ToiletDuck

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...0-Money-Drains

good article.
Duck

mcartier713

i am proud to say i fall victim to none of the above

LAfrequentflyer

One thing I do that works for me is to put the same amount I spend on movies, beer, entertainment, and such into savings / investments each month.

If I spend $100 on dinner / movie / drinks one night I'll transfer $100 into my savings the next day.

Makes life a little more expensive and has helped me quite a bit.

I call it "pay to play" savings.

-LAFF

mcartier713

haha, cute. I might have to start doing something like that.

LAfrequentflyer

You have to be / get real creative when it comes to investing / saving money.

Do it only if you can - don't stress yourself out investing and miss out on life.

I don't deprive myself of anything but I do exercise a lot of moderation.

I'm also frugal, very frugal...<grin>

-LAFF

LAfrequentflyer

Another thing to try is to invest odd numbers monthly. Instead of $100 or $150 per month invest $117.77 or $167.87. The additional few dollars won't be missed and over time will build up.

-LAFF

Freightpuppy

Great idea!

Stetson20

The list is wrong! Here are the top two, in order:

1. WIFE
2. KIDS

Your list may be longer depending upon how many of ex #1's and/or #2's you may have...

Stetson20 (tongue in cheek, folks)

HercDriver130

how to save.... do it first... treat it like a bill..... have it autodrafted to either your savings or even better yet to a Mutual fund account were its harder to get at.

sigtauenus

+1 to Herc. I have my designated "savings" pulled from my pay automatically so I can't touch it. Also, savings and retirement are different. Retirement pay goes right to the IRA which is in a mutual fund, savings is cash for emergencies or planned large purchases which goes right to a money market account.

Retirement money does not get touched, ever. Ever.

Savings money gets used for unusual purchases, the new dining room set, new tires for the car, etc. Its nice to be able to buy the wife new tires when she needs them and pay cash, or to be able to walk into a furniture store and tell the salesman you don't care about their financing "deal" because you're paying cash. Just don't wipe out your savings doing that too often.

Also, because I've already put the money I want to save away, I don't feel bad burning through the rest of the paycheck each pay period. As if that wasn't already the only option when you add in the wife's access to the checkbook.