Saving $

People who have a house or are good at saving?
Can you share any tips... I want to really start seriously saving but just am not good at it..

I like shopping..


a lot

don't go shopping

a lot

heh

save first - dont save whats leftover, spend whats leftover after saving.
I take 15% of my nett income and save it for investing.

adjust your lifestyle so that you spend less than you earn because thats what it takes to get richer.

shopping is NOT a passtime it is what you do when you need to get something.

How can I spend less than I earn... ?

I mean I could actually save about $1300 a month maybe if I'm frugal *gasp* which probably doesn't sound much to save for a house it will take forever.. so I guess thats wha tputs me off... its just money sitting there.. and it will take forever ..

Houses are so fn expensive..and I'm not even sure I'd get a mortage approval either...

sake.

It sux when you come to the age where it's either do it or dont bother...hrmmmm

buy this book (it's cheap) "The Richest Man in Babylon"

It kind of doesn't say anything new, but it does say it in a way that you have a moment of realisation. Start here.

Oh ffs biggie.

Piece of fucking andrew shit. Look on amazon or just buy at your local bookshop.

Before you buy something ask yourself if you actually need it and if it's more important than your saving goals

You have to actually want to save, not have a vague notion that it might be a good idea,

As far as a house goes, are you a kiwisaver member? (With a new job you might get auto enrolled)

Your employer has to match your contribution (free money) and you can withdraw it for a house. Not to mention the government tops up 500 a year (that you can't withdraw)

the question isnt do I save for a house or not.
if you dont save for a house then you should be saving for your financial security, which is partly what the house brings you.
just save because if you dont you'll will always be broke.

Yip Ive been in Kiwi Saver since it started up... free money = amazing

I am just at the point where I see my bankstatement online and I have honestly spent in the last month about 2k on "stuff"...and things

I could have saved that really... and yeah no excuses I dont have credit cards or loans so yeah no excuses.

Spend every penny you earn. Today might be your last and you cant take it with you when you die. People save and scrimp through their prime years and sacrifice so much just to be secure when they are old and decrepit and their hip replacement and bad heart means they cant actually enjoy those savings and security because they cant leave the house?
blow it all!!!
Party
Travel
Shop
Smile!

yeah ...

hrmmm

How do old people pay their rent and things? Wonder how much pension payments are...
must be around $300 a week....cant be much more than that

What Buscuit said

"sav ing for a house" from scratch is so demoralising, and whats the prize? More stress and debt? Its also realistically only a goal for young person/ a couple or someone who earns really good money. Forget it. its overrated anyway

If I was you Id set a goal thats more fun, like taking your girl on holiday.

It just sounds so irresponsible.. but meh I guess Ive never fit the mould of "life" path things.

saving would be ideal though.

My tip is to earn way more than you need. Then there's always spare cash for coke n hookers.

What does that even mean? Whose path?

You think your poor but your richer than 98% of the posters on here, what a crime it would be to spend the next 10 years working and fretting and saving like fk , just...... do your thing and stop worrying!

well yeah I didnt read his post properly and not advoctaing compolete irreponsibleness something in between is good

mm yeah I know I'm not poor. Just a bit (lot) stupid with what I have

Ijust meant I'm not following the normal woman path of life... get a husband get married have kids get a house.. that doesn't appeal
..I must have lost my lady card somewhere along the way.

heh

Or the other path of being a single mum on the dpb sponging off others to get by... not that typical path either.

I'm a odd ball.

anyway does anyone else want to buy a house, I"m sure you guys will all buy one or have one...

My advice is simply to want less stuff.

I have almost everything I want and I probably earn less than almost everyone on here (well, not really anymore, because I now have a real job n stuff). I don't really deny myself anything, but I just have a different understanding of what's important in life.

Super is currently $400.07/week gross if you're single and living alone, or $367.45/week gross if you're single and living with others (LOL imagine flatting when you're 70).

I save by default. I love saving.. seeing my bank balance going up and up makes me feel rich. I have my salary paid straight into my online high interest account, then whenever I need money I transfer $600 into my current account and take it out at the ATM. I pay cash for everything and when the $600 runs out I go and take another $600 out. If it's something I buy over the phone or online I use my credit card, then when I get the bill I wait until it's a couple of days before it's due so that my money earns interest in my savings account during that time, then I pay the bill off in full.

