Saving money is a way of life.
Saving money is a prerequisite of investing.
But how do you exactly save money? What’s your budget?
How much do you put away a week?
How much do you spend on food?
How much on gas?
How do you split your rent / mortgage up?
These are just some of the questions that you can find on OrlandoForums.com regarding our topic today.
Here are some of the answers to those very basic and fundamental questions by the members of the forum (at random):
1. Save at least 10% of your income each month and you will surely go a long way in growing your money.
2. 5% on transportation but if you drive – count gas, insurance, maintenance and parking. This can go up to a little less than 20%.
3. 15% on food and groceries including toiletries.
4. 5%-7% – for all kinds of bills such as electrical, phone, cable subscription etc.
5. 20%-30% – payment for mortgages, taxes and insurance. Keep this part as your savings if you’re not paying mortgages.
6. 5%-10% – incidentally a lot of the members are paying off some kind of debts specially credit cards. Consider yourself lucky if you don’t belong to this group.
7. %% – the left over is for everything else such as clothing, entertainment, medical cost etc.
One of the senior members of the forum suggested the following very practical ways to save money:
- Cook instead of eating out
- Don’t speed to save gas
- Make sure everything you don’t use is unplugged except for your fridge and alarm clock
- Ac temp never changes
- Got on a family plan for cell phone
- Paid off debt and never use a credit card unless you can pay the balance
- Paid off car debt, never buying a new car ever
- Teach your girlfriend how to be cheap like you.
I love the last point.
