"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

best ways to save money: don't get fired, if you get fired it's your own fault, just grab those bootstraps HARDER

non-gop answers: try to drive less, i find that all those miles add up faster than i think and then WHOOPS time to fill up again. also, yeah, you nailed a big one. eating out should be like a once-a-month type luxury. not that i've been able to stick to that, but yeah.  i find that the times in my life i've been able to save the most money is really working that netflix account for all it's worth, and finding the cheapest ways to entertain myself possible (such as fixing stuff around the house or learning about something totally new on the internet).

lol  

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

This thread has been brought to you today by practicalcoolspringsj.

I wish I could get to the point where I didn't buy anything that wasn't a necessity and just made due with all the "stuff" I already have.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I also have problems with money burning holes in my pocket, and again that's where having a wife can come in handy. someone knows if i fuck up and spend all the grocery money on mint-in-box Sectaurs.

as far as the video games, all i can say is that i have a twilight princess strategy guide i'll mail to you if you want. i don't find "run around and pray a lot until you find the thing you're supposed to find" to be much fun.

the DVD thing can be addressed by the above netflix and library suggestions. think about each one before you buy it. do you REALLY want x-files season 6? isn't that when it started going to shit? hmmmm....rent it first and find out. on the other hand, you KNOW you need that star trek boxed set, but maybe renting it first and watching all the extras will tide you over until the money is there.
 

Thanks for the offer, but I already have the Zelda strategy guide as well (only one I have!).

I think I should be able to live with only the DVDs I already own and just rent others.  How many times am I honestly going to watch a DVD I haven't felt the need to buy yet?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I have "Pay It Forward" on DVD. I have no idea where it came from. Hopefully i didn't pay any money for something with Bon Jovi in it. I did spend the entirety of my early twenties getting pretty stoned though....

That might also explain why i have two copies of This Is Spinal Tap.

In times like these, it's also a good idea to start actually tracking your cash flow. You can do something as simple as slap together a spreadsheet with some pivot tables for graphical output, or drop a little dough for Quicken or a full-on Mint account. Either way, it can give you a good idea of where you're really overspending and help to instill just a little bit of discipline. Shit, when you realize you're spending several hundred a month on Amazon orders alone, it can be a dash of cold water that helps you to control spending better.

Myself...I guess I need a little more fear of losing my job put into me because I haven't altered my spending much since the economic crisis began. One of the side benefits/detriments of working for a large corporation whose business it is to provide a commodity that there will be a demand for even in crunch times.  That being said, I am not a frivolous spender to begin with...I am always one to ask myself if I REALLY need that last season of Stargate, if I should buy the $15 CD instead of the $9 MP3 download, if I need another damn case of wine...that sort of thing. Get in the habit of asking those questions and it gets a bit easier to cut spending.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Here's one for the board that affected some, NOT ME -

Do I really need to buy all of the Gold Box postcards (aka pieces of paper that I will do zilch with) off of ebay for over a 1000 dollars?  WTF?!?!?!?!?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Amanda, if I dressed up and spoke in character like Tuvok could we have a 2 person Star Trek party?

"Curious. I've never understood the human compulsion to emotionally bond with inanimate objects. This vessel has 'done' nothing - it's an assemblage of bulkheads, conduits, tritanium. Nothing more. "

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Twin Peaks: The Post Card Wars - coming soon to the Cartoon Network

I guess I will write my own books and read them for manure and giggles.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Certainly. :D

And with regards to those Peaks postcards...I worked the system and got a complete set in under a month and it only cost me the price of one box set...and even that was an accidental purchase...I ordered two box sets as gifts for the holidays and somehow ended up with three. Huzzah.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."