I've been keeping a money diary using 3B1 notebooks since about 2004 and I write down everything I spend in them. At the end of my "money week" (Thursday night) I draw a line underneath and add up how much I spent that week. Then at the end of the notebook I add up how much I spent over the timeframe the book covered. It usually takes me about 10 months to fill up a book, and I spend roughly $22,000 every 10 months on living. The book I've just started will be the first book where I haven't gone and lived overseas so I'm interested to find out if it changes how much I spend. Although I'm planning on going on a month-long ski trip to Tahoe next February, so that's going to muck that up.

The first $10,000 is the hardest, then once you're past that your savings seem to take on a life of their own and before you know it you're at $20,000.

I'm saving to buy another rental property. I bought one 8 years ago and if I hadn't been travelling all this time I probably could have paid it all off by now. I'm going to borrow back some of the equity I've got in it, then put in maybe $20,000 of my own savings for the deposit on the next place.

Even if you decide not to buy a house, saving is awesome. You always have money and it gives you freedom to live your life how you want to and not be a slave.

Good advice. Who needs a silly iPad/iPhone/iBollocks. I've got a $59 phone from Bond & Bond and it works just fine.

I just bought an ipad... but that was a gift from Mr neil_armstrong to Dr neil_armstrong :>

Bahaha awesome tip

cyber princess you sound really savy... You probably think I'm a dipshit haha well apart from the fact I am... I really want to be smarter with money.... so will not spend my savings today I was going to go out and buy a new TV today cos my one in the lounge died last night.. but I will wait till next month... I will instead focus on clearing out my old clothes which will be about 12 black sacks*heh*.. what a waste of money I dread to think how much it's all worth. Wear something once then hate it, or never wear it at all ... hrmmm

I'm all for saving, just not for a house. I tend to think there are much better investment opportunities out there. Plus one day I'll get half of my parents' house which will be a considerable deposit on another one. As long as I'm not renting when I retire I couldn't care less. Rent's just an expense.

What have been the main benefits of keeping a money diary?

And do you mind if i ask how much you earn (or at least what income bracket you fall into)?

Except you're a slave to the money. You don't wanna buy fancy new gadgets? That's fine. But you're still spending those savings all the same, be it a ski trip or a pile of walls and roof. You can't hate on "consumerism" on one hand, while espousing the joy of spending on the other.

No of course I don't think that! If you have the money and don't need to go into debt to get the TV and you need the TV, then go out and buy it. I always shop around and buy the cheapest of what I need.. so don't just get whatever the first one is that you see, go around different shops and get the cheapest one you can find (but not if it's a crappy brand that's going to die in the first year or something).

You're sitting on a goldmine with all those clothes... TRADE ME! I have between 30 and 50 auctions running at any one time of clothes I don't wear anymore plus other stuff I find that I can list. I keep an Excel spreadsheet of of stuff I've sold and I've made $760 profit from stuff I've sold on Trademe that I would have otherwise thrown out or given away. I list everything pretty cheaply, like $2 or $3 if that's all it's worth. If you've only worn stuff once you could get more for it, especially designer labels. Check to see what other people have similar items listed at. As well as getting money you're clearing out your house. It's sweet.

I started the money diary because I thought someone was stealing my money because it felt like I wasn't spending much but my $600 was running out quickly. Then after a couple of weeks of recording my spending I realised "Oh, it's just me spending my money". It was interesting and kind of addictive, so I've kept doing it ever since. It was particularly handy for keeping track of money I was spending in local currencies while travelling. At the end of the book I added up all the currencies I'd spent, then converted them to NZ$ to get my NZ$ spend. Keeping a money diary makes me think consciously about what I'm spending. I like to try and see what's the least I can spend in a week. The lowest it's ever been was $9.80, haha. But that was when I wasn't paying rent.

I'm earning $65,000. Even when I lived in Canada and earned $10.33 and paid $155 a week rent, I still managed to save $2000.. although it took me about 6 months.

I don't hate on consumerism, I like spending money on things that I want. I don't deprive myself of things.. a lot of things that are out there to spend money on, I don't see the merits in spending money on, like daily coffees, McDonalds when you've got food at home in the pantry, iPhones when you've already got a phone, a new car when you've already got a car that runs perfectly fine. Qtraro was asking about how to save, so I was telling her how my world is. I was meaning "slave" as in stuck having to work all the time because you're living paycheque to paycheque.

