How to Squelch 4 Big Money Wasters

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Take a list and do not buy anything that is not on that list.

Tina of OH 7:08PM May 19, 2008

in 6th grade to KEEP A CHECK BOOK REGISTER and BALANCE IT REGULARLY.
How stupid do you have to be to not do that???
I'll tell Ms. Bordoni another way to save money.... do away with specialty store shopping. You can find all natural, environmentally safe cleaning products at many retail establishments and they are far cheaper than shopping online where you have to pay shipping and handling.
Re. "free" stuff... What do you have to do to get it? Am I going to get what I will use? Will I have to buy crap that I normally wouldn't use to get the "free" stuff?

Tina of OH 7:06PM May 19, 2008

i have found lately that with price fuel that what i used to buy one at time.now becomes
several of the same item that i would use in a month our more,if you remember that
this the way pioneers used to do it because it them all day just to go on 20mile
round trip,here in oakville,wa the stage line that went from centralia to oakville took
ten hours or more round trip,joe a.

joe atoch of WA 6:57PM May 19, 2008

The checking register booklet that comes with your checks. I have been keeping one for the past 10 years and have not had an overdraft yet. If you can take time to write notes on the calendar, the checking register shouldn't be so hard. If you have a hard time with adding and subtracting you can use a calculator. Also, reading the booklet that comes when you first open your account would be a great thing to do, that way you can understand how the bank and your particular account works. I don't have overdraft protections and don't intend to get it. i don't rely on online or the phone since they are not always acurate or up to date.
I have to make a list before I go to the grocery store and stick to it. Once I have all that is on the list then I let myself get other things, if the funds permit. I also don't go grocery shopping unless I have eaten first. I will buy more that i can handle. Although with 6 kids nothing lasts long in my house that is edible.

Charlotte of KY 1:11PM May 19, 2008

All,
A great way to see where you're spending all your money is with Quicken Online. It's only $2.99 per month and it's web-based. Within minutes you can see all your spending and account information across *all* you accounts (all in one place!).
I'm the PR manager for Quicken and we're getting a lot of great feedback about this new tool so I thought I'd share this information. It's very different than our desktop software and a lot of younger folks love it because it's easy and it's online.
You can try it for free at www.quickenonline.com
The best thing is that it does a great job categorizing your spending - and you can edit the fields to make it even better.
Good luck seeing where your money is going!
Jodi Reinman
jodi_reinman@intuit.com

Jodi Reinman of CA 12:28PM May 19, 2008

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JR Enthusiast of NY 7:07PM May 18, 2008

Seems to me like the message here is that everyone has different money wasters, so you have to find your own and squelch them. Not everyone gets hit so hard with bank fees and library fines. And "passing up free stuff" is only a money waster if the free stuff is genuinely free and is stuff that you would use anyway - if you have to buy stuff you don't want to get more stuff you don't want for free, that's hardly a deal worth taking.
I think most people probably splurge on groceries from time to time. But the attitude I take toward that is, if I'm going to splurge on something, groceries are about the best thing. For me, my "retail therapy" urge is satisfied just as well by a $4 bottle of gourmet salad dressing (or whatever) as by a $50+ pair of shoes. So I just try to be conscious of splurges and keep them under control, not eliminate them entirely.

Johanna of MD 9:45AM May 17, 2008

I think a lot of people can save a lot of money by getting overdraft protection. Most people just don't realize how much the banks are skimming from them over time.

DDAWG of AL 8:09AM May 17, 2008

Thanks, Tim! I appreciate your comment... I personally found these tips useful!

Kimberly Palmer of 10:53PM May 16, 2008

I think this is advice most of us need to hear, whether they want to admit it or not ...
(BTW - those who fail to finish high school are generally referred to as "high school dropouts," not "high school drop puts.")

Tim of CO 5:57PM May 16, 2008