Debt is a b1tch, dude... What I do is take out $100 in cash from the bank whenever I need it and use it SLOWLY. like you said, it hurts to fork over a $20.
Things i've done to keep costs low:
- STOPPED modding my car(s)
- I have only 1 credit card (never had more than 1) and I barely use it!
- I stopped eating out so much. Since I converted to being a vegetarian, all I eat for the most part is fruits and veggies.
- I stopped buying computers and computer related equipment. I currently have 14 computers and 3 laptops in my friggin apartment! they're not the fastest things in the world but, regardless, they cost a lot of money if you add it all up.
- I only go to parties and/or clubs with open bar AND free entry. if a place only meets one of those, i don't go
- I eat taco bell (all veggie) a lot since it's not as BAD as other fast foods plus it's cheap
- Do overtime whenever possible. I dont care if you have a hot piece of poon waiting for u @ home
- I only have 3 bills per month: condo maintenence, cellphone bill, cable modem.
- I go to a city college - so I'm only paying ROUGHLY $1,700 per semester (incl. books) - and I pay the tuition via check per semester
- As far as eating out, I only eat: taco bell (3 times a week), starbucks (1ce a week - i had a $20/day addiction a few years back), subway sandwiches (once every 2 weeks)... that's about it. everything else is home cooked or stolen from my parents fridge
I bring in about $4100 (after taxes) per month right now. my maintenece, cable modem + cell phone bill come out to roughly $740 a month. My food, deoderant/tp-the common stuff like that, commuting via trains to work, and ALL THE OTHER day to day expences i'd say comes out to about $300 a month. <- yeah, i know, im a minimalist...
The rest goes into savings. I used to invest it but after losing 35 grand in hard cash at the age of 19 in stocks, I've realized that the only get-rich-quick-scheme is to save like a mother f@cker.
I don't do anything else - no magazines, no television or cable tv (im going on 6 years now w/o a tv and i love it!), no expensive clothes (all i wear is hilfiger from the outlets - and not the regular outlet stuff, the stuff on the 60%-90% rack), etc. Shoes - i have 1 pair of sneakers and 1 pair of boots. boots for daily stuff, sneakers for the gym. no movie rentals, i have a family plan on my cellphone (like $80/mo. for 2 lines)... I'll go to deli's and get sandwiches without meat(cuz im a veg.) and cheese. i'll have a hero with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, oil+vinegar - all for about $2.50 or $3 . not bad for a sandwich in the middle of manhattan. my old sandwiches, when i used to eat meat, came out to $6-$9 easily - before drinks, chips, etc.
grocery shopping consists of only hard foods: breads, salad stuff (lettuce, etc), fruits and soy milk. i will stock up on all this stuff until i am good for the week. I make mushroom burgers often and pay about $1.99 for really huge and good brand portobello mushrooms. This makes 4 burgers (or 4 meals) for me. the bread is like $1.29 for an 8-pack of buns.
No more junk food - all that crap is cut out. I buy a 4-pack of redbull like once a month. that's the only real junkfood that i buy on a "consistent" basis....
and before anyone throws the joke in, i have a gorgeous gf that is high maintenence but she knows about saving money and how tough it is. she'll always pay for my cofees, we split bills @ restaurants. when we go out, we round robin through who buys the drinks. she'll do the 1st round, i'll do the 2nd, she'll do the 3rd, and so on until either of us (or both of us) are completely obliterated.
I have a scion xb and it is awesome on gas. although I only drive it (heavily) 3 times a week, i fill up about every two weeks. that's $30 every two weeks.
*EDIT - Another thing - If i am buying something expensive - something that is over $300 and considered a 'luxury' rather than a 'necessity' (things like rims, body kit, headlights, a computer part, etc), I ask myself this question: do i have the cash to back it up?
If i do, then i buy it (assuming that buying the item wont leave me broke!). if i dont have the cash, i dont get the item AT ALL. just throw it out of my brain with a 1 way ticket to hell!
last thing - this post had no direction or structure. just typing as i think.
- sh00k