You should write a blog on money saving you sound like you are really clever with it...Yep I dont have any debt/credit cards I live on cash for everything. I earn more than you said (not trying to be a douche just saying since you noted it ...) so I probably have no excuses to not save for things ... I'm just lazy.. and way way too lazy to put anything on trademe.. I've had a few people not pay for things in the past so I can't be bothered with it..and arranging to post it out is so annoying lol. My clothes aren't that great I'm not getting rid of anything designer just old glassons, dotti, pagani crap heh.

Plus I think in about 5 years I've gone up about 35k in my salary since changing and moving up in my career over 2 jobs... so I might have the mentality oh wow money.. cos I used to be really really poor 5 years ago.. barely getting by....I guess I just don't know how to save properly or even know how to manage it all properly now I am doing alright...

I still do need a TV though ...does anyone know what to do with old TVs, it's a plasma one...just take it to the refuse centre or something?

..your old tv is a plasma?

Well I know every single piece of good advice I ever give on these forums falls on deaf ears, it's like I'm a ghost. But I'll say one last thing, the point of saving is not so you can blow it on bigger things later. It's so you have a) money if you ever find yourself needing it and b) so that it works for you passively earning more money. Take out from the small book I recommended was "I stopped having money trouble when I decided that 10% of everything I earn is mine to keep" ie, the protagonist decided to pay himself 10% every pay BEFORE anything else went out. It sounds like your job pays you enough that you could do that and yes, you'd have less money every week but you wouldn't really miss it, just less coffees or drinks at a bar or other incidental stupid spending.

Now, one might say "but Smiley you are hardly one to give advice about money, you are a poor student" but I can tell you I was once doing quite well. I went off track in a relationship once and never really course corrected properly. Having to make do on my current budget though might help in the future when my budget is bigger. I'm sure lots of people say that though and their spending goes up with their pay. We'll see. A good start is pay yourself x% every week FIRST.

All the record keeping is ideal if you can do it, cyper_princess is amazing at saving because she turns it into an passion. Everything she posts shows her efficiency in finding ways to save. Shes like some kind of Nepalese mountain squirrel

Yeah its a plasma..had it for a few years... it's died.

10% for general spending? That would probably be do able ..putting the rest aside and knowing itsthere will be the hard part ... but will give a go next month..

Not sure I could do the notebook thing though, I just check my bankstatement and cringe. Might print it out and actually keep track better.

+1

I should say that came across a bit more negative than I meant it to. I have much respect for people who are good with money, since I'm so fuckin terrible with it

When you have money, you can get new things, even though your existing item is perfectly fine, because you can. That's how I see it anyway. You can afford it, so why not enjoy it. (Within reason obviously)

Edit: And obviously you do enjoy it, you've got your goals and shit, so yeah, but there's also nothing wrong with treating yourself too.

I don't know about other banks, but Kiwibank has their "Heaps!" service, heaps.co.nz. It ties in to your account (and can import data files from other banks too) and auto-catagorises all your spending, is useful to show you easily where your money is going.

I'm with ASB I dont think they have anything like that.

I was getting cash out for my budget and doing that, but I hate having cash I dont like carrying it or having it at home.. just makes me uneasy.. so I'll have to figure out another way.. to keep from dipping into my saving account for things..

Tried roboplus that was annoying when I lost my password decoder thing.

You could always change banks. Kiwibank is awesome.

No I meant 10% (at least) is what comes out of before ANYTHING else goes out. Say get $800 in your hand. Well now you get $720 in your hand. The other $80 went straight into a savings account that you do not touch ever. From that $720 you pay your rend, food, blah blah blah and perhaps try to save money from it. But you paid your savings account before anything.

ASB does that. I think they were the first.

When I was living in Tokyo managed to save about 50% of my salary every month ... worlds most expensive city my arse!

Seriously, try to lock down a set % of your salary every payday. Set up an AP so that it transfers straight into an account that you can't access with a cashflow card. When I was in NZ I just used to chuck extra money into Bonus Bonds ... mainlycause it was just that much harder to get my hands on.

