For me I generally pirate most books I read, although if there is a book I really enjoyed I will buy the physical copy.
I also generally tend to avoid having takeaways because they are just so expensive in this day and age with inflation and tend to opt for cheap meals like pasta or rice etc.
Also I don’t pay for any streaming services, but borrow a VPN service from a friend to pirate the movies I watch.
Curious to hear of some ways that you people here save money.
Get a bicycle and use that for as much of your transportation needs as is possible.
If you can avoid owning a car by this method, you save a lot of money on car payments (or invested capital)/insurance/maintenance/fuel. Even if it doesn’t allow you to ditch a car, you’ll spend less on fuel.
If it replaces public transportation trips, then you save a bit on those.
Finally, the health benefits of extra exercise are going to pay huge dividends that are hard to measure but significant nonetheless.
I buy microfiber cloths, instead of paper towels because 1) you can launder and re-use microfiber clothes and 2) paper products are stupid-expensive.
I like to buy things that save money in the long run. Cooking, biking, cheap Steam games over expensive console games. I offer VPN or other subscriptions to family if I can.
I can count on one hand the number of games I’ve bought not on sale from steam in the last 5 years. It also does help that you can get the poor man’s demo so long as you keep a close eye on time played.
When I was fresh in my career:
- I worked in restaurants for decent money, girls, and free food.
- Roommates save lots of bling.
- Someone always has a connection or a discount.
Decent girls? In the industry? Don’t lie to people.
Waiting tables at a casual+ restaurant? Yes. The ratio is mostly girls- in their 20s. The turnover is high, so there’s always new people coming in. You’re around each other constantly so it’s not awkward to strike up a conversation. Plus the parties were pretty fun.
I don’t think you’d have the same luck at McDonald’s, or in management, but serving at decent places I always had good luck.
Oh I know, the joke I was making is that none of them were “decent”.
We stopped after one kid. Saved a lot of money. Friends all have 3-4 and are always broke. We have plenty of capital to enjoy life, vacation, and live a modest life.
My SO wants like 4 kids and I want 0. I think 1 will suffice because I also don’t want to be poor. I have a lot of expensive wants that I’d like to obtain before the country implodes.
You know yourself better than I do but, is kids really something you want to compromise on? My high-school sweetheart of 11 years said she wanted a kid and was pushing hard for it and I know I wanted exactly 0 kids. I decided to end the relationship since it would be the best for the both of us. Some things people shouldn’t compromise on, you can’t just get rid of a kid if you don’t want it and putting a kid through divorce is damaging.
One kid costs about $10K a year, mostly daycare or after school care. Usually a couple can afford that and still be okay. The return on investment is pretty big since the kid provides you with lots of opportunities being a childless couple does not. Now having four, that’s a ticket to broke town.
$10k is low end, and won’t even cover paying for 4 years of a state college. In state most places is pushing $35-40k/yr including room and board. Out of state is closer to $60k/yr. If you make enough not to get any financial assistance, Ivys in big cities are going for close to 6 figures once you pay for stupid-expensive rent. Even in a good growth fund, $10k/year starting at birth may not even fund a BS degree.
Now, ongoing maintenance on multiples gets cheaper in quantity, you just have to steer them towards the trades so their college costs disappear. Or hope they get full ride scholarships with housing allowances.
I pirate damn near every piece of media I consume.
I also have my automatic 401k contributions at work cranked up to like 15%. I never see the money in my bank account so I don’t even think about it and force myself to fit into a smaller budget- which is the best way to save.
Yeah the auto transfer on paycheck is really good.
Although I do it through an auto transfer from my bank account to stocks account and then an auto buy of various ETFs and indexes (we don’t have 401k where I live)
helps with the “this I what I got” mentality, rather than slowly creeping your daily expenses up to meet your full paycheck
A good tip about 401k is to increase it by 1% every year, you’ll never notice the change and continue saving more and more.
Dang, that’s a good idea! I’ll do this in January!
Wish I could crank my 401k. But I’m already having to work a second job to make ends meet. I’ve been sorely tempted to get that 4% back in my pocket for about a year now.
Local library for entertainment - free ebooks, free streaming of movies, passes to museums/state parks etc.
Eat at home, cook in bulk and eat leftovers to save time/money.
Ad block for watching YouTube/network tv without annoying ad breaks
Bodyweight fitness, walking, and at home yoga for exercise - no need for a gym membership
Use Facebook marketplace to get free/cheap furniture
I have 1% of my check go into an account that isn’t connected to a card, or connected to my main savings and checking. I have to go to the bank if I need it. With me being a bit lazy, money adds up over long periods of time
I have a champion mountain bike, world class, light and funky that I ride around town with, or to work.
It’s from 1996 (I think) and it cost me 100€ + 2x50€ for counti pro MTB tyres plus some 260€ four-five years later to renovate it top notch (gears, 2 rims, break stuff). It’s good to roll another 15 years with minimal costs.
I stopped buying plastic bottles and packaged foods, except ramens.
Since I bought a thermo, I don’t buy soda anymore and I’ve managed to save good money every week, especially good because I’m a student lol
And we only pay for cheap streaming services, I don’t care if something isn’t there, I can easily find it 🏴☠️
I live within my means. And actively manage my life.
most of my games are emulated
I have very debilitating anxiety that traps me in my apartment the vast majority of the time, so I save a lot of money from not having to pay tram/bus fees and stuff like that…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i saved so much money having crazy anxiety and becoming super ripped from calisthenics i did in my room
but im also a rock climber and i save money there by working at a climbing gym
I can save money on transportation by walking, even though I sometimes waste a lot of time.
10,000 steps a day!
I save a lot on spending by not having anything to spend
