I got a big raise, but things just always seem to keep coming up. Makes saving money hard. Was wondering if anyone had some clever ideas for how to set up a nice little nest egg.
take x amount out and set it aside. if you've been living on what you had before your raise, take the $ you got in your raise and put half towards saving and the other half towards whatever. an "oh shit this just came up" account I guess. if its just stretching bucks and budgeting then here..
make a grocery list after youve eaten a big meal so you wont be writing down $200 worth of chips and cookies. get your essentials. milk, bread, sandwich meat, etc. go shop. fine tune this list so its what you use for a week and you dont have a bunch of excess. try going the same day each week, maybe saturday am or friday evening if your both able. shop in such a way that you can take food to work and maybe you only eat out 2-3 times a week if you normally go out 5 times a week. dial it back a little at a time. after you know what you like to have at home each week, keep your list and know what you spend on groceries. then keep a grocery list. now you have what you want each week and you have a total per week. now take that amount of money out when you go home for the weekend after youve been paid. if you get paid twice a month obviously take 2 weeks worth of $. i get my $ for groceries and gas each week on my way home friday and usually shop sat. when the moneys gone at the store, you get no more groceries since the cash is gone.
credit cards/other debt
if you cant afford the item, dont put it on a credit card. credit cards just are so fucking hard to get out from under. we had cards, paid them and just got away from them.
the other debt. if you have a bill for $200. one for $45. another for $938. and a last one for $110, take care of them smallest to largest. knock out the little shit then tackle the largest together and chip away at it as you can.
savings
you can never have enough. but if you have none, its a great idea to have a "sinking fund" savings or seperate "emergency savings" fund. if you know you will have $1200 in property taxes at the end of the year, divide that up by 52 and take out that amount each week. dont try to pay all 1200 at tax season when the shits due. it'll kill you. and if you know you only have a year left in that water heater, try to sock away 100 a month to make sure you have the means to pay it when its time. same with a vehicle going out. put some aside each week so you can make a down payment if need be. big tundra payment each month? dont try to make your $500 payment the day its due. take $125 each week to make that end of the month payment easier.
i will add more as i can. im no expert. im just trying to give some insight and i hope this helps.
also try mint.com. swanson88 suggested that site.