Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I listened to a CPA on the radio today explaining all the tax brackets and what the so-called tax cuts of a certain candidate mean in real $ terms.
During the show he said that anyone concerned about money in retirement start closely tracking their expenses. There's all kinds of software but he recommended a good old small notebook and pencil. I've done this in the past and then fallen off it. I think I'll do it again because I seem to be spending a lot more money, usually for a good reason but also somewhat casually. My little notebook will have five columns - date, followed by expense columns: gas, food out (including snacks), necessary items, niceties (not needed but I fell for it). Will see how I spend money for 30 days, maybe longer. The aim for me is to spend 60%–70% on all things in life (no more) of what I spent while working.
I listened to a CPA on the radio today explaining all the tax brackets and what the so-called tax cuts of a certain candidate mean in real $ terms.
During the show he said that anyone concerned about money in retirement start closely tracking their expenses. There's all kinds of software but he recommended a good old small notebook and pencil. I've done this in the past and then fallen off it. I think I'll do it again because I seem to be spending a lot more money, usually for a good reason but also somewhat casually. My little notebook will have five columns - date, followed by expense columns: gas, food out (including snacks), necessary items, niceties (not needed but I fell for it). Will see how I spend money for 30 days, maybe longer. The aim for me is to spend 60%–70% on all things in life (no more) of what I spent while working.
I'm still trying to figure out when 250,000. annually became middle class...............
i'd be happy with a mere 1/2 that amount
Make that 1/4 of the 1/2.............
shoot , i could keep going...............
i need to do the budget tracking again just to see what I'm spending. It's sort of fun going back to the budget-mentality of my early years off-campus .............
except my rent then was 64.75 a month/VEPCO bill was 15.00 every two months/10.00 a week for groceries was great/and a pack of 2 Pink Hostess Snowballs was 20 cents or maybe 10...............sigh ....
I'm still trying to figure out when 250,000. annually became middle class...............
i'd be happy with a mere 1/2 that amount
Make that 1/4 of the 1/2.............
shoot , i could keep going...............
I think we may be one of the hoardes of poor souls who have fallen out of the middle class. It was a great ride while it lasted. Now, off to finish my bowl of beans.
I am learning to be more and more frugal. My latest thing is using the car less and less. The price of gas is high, but I am equally concerned about the "wear and tear" on the engine, tires, etc. My car is 8 1/2 years old, has 110,000 miles, still runs good, but I want to keep it for at least 2 - 3 more years.
Yes, without interest on savings and with the Federal Reserve printing money and thereby devaluing savings (pushing up prices on essentials), my wife and are now pretty much just paying our rent and utilities, walking, doing crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles, going to the library, and playing Bridge with our friends. The big thing is to keep ourselves healthy and minimize health expenses, so we do take care to buy and eat good food at home (not much restaurant food anymore).
So far, so good. It is a quiet life. Not much wiggle room given that the Fed has already announced that there will be no interest on savings for a least another two years. But we are getting by with a quiet retirement by just spending on the bare essentials. I expect to live past 90 so I will need all the savings I have since our savings principle is gradually be whittled away at. In essence, I am paying for all of the old bad debts of the banks and the new debts of the Federal and State governments, but nothing to do other than adapt.
I am learning to be more and more frugal. My latest thing is using the car less and less. The price of gas is high, but I am equally concerned about the "wear and tear" on the engine, tires, etc. My car is 8 1/2 years old, has 110,000 miles, still runs good, but I want to keep it for at least 2 - 3 more years.
You've got to push that baby to 200,000 mi. If it's toyota or honda, that's easy.
You've got to push that baby to 200,000 mi. If it's toyota or honda, that's easy.
Would you really want to do that? There are some areas that I believe you can afford to be frugal but owning an old car is a place where frugality may be foolish and perhaps dangerous.
I often wonder about these airbags that have saved lives. They are alleged to work for the life of the car but what life of a car are we talking about, 10 yrs? 12 yrs? 15 yrs.? or 20 yrs. There is no way to test if they work until they are needed to work. There certainly has to be some degradation of components over these years. The designs, placements, numbers and science of how these bags are set to go off, with what impact and how the cars have been designed to withstand a crash, are much better today than yesterday.
Also, there have been tremendous advances of safety features as in stability control, brake assist, traction control, antilock brakes, brake force distribution, seat belt design, head restraints, child safety seat attachments etc. There are also numerous features that are not readily seen as manufacturers do fixes and make improvements but do not want to disclose to lessen their potential liabilities. Old cars just do not have these features.
Where is the savings if your life or others is the measure, if the car does not perform to the best to prevent accident, disability or death.
After all this we can add in the added fuel savings of modern automobiles and the savings in liability insurance, then questions need to be asked if the frugality of keeping an old car is all that wise.
I decided to buy a new car and trade in the much older car I was driving for these many reasons. The safety is measured by insurance companies, as I found out that my liability rates on my new car are much less than the older car I was driving. So these "bean counters" do see a risk to myself and others in driving an old car.
Yes, it cost much more to drive this new car then maintaining my old car even with all the repairs required. I could make many repairs that are obviously seen but there are areas that are hidden that I could never repair, change or bring up to modern safety features.
Keeping an old car is not an area of life where I choose to practice extreme frugality that I do in most of my life. There are many parts of my life where I do not measure by the dollars spend, but I measure by the lives saved.
Some of you will point out, that I have often championed a car free or car less lifestyle and I encourage taking public transportation. So, how can I then buy a new car. I still believe in what I advocate as I will continue to drive less as I often have and use public transit when I can. Unfortunately, I have multiple family responsibilities where I need to be that public transit will not serve well. In addition, my own physical problems have deteriorated where getting to the bus stop and using the system is not always possible. In addition, I needed a car to be able to get in and out more easily and to carry those assisted devices which define the disabled.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 10-18-2012 at 10:37 PM..
You've got to push that baby to 200,000 mi. If it's toyota or honda, that's easy.
It's a Hyundai Sonata, with a 6 cylinder engine (they tell me 6 cylinders last longer than engines with 4 cylinders). I keep it well maintained and change the oil every 3,000 miles.
More to the point: I am mindful of the fact that one day I may not be able to drive a car, so I am slowly weaning myself off of being so dependent on an automobile.
I grew up in suburban Broward County, Florida, where having a car was an absolute necessity. I learned to drive at age 15. Just being without a car for for 2 days while it was in the shop would drive me to the point of despair. Now I use the car less and less and haven't been this independent for 40 years. Now I walk to work (it's about 8 - 9 blocks away, about half a mile each way); I even sometimes walk to the supermarket and carry the groceries home (about 6 blocks away).
I kept my Mazda 323 for 11 years and 170,000 miles (and I am car-dependent for the 20-mile drive to work.) Everything else I use is about three miles away- vet, supermarket, pharmacy, library, haircut, mechanic.
My current Toyota Matrix has about 110,000 miles on it and is nine years old. I get the regular service and expect it to go on for many more years. It has always been my plan to buy an entry-level new car that is cheap to buy, cheap to run, and runs like iron, but only with these past two cars have I gotten this far.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If it's toyota or honda, that's easy.
