Tips on saving money?
 

Hey RS!

I'm currently a full time student, working weekends, the odd week day and during breaks. (winter, spring, summer)

I was curious if you guys had any tips on saving money.

A short story about me, I started working January of 2012, and by the end of the year I made about 6k. Looking back I've realised I spent a lot of it on useless crap. By January of this year, only having around $200 left. This year so far I've made 2k, some how with only about $500 left.

As you can tell, I compulsively spend money. I average around $250-$350 every pay cheque. I've kinda calculated my necessities and they only go to around $200 a month.

Any tips?

Sorry if this is in the wrong section btw.

Either degrade your lifestyle or increase your income.

:fulloffuck:

Dont eat out.

Dont smoke .

Dont blaze.

Dont club or rave

Dont drive.

Dont spend money on girls in anyway

You save lots this way. Trust me .
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you're weird

sad but true

having a savings + chequings account helps
not having a credit card helps

Keep only what you need in the chequings (~$220 or whatever) and once it declines you know its time to figure your shit out.

being a student in BC though, it'll be tough. There's gonna be random times when you're studying and you'll be craving a snack and the next thing you know you just spent $10 on overpriced crap at your school store -- there goes 10% of your monthly allowance lol.

Pay yourself first by setting up automatic withdrawals from your bank account into a locked savings vehicle like RRSPs. That way you can't get to your money even if you want to.

Stop being a compulsive spender. Seriously. It will not end well for you.

Stop compulsively spending?

@Matlock - hard to increase income at the moment, if i get more hours im taking someone else's hours away.
@Stormspirit - i eat out once a week, and dont do any of the other stuff.. i just always have an impulse to buy something that catches my eye
@dhillon09 - tried opening a savings account. but they said id get charged for it etc and i need at least $500 just to start it up
@DaFonz - the banks just make it complicated, is there like a time share? where i can just put money and not be able to touch it for lets say a year? or is that the automatic withdrawals?
@iceman-19 - harder than it seems... if i could stop, there would be no point of this thread

So I've encountered the same problem and here is what I did.

Do you live at home? I assume you do so start making food at home, or get your parents to, take that food and eat that for lunch at school. Some times it feels like you have no time to pack lunch for the next day, but find time to do it. That saved me from spending $40+ a week on lunch.

Do you drive? If you do, start taking the bus. I've started waking up earlier and taking the bus to school. This saved me about $100 a week on gas, and $25 a week on parking at school everyday.

Do you smoke? Party? Blaze? Limit that ASAP. Smoking costs me $40+ a week, I go out once a week or so now versus multiple times a week which has saved me a lot.

Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend? If she/he doesn't understand that you have to cut down on spending and going out... maybe time for a new one. I told my girlfriend that I was no longer able to go out as much, or go for dinners or lunch or whatever because of money constraints and she understood that and that has saved me a lot of money.

As others have mentioned, create a savings account, do not touch that money except for extreme emergencies. I saved 700+ in a matter of months and that was just putting in $100 every month combined with putting money into a savings account every time I used my checking account. That $700 saved my ass when I needed.

I assume your young, and at my (our?) age, 18-21 it might seem like you have to be going out every weekend, being a big baller, flashy, etc. but you don't have to be.

learn to be cheap :lawl:

gimme your money, I'll hold it for you =p
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@hongy i do make my own food, but at the same time going to the gym, i have to watch what i eat. and chicken isnt cheap D: . i bus, and dont party. no gf atm D: i tried opening a savings account but they made it all complicated. im actually a bit younger than you :p
@Recon604 i try sometimes, but quality over quantity.
@ilovebacon i was thinking of giving someone my debit card ...

If you don't have the self control to stop spending, you are going to be hard pressed to save anything.

Serious help...open a TFSA account at your bank. Set up a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly transfer into it. Don't touch it. You have access to the money any time you want, but it takes a day for it to transfer, so its not immediate. That would help with you using it to spend.

does the TFSA account have any requirements? i went in to set up a savings account the other day and they said i needed at least $500 to open one

No requirements. Not sure where you bank that would have such a stipulation. I work at one, you could come in open an account have $0 in it and walk away. :badpokerface:

I believe you have to be 19 to open a TFSA.

It's good to build some of those money saving habits mentioned above, but in addition to that, you should just get the money out of your hands asap. If you're having trouble with the savings account, try to even transfer it to your parents or your siblings and have them hold it for you.

Also, try Coast Capital, they should have no fee accounts for students.

subscribe to world of warcraft. 13 bux a month, will be your only expense. and your life.

If you're younger then me, I'm 19, then you shouldn't be charged fees at any bank.
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@teriyaki what bank do you work at?
@gyu sadly not there yet :(
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heisgenberg go to your registrar at school and get proof of enrollment papers.

Take those papers to your bank and say you want a free student bank account.
I have one with TD -- I get unlimited transactions on my debit card/unlimited cash withdrawals and its all free.
I just have to send them new enrollment papers every year

Listen, you're young so do yourself a favor and do the following:

a) Open up a student account (free)
b) Open up an ING direct RRSP streetwise account
c) Set up automatic withdrawals to your RRSP

If you start now, the power of compounding will set up the rest of your life and you'll have a good 10 year head start on when people normally begin to save.

setting up automatic withdrawals is a BIG plus. what i did was every pay cheque, a good chunk of it was taken away into a savings account which could only be touched once and with a limit amount that could be withdrawal. anything after that there would be a penalty fee.

limit what could be use from your debit card and set a low amount on your credit card if you have any.