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I save nearly every dollar I earn and it sucks.
- Thread starter Kendo
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leftywamumonkey
macrumors 6502a
That's pretty much what I'm doing right now. It does suck. Except I don't have any bills to pay since I'm a senior in high school right now, but I do save every thing I earn. My last big purchase was the MacBook Air as well and bought it to save 20% from Amazon.
I used to spend my money as soon as I got it, but in the recent years, I just can't do it anymore without having buyer's remorse. So I just play safe and never buy anything big, unless there are substantial savings, like on the MacBook Air for example. It's not fun, but I've been saving for a few years so I can spend my money one last time before going onto college this year, which will undoubtedly suck all my future earnings out of me. It's not fun since I don't get to buy new clothes or shoes like I would want to, but it's all for the future.
I know you said that you don't have anything to buy, but I have actually made a list of things I would need to buy before moving into a dorm 😱
eric/
Guest
Implying you have to be starving to death in a third world country to have problems.
torbjoern
macrumors 65816
I save about 30% of my income (in addition to paying 20-25% tax) every month. If I still have money left after having paid the bills, I spend it on electronic devices and traveling.
If you want to buy something that can make you feel good (and you can afford it), you can have a lot of fun with hookers and cocaine - provided it's legal in your country/state to indulge in such activities. 😎 😀
If you want to buy something that can make you feel good (and you can afford it), you can have a lot of fun with hookers and cocaine - provided it's legal in your country/state to indulge in such activities. 😎 😀
BreakGuy
macrumors 6502a
Personally I enjoy seeing how high I can get my bank account balance to go before I decide I need to buy something. Plus it's always nice to know I have plenty of cash aside in case something goes wrong and I need to use it (eg, emergency flights and accommodation).
Don't feel bad about not buying things. But don't wear tatty old clothes all the time either. Why not, say every Sunday you go out and buy a new shirt or something, make yourself feel good for the start of the week.
Don't feel bad about not buying things. But don't wear tatty old clothes all the time either. Why not, say every Sunday you go out and buy a new shirt or something, make yourself feel good for the start of the week.
leftywamumonkey
macrumors 6502a
I don't think he's complaining about how he's making 100K+ and has more money than he know's what to do with it. He's spending his money on the essentials and that's it, and he has disposable income, which is good. He's living within his means. Him saving his money is a good thing, he shouldn't be obligated to give away his money to others. Who knows, his car could break down next week and need work done on it.
You like to donate your excess, which is cool, especially donating to the ASPCA or local animal shelters, but he's a young guy and may even want to buy an engagement ring one day and I'm not getting the impression that he's making enough to buy a Lamborghini every few years.
mobilehaathi
macrumors G3
steve2112
macrumors 68040
No kidding. I wish I still had the same tastes in alcohol as I did in college. It would be much cheaper. The high grade stuff gets expensive! 🙂
-tWv-
macrumors 68000
Saving is good - keep saving, and then invest it conservatively so that it gradually keeps making you money.
I'm doing that - and it just keeps going up slowly. It's the best thing to do.
Alternatively, if you have a spare $13,000, could you send it my way and I'll have a 600mm F/4.0 VR II Nikon super-telephoto lens permanently. 😀
I'm doing that - and it just keeps going up slowly. It's the best thing to do.
Alternatively, if you have a spare $13,000, could you send it my way and I'll have a 600mm F/4.0 VR II Nikon super-telephoto lens permanently. 😀
northy124
macrumors 68020
Do you not buy clothes? you have to keep up with the latest fashions 😀
You could always get a girlfriend... they tend to spend unseemly amounts of ones money 😱
lewis82
macrumors 68000
Or if you have a bit less to spend, you can choose my option. At $6300, the Scott Scale 29 RC mountain bike is both the lightest in the world and a good way to keep me in shape 😀
eric/
Guest
Seconded. Travel is a great way to gain experiences, impressions, meet interesting people, broaden one's horizon.
-t
The most valuable things in my life are things I have not paid much money for, at all. Just time and effort.
Ah, that is true 😉
Well then. I would recommend getting a great sound system and projector/TV setup for watching movies and listening to music. About $3000 will work nicely 🙂
acidfast7
macrumors 65816
Travel.
