I have summarized his suggestions below:
- Cancel your cell phone plan - Possible yearly savings: $1,200 per phone
- Get rid of your second or third car - Possible yearly savings: $8,000
- Prepare more meals at home - Possible yearly savings: $2,000
- Wear out your clothing - Possible yearly savings: $1,800 per person
- Give up college room and board - Possible yearly savings: $9,000 per student
I disagree with the majority of his arguments for the following reasons:
- Cancelling your cell phone costs approximately $300 (depending on your provider). My cell phone bill is about $35/month. $35/month X 12 months = $420. If I cancelled my cell phone bill I would save about $120/year. Add to that the headache of changeing my contact number with EVERYONE - no thanks! I think that we can take steps to save money with phones by asking yourself the following questions: how many do I really need? how 'connected' do I need to be?. by asking myself these I realized that I do need a house phone and my cell phone - but I do not need voicemail on either phone.
- Public transit (plus parking) is $8/day * 20 days = $160/month. My car was $1500 and is paid for. Gas costs me about $50/month and my insurance costs me $155/month. Again - Not worth it to take transit in my city when you have an economical car.
- Most of my meals are prepared at home
- I havn't bought new clothes in a year (oh, how I need some new clothes!)
- I had to live away from home during the academic year b/c my family lived three hours away. I did however work two jobs every summer to save up for school the following year.
So that's what I thought about Yeager's money saving tips.
What are your money savings tips?
i.
ReplyDeletemy money saving tips:
the money comes in
bills paid for
saving
the money thats left you have for food and other things.
so: SAVE FIRST is my money tip!
I'm a real believer that there is no "top ways" to get out of debt or save money that's going to work for everyone. There's no finite answer that fits every single situation. As Gail says, as long as you spend less than you make and are saving, then the rest is up to you. If you need a cell phone and car (which I definitely do!) that's fine, as long as it doesn't put you further into debt to maintain them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Jamie. Everyones situation is different. You (and Gail) are right at the end of the day if yu are spending less then you make, you are saving! Where you put it is completely up to you.
ReplyDeleteJessie, I thought I'd add that there are ways to significantly reduce your cell bill through the internet without incurring the problems and inconvenience of completely canceling your plan that you mentioned. One blog called http://www.fixmycellbill.blogspot.com/ constantly tracks new ways to cut wireless costs and exposes shady billing practices utilized by the cell phone companies. Also, take a look at the consumer advocacy website where I (admittedly) work, http://www.fixmycellbill.com , that slashes the average cell bill by 28 percent. Through the site, which is powered by a company called Validas, we have currently audited over 26,000 cell lines and have saved consumers over $5 million off their wireless bills. You can see Validas in the national news media, most recently on Good Morning America at http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/MakeMoney/story?id=7640149&page=1.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to everyone reading on achieving the lowest possible wireless rates.
Dylan