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161 Comments
- GinsuGuy585, on 02/08/2008, -1/+471. Stop spending more than your income.
2. ???
3. Profit. - sjbdallas, on 02/08/2008, -6/+45My wife costs me $1000 a month: car, insurance, gas, crap she always "needs", etc
If I could just get rid of her, I could pay off all kinds of bills and save all kinds of money and probably have more sex. - blackinthmiddle, on 02/08/2008, -0/+34These are good ideas. My wife and I make pretty good money but didn't like how much debt we were in about two years ago, so we decided to get serious about paying stuff off. A couple of things we did, besides what was mentioned in the article were:
o Make our own laundry detergent - you can make detergent just as good as the store brands for a 10th of the price! I kid you not!
o The same for dishwashing soap - look up how to make these things on the internet.
o If you own a home, use warm water to wash your clothes instead of hot. Your clothes come out just as clean and you save about $200 bucks a year in your gas/oil bill!
o Brown bag it as much as possible - we all know the hundreds of dollars you can spend a month just on lunch
o Don't pay for items you can get for free. If you're young and leaving your parents, you'll probably need things like a T.V., sofa, chest of draws, etc. There are many websites where people *give away* extra stuff they have in their house. About two years ago we were going to buy a $600 dollar dedicated freezer for our basement so that we could buy extra food and store it. Then we saw that someone near buy was giving his away! it's still running fine in our house and we saved the expense of paying for one. - LeRenard, on 02/08/2008, -1/+29Tell her to get a job.
- inactive, on 02/08/2008, -3/+29Is "Don't spend money you don't have" on that undoubtedly predictable list?
- spearce, on 02/08/2008, -3/+23you should buy my book. you can find it at any major book retailer for $34.99. it's one page long and entitled "Don't Buy ***** You Can't Afford." You'll probably want to read it more then once and get copies for all your friends.
- BDOUG, on 02/08/2008, -1/+21A few folks are poking fun of this but it's obvious most Americans need to take it to heart ASAP.
- TomK88, on 02/08/2008, -2/+19Don't go into consumer debt. Bad debt is consumer debt, also known as buying things you can't afford. Good debt is investing in yourself and your future, and is a positive thing.
- windyridge, on 02/08/2008, -1/+13For cost cutting: Use gas cards that give discounts. Hess offers 30% back for a few months. Quik Fill is 5 cents off a gallon. Pay all bills online eliminating postage, envelopes and time. Use offpeak/peak billing if for electricity if you have it and do the dishes and clothes washing at offpeak hours. Replace all incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. These measures alone should save you significant money each month.
- Flavor, on 02/08/2008, -0/+12Stop living on borrowed money - bottom line.
10 years ago I was on the verge of bankruptcy (the accompanying depression was making life even worse), so I vowed to never borrow money again. It took me 5 years to pay everyone off, and life has never been better.
I sold my car, moved closer to work - and started biking everywhere (bus, rental cars help to) but it saved me $500 a month (even more in today's dollars). Now, I just paid cash for a new Toyota truck, I just paid cash for my trip to Asia, I pay cash for everything - and I have plenty more of it in savings, which get's me a nice interest return.
I should have listened to my grandfather much earlier - but his advice - "if you don't have the money in your pocket, you shouldn't be buying".
LIVE SIMPLE - BE FREE. - mwvwca, on 02/08/2008, -0/+11this coming from someone calling themselves.. ***** mate?
- spinaltap87, on 02/08/2008, -1/+11Cancel your cable tv and dont buy cds/dvds. Download everything with bittorent.
- kingmanic, on 02/08/2008, -0/+10I make a average salary. I have No debt that I don't have covered in the bank. The only debt I have is when I use a credit card for a meal since it's easier then going up and using the debit station. This may change once I get a house but really is it that hard to live within your means? Do you really need a hummer? $400 sports jersey? All 3 major consoles and a 50" TV? Is it really that hard to live within your means?
