Patience is the key. Don't buy stuff when you want it. ID what you want and buy it when you get a finally good deal on it.
Like my HT
Receiver - MSRP $1250 - paid $500.
Speakers - MSRP $2500 [mains], $850 [surrounds], $450 [center] - paid $500 [mains], $300 [surrounds], $200 [center]

And on and on, from food to clothing to tools to furniture. Make do with basics until you find a great deal and stock up.

A couple years back, went to the annual Eddie Bauer closeout, when they announced 'everything $5, next 20 minutes,' sidled up with 15 pairs of pants and 20 shirts. Boom set for work duds for years.

Just this weekend, stocked up on Polo, Claiborne and Nautilus summer duds at $7.99 each.

Don't buy a car that costs over $2,000. Buy things on the internet, I mean everything you possibly can buy it on the internet. From batteries to dry grocery...you'll find it to be ALOT cheaper. Don't go out to eat on your lunch hour, you'll waste endless amounts of money. Ebay. I bought a brand new 50 inch Plasma TV for $890 that costs $1400 in Costco and I didn't even have to haul it. Don't pay for chicks things on dates. Don't get married. Don't have kids. Don't go on extravagant vacations. Drive as little as humanly possible. That's about all I got for now.

when I go grocery shopping I usually buy the cheap brands for a lot of stuff. Usually the price is close to half as brand names, but you don't lose much quality if any. Also, go into a store with a plan of what you are going to buy and don't impulse shop. I also shop at Costco, which is great for certain things. If you notice a good sale price on something, consider picking it up too.

We eat that all the time. It's also darn good when you add a can of $1.29 wolf brand chilli. (Or whatever chilli you like.) And call it chilli-mac.

Thanks for the great info-

We are not in Horrible Shape, we bought our first home just about 2 years ago, we dont have any Credit card's but we do have some Loans and Lines of Credit.

We already probly over spent on the Cars- Nothing Extravagant We owe about 12.5 on the cars, about another 5k in personal loans/LOC- that we are paying down first - plan to knock off a chunk of it with the Stimulus Check- and another chunk when/if we get reimbursed from the Insurance company for having a home birth.

This may some awful to some of you but I think we are in good enough shape to start saving, and get the loans paid off- I work for a small company so there is no 401k.

Keep the good info comin

I haven't drank in a month. Haven't gone out to a bar or to a liquor store. I bet I saved at least $500 this month. It also feels pretty good not to have a hang over

You must've missed out on SLAGs background, he's working on the second coming of the Partridge Family. :) Good luck SLAG :thumb:

LMAO Took the words right out of my mouf. Oops, mouth. I have teeth.

So hard for so many people, but if you can avoid it, you will have more money. Period.

My attempts to stretch dollars have resulted in a lot of torn dollar bills.

I'm unemployed, but my daddy budgets crack from week to week off of his food stamps.

I tip the strippers with dimes instead of dollar bills now. It's a lot cheaper to make it rain on dem hoes at 10 cents a pop.

I've watched a #@it ton of cooking shows this year. Learning to cook (or cook new things) saves a ton on food. Hamburger, chicken, and medium priced steaks can be made 1,000 different ways so they don't get old.

Netflix has saved me God only knows how much money in late fees.

I make a good salary, but I've really leveraged that with understanding investments. Not counting my yearly bonus, my investments have increased my income substantially. I'm an early riser and on Saturdays or Sundays I'm all over market analysis. A couple of hints: Find a commodity trader's advice from somewhere, they know markets better than anyone. Understand technical analysis of markets. It's a huge advantage. It takes some work, but anything of value always does. Grubbing for more money is far less satisfying and you're not at someone else's whims.

yeah when I go food shopping a lot of the stuff isn't named brand stuff,that helps right there..... also someone mentioned the internet and thats god advice right there,you can always find great deals if you look around enough on the net. Also,I save my change. Sooner or later it really starts adding up for me,right now i am up to about 300 dollars since the last time i took it to the bank a couple months ago,it's how I got my xbox 360... Yeah it took a while but it was worth it......