Er, work out different numbers, just the concept... For me my rent is #1 thing that goes out before anything. If it was practical #1 thing would be savings account and rent #2.
No point in fucking saving as a student even if you could anyway. As soon as you have some money built up they expect you to use that to live off. "Oh I see you have some money, so we'll stop paying you for a while until you are destitute again, good day!"

Ohh heh is that those things under the "my money" option?

I just had a look, its time consuming process to allocate all the payments to something to see a graph that I already am aware of the outcome. hrmm ...

My bank fees are about $20 amonth WTF. For what? using net code once 20c $5 for something else .. and $12 for bank int .. WTF is that.

If you buy from the same places all the time it remembers. I haven't bothered with it. cyber_princess's way sounds like the way to do it if you are serious I guess. Probably like everything, takes some work to get started.

Withdrawing cash from other banks machines?

Give me all your clothes you want to get rid of and I'll make money off them

Haha, Tibetan.. get it right! Pffft :p

I must concede.. being able to email your mates from your iPhone with "Fuck your couch" whilst drunk at a bar at 4am is pretty cool

That's a lot to give to banks in fees. If you don't know what your fees are for, call the bank and ask. I've got refunds on fees before after querying some. My fees are between $1.20 and $3.20 a month, and that's because I want paper statements for my records. If I stopped the statements there'd be no fees. Another reason to pay cash for everything.. why give a bank more of your money when they already make huge profits?

Only fees I pay are for non-bank ATM's (virtually never get cash out anyway) and if I set up or change an AP. Oh and the usual new card cost. Nothing else.

Some good tips in here, especially from c_p. I'm going to steal some of them. I'm awesome when it comes to saving for something, particularly travel, but I'm not so good without the goal. Change of mentality needed.

Better to use a credit card and get rewards - I got $150 cash back from the Nat Bank after fees last year on my credit card, and that's a student not a big spender

I use cash where ever I can

best way to hide the whores and coke habit I gots from the wife, accountant and doctor

well the doctor knows... I did live in hamilton afterall

Got any hot tips? My house deposit earning crappy interest in the banks term deposit. Infact my current account in Aus gets about the same as my term deposit in NZ, and my managed funds at the moment are either unstable or not yeilding much better.

Thats an open invite for tips by the way

Thats all the same thing in Hamilton is it not?

I think all you can do at the moment is stay with term deposits. Keeping your money safe is a very good thing. Investing is a minefield especially in todays environment. I was thinking of going into Gold two or three years back and if I had I would have made a killing (has gone up one third over the last two years) but you just cant trust it. Gold too can become a bubble. Just pray that hyperinflation doesnt show up.

Yeah I think so, given that stability is important at the moment, at least for my house deposit which I plan to use in the next few years

Yup, investment is fraught with lots of unforseen problems. I invested a bit of money with Tower Managed Funds in 2007 ... lost about 25% after the 08 recession and by the time I needed it it hadn't recovered and I'd lost heaps

That's investment for you. Bigger return = higher risk. I always thought this was a known constant, but the last few years have shown that people are fucking morons.

people are generally more concerned with saving money than saving the planet

morons

Actually it could be said that those that save money are fighting against consumerism more than those who do not...

Consumerism (in excess) certainly harms the planet. Saving doesnt. It can have the opposite effect. Those who save feel more able to put money into casues and activities that benefit the planet. Investing might harm it, but it depends where the money goes. Saving shouldn't be a target of wrath because people might care more for it. It's more a good thing than bad. The target needs to be the lack of care for the planet, and inaction

where are you investing - bank generally

banks do not add value... they tear it down

cleaners contribute more to our species than a banker ever will

well where do you invest?

Our lives are inextricably linked with a certain kind of a system which if we reject in its totality cannot but lead to unacceptable personal costs. I'd prefer to be be smart in what I do and realise that none of us can be pure and without hypocracy. But we can still work for change and on balance give more than we take.

I don't invest.... I'm the working poor - as such I plan to die young and homeless...

so far I'm failing on the young

If a bank invested in a cleaning firm what would happen then... would it be like crossing the beams in ghost busters?

easy - the cleaning firm would be fucked

Proper fucked

I used to get cash back with my National Bank credit card.. but then I moved all my banking to ASB, and they don't have the same system. Well they have something called True Rewards, but you have to pay $10 every 6 months for it, and you're limited to only spending them with certain retailers. Stink!

It's more that I didn't predict the 08 recession ....