- fdw2006, on 02/08/2008, -1/+10Every time I am want to buy something that is not a necessity, I go to the store, look at it and ask if I REALLY need this thing. 90% of the time I convince myself I don't so I don't make the purchase. I regret it sometimes but I have no credit card debt either.
- liuite, on 02/08/2008, -0/+9for a techie, I stay away from the "latest and greatest"...still don't own xbox360, ps3, hd-dvd, bluray, big screen LC, iphone or any of those fancy gadgetry...no monthly cell phone plans, no cable TV, pay $50 for phone/broadband, no car payments....all those monthly payments can really add up!
- GeorgeWKush, on 02/08/2008, -3/+11earn more, sell drugs.
- Buzzbean, on 02/08/2008, -2/+9A spot where that meme actually applies!
- spidrw, on 02/08/2008, -1/+8You have to be careful here though - credit cards (if used properly) can really build up credit. That credit comes in handy when you do things like buy houses and cars, because most of the time you'll have to take out a loan to do so, and having a history lowers your interest rate.
I've got 5 credit cards - I use one, and pay it off every month. All told, my total limit is somewhere around 85k, but I only ever have about $1,500 used of that limit at any given time. When the lenders see that, they see that I'm responsible. This has changed since years ago, and may change again, as it used to mean I had the potential to rack up an ass-ton of debt relatively easily and quickly, and therefore I was 'risky'.
If you find yourself abusing your card, then absolutely, just get rid of it. Cutting it up will only work for so long. If you can control yourself (even if it takes practice) then credit cards are probably the quickest/easiest way to build your credit. - americangoy, on 02/08/2008, -2/+916. Start a blog about your effort.
Errr......hahahahahahahaha.
The reason many people are in debt now is also the "housing bubble", where banks used to loan money to every idiot so they could buy a house.
Guess what - you can't afford that house and now you are in debt - BIG time.
Who's to blame?
Alan Greenspan, the banks who lent to idiots, and the idiots themselves - for being idiots. - rnreekez, on 02/08/2008, -1/+823. Get a financial panther. "GET 'EM SHEBA!"
- s0nicfreak, on 02/08/2008, -0/+7The sad thing is it would probably cost you way more to divorce her than to just stay with her.
- rockrapdude, on 02/08/2008, -5/+12And one for the goverment: Stop the war.
- litkaj, on 02/08/2008, -0/+6Every time one of these articles pops up I read through it and they all give the same crappy advice. Getting rid of your credit cards is NOT the answer. Using them responsibly is.
By paying off your cards in full each month you are getting an interest-free loan. That means that you can continue earning interest from your bank on the monthly charges. In addition, a decent cash-back card can really earn you some extra cash. This past month I received a rebate from American Express for just under $500 for last year's purchases. Yes, that's right, $500. That's $500 I wouldn't have if I followed the advice of every jack-ass with a blog who seems to think that just because he couldn't control his spending that no one else can either. - loganhid, on 02/08/2008, -2/+80. Don't buy ***** you can't afford
- cuntmate99, on 02/08/2008, -2/+8that sounds like a loving marriage
- Malevolant, on 02/08/2008, -0/+6Maybe our government should read this? I find is beyond sad that, as we are headed towards recession, our government is going to send us a few hundred bucks to stimulate the economy. Don't get me wrong, as extra cash is nice, but it's going to add over one hundred billion to the deficit, which we have to pay back, so this is beyond ridiculous. We are so indebted to other countries that we are now selling off many things that are, and should be, kept in our hands. China is now a super power, thanks to our over-consuming habits, so I guess we've done something as a people....
- recruz, on 02/08/2008, -0/+6i think credit cards are generally the major culprit, because of the fact that they are like option arms- if you pay just the minimum payment, the total balance goes up, and it continues to go up- and then the person charges some more in the month, and pay the minimum payment again. Do that for about three months, and immediately you get yourself into a world of hurt. I did that in three months- and I'm amazed at how fast that bill went up. But I have the cash to pay it off this month so i'm good to go.
- CanuckPenguin, on 02/08/2008, -0/+6While you may have saved $600 on the freezer you need to be careful. An old freezer will use much more electricity than a newer one. This could you have paying more than that in electricity costs.
