ready yet.
I am a single mother, I am the only source of income; it's tough.
I do have some savings, I own a couple stocks -nothing big- but hopefully they will be worth alot more when I'm gone, they are for my kids.
The only thing I really wish is I had some kind of retirement $$ building up, 401K or something.
I do have big credit limits on my credit cards, which have low, low balances, so that is kind of comforting . . . . I think.
 

miagi's_mommy

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How would I be good with money if I suck at math?
no, I am not good with money at all.
 

goldenkitty45

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A good money management course is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace (think you can find it online too). We just did that in our church small group. While we are pretty good with our money, it did teach us a few new tricks, etc.

The best helpful thing is the "envelope" system - surprisingly it works very well and you actually have money you didn't know you had out of the paycheck.

And the bottom line is you need to assign your money to go to certain places; "tell it where to go" otherwise it will go somewhere else and you won't have a clue as to "where did it all go?"


One of the biggest problems is the easy money in credit cards and the companies aiming this at teenagers to get them into debt very quickly! Others are the "no money down" sceams too.

DH and I had a discussion about why do so many lottery winners (big time) are broke in a very short time.....he says and it makes perfect sense. IF you know how to handle a small amount of money (your paycheck), then you can handle a lottery winning. IF you waste your money now and are always broke; then you will do the same with millions of dollars.
 

duchess15

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I am pretty good with money. Lately, I have been spending more than I wanted to, but I still live at home and have the leisure to do so. I am in the process of saving for a house, furniture, and my account will be built up incase "something breaks", because you know there will always be something that does.

I have my money in money funds and put aside a small amount for each one each month. I also have a Roth and 402b that money gets put into each month. I had a huge student loan, but I have already started paying it off and will have it paid by next year. I don't like debt so when I finally move it will be nice to have that cleaned off.
I am always saving because you never know when you will need it. I only have two credit cards. I would only have one, but discover is not taken everywhere. I always pay all my bills on time and never put anything on it that I can't pay off, which means I always pay the complete amount each month. If I really want something bad enough, I will save up for it.
I will be starting another fund just for the cats because I want to know exactly how much I will have for them and it's better than getting pet insurance, IMO.
Try getting a log book and start logging the amount of money you are spending and where it is going to. That may help you figure out where it is going to. Paying in cash is a good idea also. I carry my credit cards with me, but only use them if I need to. I don't carry an ATM because that keeps me from spending more money and if I really need cash, I have to go to the bank to get it.
 

darkeyedgirl

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I think I'm good with money. I own a house that is worth more than what I paid for it cuz I rehabbed the old ugly thing. My car is paid for, runs great. My kids are well dressed and really want for nothing.

Yup I have credit card debt, yah, but this is America. It's up there, too!

If I had a dollar for every credit card I did the 'cutting up ceremony' with, I'd be able to pay everything off. All those 'musical credit cards' (where you transfer the 12% interest card debt onto the 0% interest card for a year) only work for so long. But it does work. Short term, anyway.

I have a credit card set aside just for pet illnesses / vet visits. And one for household problems (garage door just fell down? dishwasher just exploded?). Kind of keeps a running tally on where I've been!
 

catlover19

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Originally Posted by lookingglass

Pay for everthing in cash. Everything. It will make you think twice about how much you are spending.
I spend more money when I have cash. I use my debit card to pay for about 95% of the stuff I buy because that way I can go online and see exactly where I spent my money.

I am horrible with money. I very rarely buy anything big. We do have a 42" tv, Playstation 3 and a Nintendo Wii, but those are the only big things we own and were all paid for with bonuses, not paycheques. I really don't make much though (about $300 a month) and my boyfriend makes about $300 a week. We pay the bills, buy food, go out to a movie every now and then and thats about it. We don't waste money going to bars or anything. We do eat fast food quite a bit but that is going to stop soon.

I have 2 credit cards and my boyfriend doesn't have any. I have a $300 limit card that I mainly just use if we are buying something online, and I used it to pay for the hotel when we went away once. My other one is for where I work. It has my 10% employee discount on it automatically and it is only a $1000 limit. Neither of those are too hard to pay off.
 

arie85

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Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

I just always seem to spend more than I have
Try to open an account abroad, it might help you to keep the money there and not touch it

I see it as a better thing than opening a CD because you can find yourself following the progress of your CD everyday and that's not 'healthy'
 

gailc

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We are really good with money (ok maybe I didn't need to spend $150 on gardening books today they were on sale and no shipping).
We save alot every month-when I mean alot its 40% of take home plus we have Roth's and Neil contributes 15% to his 401K.
What some people think of essential we do not have such as cable TV, hi-speed internet, extras on the phones. We do not eat out very much-I have a large veg garden and we have a big freezer in basement so when items go on sale I stock up-I probably wouldn't have to go grocery shopping for 4-6 weeks!!! I don't stop for coffee in the am-I bring my own water jug to jobsites-I don't by bottled water unless there is no option. At gas station I only just get gas. But I do have my weakness-books and magazines and plants!!
Neil grew up in a large family on a small dairy farm-there just wasn't any extra money so he doesn't shop for any extra items ever!! If I sent him to grocery store with a list that would be all he would buy!!
We pay our only CC off monthly and use the float on it to our advantage-buy a larger ticket item shortly after CC cut date and float that money until the CC bill comes due and then take out of savings acct. I try to watch for items to go on sale then buy at that time-ie Target had Smith and Hawkens solar lights on sale 30% off-I had been stopping in every couple of weeks to watch for the sale-then I bought them-saved $40!!
For anyone who doesn't know where they money goes-keep a spending diary.
Also menu planning works real well for the grocery budget too.
 

lunasmom

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Ehhh..that's part of the college life. I remember spending like $2K a month in college and only brought in maybe $1500 a month.

What finally helped with me (at least before I got this job and moved in with B) was that I set up my online banking to automatically transfer $x over to a savings account. That way I never really saw the money and I had it there in case of an emergancy (Or senior trip
).

Also, what doesn't help is that its easy to get a credit card and easy to buy things in this day and age. I never allowed myself more than one credit card in college. Even afterwards it took me 7 years before I finally got a second one.
 

swampwitch

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I was clueless, but have learned everything from my husband who is great with money. Thanks to him we have been completely out of debt for years and are in a position to buy a house. (We are waiting right now to see what's going on with the market.)

We've started teaching our daughter to save 10% of her money, and have shown her how money makes money. She's very excited about the concept and never wants to spend any of her money!
 

kitytize

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Originally Posted by JuJubee

Yes, I'm good with money, I just don't have any!!!
My car is paid off but I have a feeling I will have to get a new one before the year is over.
I have a daughter that has been in orthodontic treatment for years, but that is totally worth it.
Same for me. Plus I manage to show my cats once a month. And my daughter just started orthodontic treatment. I do have my own home also.
 

urbantigers

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I'm hopeless with money but am finally getting better. I've never really had much so have never learnt to budget. What I do now is each payday I budget for the month ahead (I get paid monthly). All my bills go out as direct debits within a few days of my salary going in, then I sit down and work out what I need to buy that month (haircut, birthday presents, petrol, cat food, credit card payments, savings etc.) and what's left gets divided by how many weeks in the month so that I know how much I have to spend on food, going out, clothes etc. Then I withdraw my weekly allowance in cash and make sure I use cash to pay for everything. If I run out I just have to make do until the next week. I've become very good at buying food cheaply and take a packed lunch to work. I've finally realised that saving a little here and there really does help as it all adds up.
 
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