Thinking About Hard Choices...
Trying to transition into a saver from a natural born spender is no easy task. I've taken steps to force myself into a position where I'm saving money (Yay! Online banking and automatic money transfers!), but I'm still not in a position where I can start paying off my debt in an expeditious manner.
I will now be totally random and take a moment to recommend three sites that have been very benificial to me in getting a good grasp on my finances:
mint.com - It was a little scary at first to give this site access to all my accounts, but the automatic alerts, the budgeting and tracking tools, and the personalized finance options have been amazing. When I saw what percentage of my budget went towards dining out last year, I could have pooped a house. A house full of delicious but costly food.
smartypig.com - If you have a dream or a specific goal that requires saving up some money, smartypig is the way to go. I haven't found a better goal-oriented service out there, mostly because it currently has one of the best interest rates for your savings, and they have all kinds of awesome partners that will give you a little extra if you get a gift card specific to their business when you cash out.
ING Direct - I'm not getting rid of my branch-based bank anytime soon, but for an additional savings account, I find the services, tools, and convenience of ING to be great.
Now back to my dissatisfaction surrounding paying off my debt: I'm looking at some drastic measures, including getting rid of my current car (which I love) with its sizable car payment (which I don't love), by trading it in for a little used pickup truck. Why a little truck? Because it's versatile and friends won't assume I'm driving when we decide to take long trips.
I would also like to kill the cable. There is way too much awesome television these days, and I NEED to watch as much of it as possible. But the truth is, I can watch a good portion of it over the internet and I have a netflix account, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for quality entertainment. Also, I just need to freaking get my ass off the couch more! I also have roommates, and they love the television as well, so this is probably just going to remain a "should do" for a while.
Any other good ideas out there on ways to drastically cut back spending?
I will now be totally random and take a moment to recommend three sites that have been very benificial to me in getting a good grasp on my finances:
mint.com - It was a little scary at first to give this site access to all my accounts, but the automatic alerts, the budgeting and tracking tools, and the personalized finance options have been amazing. When I saw what percentage of my budget went towards dining out last year, I could have pooped a house. A house full of delicious but costly food.
smartypig.com - If you have a dream or a specific goal that requires saving up some money, smartypig is the way to go. I haven't found a better goal-oriented service out there, mostly because it currently has one of the best interest rates for your savings, and they have all kinds of awesome partners that will give you a little extra if you get a gift card specific to their business when you cash out.
ING Direct - I'm not getting rid of my branch-based bank anytime soon, but for an additional savings account, I find the services, tools, and convenience of ING to be great.
Now back to my dissatisfaction surrounding paying off my debt: I'm looking at some drastic measures, including getting rid of my current car (which I love) with its sizable car payment (which I don't love), by trading it in for a little used pickup truck. Why a little truck? Because it's versatile and friends won't assume I'm driving when we decide to take long trips.
I would also like to kill the cable. There is way too much awesome television these days, and I NEED to watch as much of it as possible. But the truth is, I can watch a good portion of it over the internet and I have a netflix account, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for quality entertainment. Also, I just need to freaking get my ass off the couch more! I also have roommates, and they love the television as well, so this is probably just going to remain a "should do" for a while.
Any other good ideas out there on ways to drastically cut back spending?