How to save nearly $10,000 a year
Posted on January 21, 2007 by Steve
Do you tell yourself you don’t make enough money to save any? Do you wonder where all your money really goes? Do you spend small amounts of money daily or weekly without even thinking about it? Those small amounts add up — just look at the chart below. Curb your “mindless” spending and you could be nearly $10,000 richer at the end of one year.
- Soft drinks: 1/day @ $1 = $356 year
- Candy bar/chips: 1/day @ $.60 = $219 year
- Concert tickets: 6/year @ $75 = $450
- Magazine: 1/week @$3.50 = $182
- Cigarettes (plus tax): 1 pack/day @ $4.75 = $1,733.75
- Tank of gas: 1/week @ $40 = $2,080
- Music CD: 1/month @ $17 = $204
- Lottery tickets: 2/week @ $2 = 208
- Fast-food lunches: 5/week @ $8 = $2,080
- Name-brand tennis shoes: 2 pair/year @ $125 = $250
- Specialty coffee: 1/day @ $3.50 = $1,277.50
- Video rentals: 2/week @ $5 = $520
TOTAL SAVED IN ONE YEAR: $9569.25!
Source: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Yeah, you can cut out all of those things, but that still didn’t equal $10,000. Cut out your fast food lunches, $2000? So I just don’t eat? Good idea, i have a better one. Rent $550/month - Live on the street! Wow look at the savings. You can’t put food in the equation because you’d have to eat something, I would say your saving would be closer to $1000. Just because you cook it yourself don’t mean it’s free. Tank of gas. Yeah i’ll stop driving the 20 minutes to work. I’ll sprint there in in my suit in the 10 degree weather… Awesome. Yeah I buy 2 pairs of tennis shoes of year? NO. more like zero. Not everyone smokes. I’ve never even been to a concert. Your topic needs to be changed to: How I saved 9569.25 in a year.
GAY
Gay,
You REALLY missed it. Yes you have to eat, you don’t have to eat fast food or spend a $1 on soda a day or $3.50 a day on specialty coffee…
You can replace it with between $100-$350 monthly with food you buy from a grocery store… Prepare @ home and bring with you. (Including coffee!)
Those are all mindless things we spend money on but, especially with gas prices now, don’t realize how much they add up!!!
So with replacing those wasteful high cost things with other more reasonable purchases and NOT replacing the money spent on something else (most likely wasteful or unnecessary) you could still end up saving about $5,000-$7,000 a year. Especially if you invest it, put it in a high interest account or join a money club.
If you look a little deeper, I am SURE you can find wasteful things you spend money on. Maybe not $10,000 worth but you probably could save a lot more than you think.
I did it and saved about $4,000 in a 6 month period. Enough to buy my first car, pay the insurance for the life of the policy, buy my family christmas presents and have money for some unexpected expenses.
How about make coffee at home? I’ve done it for three years and could never bring myself to pay $3.00 for a cup of coffee!
I also make my lunch for myself and the kids for what it costs to eat a fast food lunch. No one ever said PB and J would kill you.
I also swap magazines with family and purchase DVDs to swap.