I try to do at least one weekend(+1 early Friday leave/late Monday start) trip per month.
I figure that I spend 200-400/month on travel and it's the best money that I spend as it allows me to constantly develop and see new things. Otherwise, I usually only pay rent and eat. Most of the time in town, I usually work a lot.
I try to do at least one weekend(+1 early Friday leave/late Monday start) trip per month.
I figure that I spend 200-400/month on travel and it's the best money that I spend as it allows me to constantly develop and see new things. Otherwise, I usually only pay rent and eat. Most of the time in town, I usually work a lot.
It's been said before, if you want to spend money like there is no tomorrow, get a girlfriend to help you.😱
Mord
macrumors G4
Cocaine has always struck me as one of the easiest ways to throw all your money away, hookers I have no experience of, besides if I wanted meaningless sex I wouldn't have to pay for it, but still, I've had that and I found it really fairly unrewarding.
I lead a pretty debauched lifestyle of the kind where had I any amount of fame it'd probably be the topic of tabloids but cocaine doesn't play into that. It's a very unrewarding drug in my experience in terms of £/fun ratio.
Basically what I'm saying is I'll take ecstasy & bdsm with a loved one over hookers and cocaine any day, but that's just me.
Though still, this being just a constituent part of my regime of fulfilment.
My girl and I also like to:
Learn stuff, currently she's building a reprap so learning about rapid prototyping as she goes and once I'm finished with my exams I'm going to learn to DJ, we're friends with a lot of people who put on electronic music nights and one of them offered to teach me.
Build/make stuff, I'm not too bad at sewing embroidery and woodwork, three hobbies that are not all that cheap. It's damned satisfying having all the tools/machinery to just make something on a whim though, there seems to be a point where once you have a certain amount of kit it changes from being a chore to being a joy and there are few things more personally rewarding than making your spouse something special that they'll wear daily or some furniture you'll both mutually enjoy.
Go places, this is one we've neglected a bit, I traveled with my family to tunisia last year but buying a house has really stopped us from doing much together. I really hope to take her to hawaii some day, she went as a kid and really enjoyed it and often talks about it so I'd really like to surprise her with a trip.
Have hobbies, I like repairing things, especially things deemed unrepairable by others. It's satisfying bringing stuff back from the dead. My girl is a programmer by trade though maintains her own projects in her spare time, we're hoping to at some point work together on a mythtv replacement that is actually remotely reliable. I also play violin/viola occasionally.
Do something for your community, I don't necessarily mean your physical neighbours, but we help out with a crew that puts on fetish club events, this being something we're fairly into it's really good to get involved and make something happen. We've also in the past helped out with electronic music events though not in a while since one we helped start out has taken off, that's partly why I'm keen to learn DJing, I've absolutely zero desire for fame, recognition or anything like that it's a small scene. It would just be nice to be more involved and help out, contributing to my community.
There's been a lot of focus in this thread on purchasing consumer devices, do you really feel they actually make you happier? While I certainly spend money on such things myself they're in no way a priority for me, my MBP is merely a tool and were it not for my girlfriend's interest I wouldn't have a television in the house.
iJohnHenry
macrumors P6
gnasher729
Suspended
As your friends will learn, credit cards are a temporary means that get you some stuff right now, but you end up getting less in total. Fact is that if you spend $1000 using a credit card today, and you repay just the interest, then you will have about $150 to $200 less money available to you for the rest of your life. So after 5-7 years you have already had less money to spend AND you still have the $1000 debt. If you make just minimum payments, your debt will grow and eventually bite you where it hurts. I guess that is what your friends are feeling.
The thing about "enjoying your life" is that the easiest way to achieve this is to actually enjoy your life. Having a positive outlook on things, seeing the good side of things and not the negative side. Let's say you go out for a dinner, some of the food is very nice, some is less nice. What do you concentrate on? For the same money, you have the choice to enjoy the nice bits and ignore the not so nice bits, or to get all wound up about the negatives.
It sounds as if you lead a lifestyle where you can afford to buy whatever you want (by not wasting money on stuff that you think you are supposed to have but that you don't really want). That's just a perfect state to be in.