Of course even better is not having the second freezer in the first place. Unless you are using it to buy things in bulk to save money. A lot of people have a second fridge/freezer down in the basement and have barely anything in it. Such as waste of electricity. - JohnboiWaltune, on 02/08/2008, -1/+6Hiring a hitman is a buyer's market these days. The contract would pay for itself in less than a year. Just sayin'...
- americangoy, on 02/09/2008, -0/+5Yes but we are dealing with IDIOTS here. People with no self control. They literally have 1000's of $$$ of debt on their cards which they cannot pay and which is getting them 10, 15, 20% or more in interest each month.
If people were responsible, we wouldn't need articles like this, there wouldn't be a war in Iraq, and there would be unicorns and rainbows with pots of gold at the end..... - stonebear, on 02/08/2008, -5/+10Your implication is that people go into debt for things they don't need. 20 years ago you might have been right. But wages have been stagnant for so long now that people have to go into debt just to stay afloat, as per the master plan to make debt a necessity of American life. It's a myth that all, or even most of the working people who went into debt did so for big screen TVs and boats.
- cldnails, on 02/08/2008, -0/+5Hello, somebody needs to just start listening to Dave Ramsey. ;)
- akatherder, on 02/08/2008, -2/+7I have all my monthly bills automatically charged to my credit card every month. Then I just make one big ass transfer from my checking account to the credit card to pay it off. Every three months or so, I accrue enough Reward points on my credit card that they send me a $250 check. Plus I don't have to stress out about whether I overdraw my checking account since everything is on my credit card.
When I did have debt, I opened up a new credit card and did a balance transfer to it. They waived monthly interest for a year so I was able to make $300-400 payments each month and actually make progress in paying off my debt (instead of just covering the interest). - inactive, on 02/08/2008, -2/+723. Cut a hole in the box?
- Pinkertinkle, on 02/08/2008, -1/+6Borrow it from China!
- Blandyman, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4farvergnuugen:
Using credit cards builds up your CREDIT. That's what decides your limit on credit cards. That's how some people can have an $85,000 credit limit and only make $30,000 a year. It's just if you pay your ***** right.
Without credit, you can't get a loan for a house or car. That's why credit cards help you buy them. - springboks, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4We need a Top ways to stop your wife from spending money.
- fahrvergnuugen, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4Actually, I drive a 1986 911 (my avatar)
- kungfoolou, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4The American Way:
Live and Die in Debt. - kingmanic, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4You can also substitute vinegar for most anti-bacterial cleaners.
- CanuckPenguin, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4Maybe just frugal instead of cheap. I make my own laundry detergent. I tried it in order to save money. I think it cleans better than the stuff you get in the store. If it didn't work as well then I would have gone back to store bought. If I was cheap I would have continued using the home made detergent even if it didn't work as well.
- inactive, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4don't tell them that... everyone knows that a fall in the money supply is recessionary.
- kingmanic, on 02/08/2008, -0/+4But it's cheaper then lysol.
- tommyredcoat, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3Your advice works fine for small items, but you better either have a high paying job or alot of patience when you decide to purchase a big ticket item like a new car or house.
- oldhick, on 02/08/2008, -2/+5Eh? You won't survive with regular laundry detergent? Or are you talking apocalypse? Cause from what I was reading, blackinthemiddle is just cheap.
- BlueSun420, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3"grammar"
- AmusedToDeath, on 02/08/2008, -1/+4What nobody ever seems to get is that if you don't have any debt, you don't need credit because you can quickly save money to buy things with cash. In essence, you become your own bank when you live debt-free. You can be free of worrying about fico scores and debt ratios because you can buy things with money you ACTUALLY HAVE.
- tcpip4lyfe, on 02/08/2008, -1/+4Why because it's probably true?
- tcpip4lyfe, on 02/08/2008, -0/+3Read the article before you dig him down....
- artfiend77, on 02/08/2008, -1/+425. Learn more about Piratebay and what it can do for you.
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