SPEND LESS..SAVE MORE..

Lately, I just found good article in Yahoo!Finance about How We’re Spending Less , Saving More so that we can survive to weathering tough economic times both in this year and the years ahead.

The author explicitly told about the bills a family can’t avoid such as housing cost (electricity, phone,water), transportation, groceries. But there are also spendings that can and should be trimmed such as dining out, entertainment, vacation, etc.  She also explain about the difference between need & want. Needs are the things your family absolutely must have to survive and Wants are things we would like to have but really don’t need. Hopefully, the author says all the money saved SHOULD HELP REDUCE our debt & BUILD UP a saving fund. These two goals will put us in a better financial position.. reduce debt…build up saving ….

Examples of  SPEND LESS…SAVE MORE….(according to the author’s) :

– Groceries Cut. Shopping at discount grocery stores or traditional market.

– Apparel Cost Cut.  Use it up & wear it out. The last time I shopped  for our wardrobe needs may be 2006….:((

– Beauty Care Dropped.  Don’t buy beauty aids in the department stores.

– Travel Costs. Down which has been attributed to carpooling and consolidating errands. Same with me..oil price is expensive!!

– Vacation Costs. Visiting relatives for a low cost vacation.

– Credit Cards, medical bills & credit line payments. They all BIG PROBLEM for me now. Wonder how’s the way out yet?

– Entertainment & Dining Out.  E L I M I N A T E D ….:((

– Household repairs. Only…only..most of our consumer debt is paid off, then we can afford to tackle home maintanance issues again..only…

– Home decor & landscaping needs. E L I M I N A T E D….:((

– Piano. Got eight years of music lessons invested in a child who had finally outgrown her old practice piano.

– Emergency savings fund. Like many others families living on a shoestring, we are having to borrow instead of cash flowing emergencies as they come up. My goal is to have $5000 (IDR 50million) in this fund.

There are also Little Things That Cost A Lot. Sometimes we spend little amounts regularly on things like lunch at work, Starbucks lattes (coffee/donut), smoking, manicures, golf & pizza delivery at weekend. Well, they are all seem like reasonable decisions because of relatively small expenses. It’s hard to imagine how much they add up. These 6 little things… lunch at work, coffe/donut, smoking, manicures, golf & pizza delivery.

Examples :

– Our routine breakfast & lunch could easily add up to IDR. 100.000 or more per day, that’s nearly IDR 3 million a month, IDR. 360 million over 10 years..

– Coffee/donut, IDR. 40.000 per day or IDR. 1.2 million a month or IDR. 144 million over 10 years..

– Smoking, IDR. 350.000 a week or IDR. 1.4 million a month or IDR. 168 million over 10 years.

– Manicure. IDR. 400.000 a week or IDR. 1.6 million a month or IDR. 192 million over 10 years.

– Pizza delivery, IDR. 250.000 a week or IDR. 1 million a month or IDR. 120 million over 10 years.

– Golf , IDR. 750.000 a week or IDR. 3 million a month or IDR. 360 million over 10 years.

The expense figures above are estimates, of course. Your personal money pits are probably different. Maybe you buy songs or videos each week, or regularly drop $ 10 to add games to you iPad. So, what’s your money pit ? Have you tried to calculate the long-term cost ?

After studying the article so far,  I have some confessions to make. IN THE PAST I DO MAKE BAD SPENDING..SOME ARE REALLY WORST. NEITHER DO I MAKE SAVING. But just like a proverb say BETTER LATE THAN NEVER… so I’d like to make SPEND LESS.. SAVE MORE.. to be my motto for the rest of my life…

andriantoangkadirjo85 bottom line

– The concept of  SPEND LESS.. SAVE MORE.. is very important. Unfortunately not many people aware of this. Not caring about such thing could be so dangerous  to our financial condition.. it could tumbled our economy.

– It is also important to teach the concept of SPEND LESS.. SAVE MORE  to our children / next generation from the very beginning of their age. Because we know the world economy is fickle right now, instable and seems worse in the future. This is the only way to face it.. be prepared, be aware..

So what do you think ? Which category do you in ? What bad/worst spend have you made ? Have you save already?  If you like to share your thought pls write down some comments  below.