How frugal are you? Do you find it difficult to save?

Saving is my waterloo. :( I'm a tiny bit shopaholic and I spend too much on books and on my art supplies. Waking up one day with no money to pay for my rent is the kick in the bum that I badly needed. Now, I'm trying to create order in my personal finances. Being frugal alone doesn't really help if you don't have a plan. There are a lot of resources on the web that helps. But they all seem to say that first step is to create a budget. Keeping track of your expenses, then pruning the unnecessary and mindless purchases, then assigning how you're going to make your money work for you. Hopefully, a few months from now, I would have established a pretty solid strategy on how to save.

I want to but I find it hard to do. Saving money is hard when you are just making it each month.

When I was still single and have a high paying job, savings was out of my vocabulary and shopping was in the first list. I was an impulsive shopper until recession hits my high paying job just a month after I got married. Though I was not jobless, the company has to cut almost 50% of my salary. From then on, up to now, I learned to saved, and what surprised me is that I can save more with my tiny salary compared when I was still getting a high salary. The experience thought me a lot and prepared me of becoming frugal since we are now building a family.

I have always been very frugal and ever since I really started working, I have saved at least 20% of my income. That is how I not only have survived for 20 years of being unemployed but have increased my net worth during most of that time. I shop sales, use coupons, seldom eat out, don't buy things I don't need, etc.

Me and my boyfriend try to save so we can move out of my mom's house but then the weekend comes and we like to go out to eat, and drink, and buy a little thing or two for ourselves and soon the money is gone but like $10 so we try to save that, but $10 a week isn't that much to save really. We only spend saturdays together really all day so we like to go out to eat justthat one day and usually just a fast food place,and the little things are usually things we need like this past weekend I got 3 new pairs of jeans from Good Will because before that I only had 2. And a package of underwear for him because he only had 4 pair and I think you should have 7 one for each day of the week. So maybe we need to spend this money but even so I can't help but feel guilty and think we'll never be able to move out on our own. Luckily he did just get a $1 an hour raise so maybe we can save more and now that we have most things we need we won't need to spend that money either and can save more.

I am pretty frugal. I didn't use to be, but luckily, you get smarter when you get older, and that is what happened to me, I realized how important it is to take care of your finances, so you can spend money on things you care about, instead of throwing it away on stupid small stuff. So yeah, I save in a lot of ways, but I think I can still get better at it. So I read all kinds of frugal forums and blogs and stuff to get ideas!

Hi Canaussie, It seems that I have never been able to quite make enough to really save or get ahead of the game. I do have a small amount of debt which I don't regret even though I will probably be paying it off for the rest of time. It got my kids and I through some tough times and was spent on things needed. Now with the economy being what it is, even though I only have one daughter left at home and things should be easier....they are not. We barely eek by but we do. I am very very frugal but like you, if I am going to splurge anywhere, it will be on the people I love. Just tonite my 25 yr old asked if she could bring her new boyfriend over for dinner and to meet me. Yikes! I had 20.00 to my name to last the week. I managed to get the stuff to make Lasagna and garlic bread and still have 4.00 to spare which I'll probably need for gas to get to work tomorrow. I'm used to this way of living so it doesn't bother me. It would be nice to be able to put some aside but we do what we can. I don't see myself getting ahead of the game any time soon if ever.

I also splurge on people that I love rather than on myself. Although here lately I have splurged on myself a little bit. It is nice for a change. To have some items that I really want. It was nice to go shopping for myself. I am still trying to save rather than splurge and spend more money, although sometimes it is difficult. Not difficult to not splurge but difficult to save. Some of the things I do to save are eating cheaper, not splurging, buying cheaper items, and finding deals on products. I also try to spend my money wisely rather than just spending it on anything. To be more specific here are a couple of things that I try to do. First of all our electric bill can get pretty high and I try to reduce the cost. So I will have everything off that I am not using. On a daily basis I go through the house and look for anything that is on and if no one is using it then I will turn it off. Another great thing I do to save money is switching my phone plan every month or so to a cheaper plan. Then I switch back and use the features I didn't have for that month or so. It doesn't save a whole lot of money but any little bit helps. Plus the money adds up and I can buy something with that cash. I try to look for coupons or buy items that are on sale. Instead of buying luxury items I will buy cheaper items. I will even go to the dollar store and buy items from there if I need to.

You hit the nail on the head for me. I tend to think and spend more frugal for myslef, but when it comes to others I am more apt to spend on them or give them money for frivolous things. It was so much easier to do that when I had a good paying job, but now I am unemployed and really need to stretch every penny. I am doing better, but it is still a struggle. I do know that rich people can be the most frugal people on the planet. I remember when we use to sell candy bars door to door, it seemed logical to go to the rich houses thinking they would buy more candy, but that was not the case. The people on welfare and fixed incomes would buy tons of candy, whereas the rich families would be polite, but most turned it down saying they did not need any. We could learn a lot from them about impulsive spending.

it will be hard for me to save. i am easily being attracted by some new electronic stuff such as cell phone or laptop. i am a student and sometimes i will look for some part time job. the only reason for me to save money is i'm going to use it later. i think that is one of the reason make me different from rich person. perhaps i will start saving when i graduate, i think it is easier to save money when we have a stable income where we can start budgeting and planning on our expenses.

I've always had a hard time saving money for myself. When I was younger, my mom wouldn't buy what my brother and I wanted, even though we had money, because she's very, very thrifty. Growing up, her family didn't have much so they all learned how to save. I think it's good that she saves money for our family but I don't like how she's being too thrifty -_- I mean, we should all splurge a little, right? That's why whenever I get money for myself I spend it right away without any second thought. I buy everything I want, mostly food XD but I also spend money on stuff I know my mom would never buy for me. Because of that, I find it very difficult to save money _

Oh i am fairly frugal when it comes to saving money I am always trying to find different ways to squeeze every last penny.I try to stay on a balancesd budget and make sure that I am able to only spend the money that i have.I rarely use credit cards as i got carried away with them one time and owed thousands so after paying it off i am more strict when it comes to my fiances and shop carefully now and only spend cash that i have earned and is in my bank account.

I'm living in a very frugal way now. I'm in heavy debts and I need to clear them soon. On top of leading a frugal life, I'm also holding multiple jobs, just for survival. I regret being a big spender in the past, spending beyond my limits and now I'm paying everything back in a big way. I learnt a lesson from the situation i'm in now. Do save up when we have money. Don't spend it unncessarily because spending can become a habit overtime. By time we get addicted, it's too late for it's too heavy a price to pay then.

Habit begets Frugality and begets good results. In every human endeavour prudence is the best way of livelihood. No man who spends more than his income is a rich man. There is and English wisdom "penny wise, pound foolish"; some people ravish their money when they have plenty, but become prudent when they are about running broke or with empty pockets. Frugality is not only on money, sometimes it is sighted in food, clothes, house property and sometimes in physical and spiritual endeavours.

i guess i have been frugal so long that i dont find it difficult anymore. i am pretty frugal.

As I'm not at the working stage yet, it's obvious that my savings is not in the thousands. When I was young and up till now, I will save a dollar each day. I try. You may find it funny or even old-fashioned but I find it fun, LOL! You may not find a dollar much but as you save, you will find that it'll amount to quite a lot of money. I could remember when my piggy bank was full of the dollars, it amounted to about $100 ++, I couldn't remember exactly, just a gauge. I find saving money is good. Make it a point to save at least every month.

Maybe once in a while, you should also try not to splurge even on people you love. Sometimes, we don't realize our costs in spending for our loved ones are really high. We can show it in other ways like hanging out with them at home like watching a movie, cooking with them, etc. I consider myself 50% frugal. I usually save up. But I do splurge on myself and my loved ones once in a while, like once a month. I don't find it difficult to save. It just takes control.

I can be a saver when i really put my heart and soul into it. i can be a spender just the same. It takes a bit more effort on my part to be a saver. it is just to ease to spend. Knowing a need from a want is the biggest difference between being able to spend or to save.

Now i need to be frugal.I am shopaholic.But now that things get tough,and my kids are both in school i need to meet my budget.