How I Saved My Friend $300 A Month

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HOW I SAVED MY FRIEND $300 A MONTH

All too often, I hear people complain saying "I can't seem to save any money!" What I wonder is just how many of those with complaints have ACTUALLY taken the time to analyze their expenses and do a little research in an effort to lower their bills and save more money.

Just the other day, a friend of mine said "Geez! By the time the end of the month comes around, I'm flat broke!" At first I started feeling sorry for him and thought "Poor guy", but then I remembered an important fact that had a significant impact on his financial status.

"Wait a minute!" I told him, "I just went out with you guys last weekend and you spent $200 at that bar buying everyone drinks! That's one reason you're broke!"

And my friend's response to that; "Oh Yeah. I forgot about that."

How can my friend expect to have any money if he just throws it away like this? Naturally he's not going to have any money left over at the end of the month. Simple fact my friend: If you spend all your money, you're not going to have any left to save.

Certainly everyone doesn't spend their money buying drinks for everyone, but there is ALWAYS another *money waster* that can be found. Always something else that drains our pockets of our hard earned money. This holds true time and time again.

Those who are really MONEY CONSCIOUS have already taken the time to determine exactly where their money is being recklessly spent, and have already taken the necessary steps to remedy this problem.

But for some reason, 80% of the rest of the world DOES NOT CARE to conquer their finances! They keep going into debt and never seem to build substantial savings. Most are simply content to spend their paycheck month to month, year to year, and robotically respond "I have no money".

As an editor of a website devoted to helping people save money, I felt obligated, as a friend, to help my pal with his financial woes. I cut to the chase and asked him if he would like to have an extra $200 a month.

At first, he thought I was joking around, trying to play a prank on him. But I reassured him, and stressed that I was dead serious about wanting to help him out by stating "All you have to do is write down each and every expense you had from last month."

"That's it?" he curiously replied. "That's it." I smiled back.

An hour later, I had all his expenses from last month neatly written on a piece of paper; a total of 16 monthly bills.

That night, I took his list of expenses and monthly statements home and went to work. By the time I was finished, I was able to generate him a MINIMUM OF $300 dollars just from eliminating unnecessary spending from eight of his monthly bills!

I was quite surprised myself. I was just hoping to generate an extra $200 for him, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind an extra $300 dollars. Would you?

In short, this is what I planned for my friend:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Electric: tendency to leave lights & TV on; AC on with windows open.
WAS $120 a month

NOW $80 a month

SAVINGS = $40

Gardner: No more; Just been lazy plus he wants the exercise.
WAS $50 a month

NOW $0 a month

SAVINGS = $50

Pager: Doesn't even use because he has a cell phone now.
WAS $10 a month

NOW $0 a month

SAVINGS = $10

Cable: Admits hardly watches TV, doesn't really need ALL the channels
WAS $70 a month

NOW $40 month

SAVINGS = $30

Internet: Hardly uses and would like to try out the free services
WAS $20 a month

NOW $0

SAVINGS = $20

Phone: Will switch to a more economical calling plan, email more often
WAS $80 a month

NOW $40

SAVINGS= $40

Food: use grocery tips to help save more money
WAS $200 a month

NOW $150 month

SAVINGS = $50

Entertainment: Vowes to limit nights to eighty dollars or less
WAS $300 a month

NOW $200 a month

SAVINGS = $100

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend was not only shocked, but surprised to find out how haphazardly he was spending his money.

Simply put, he was embarassed. Embarrassed from the fact that even though he worked hard to earn his money, he would spend it without much care or thought. This was the biggest obstacle that he needed to overcome.

Now that I showed him exactly how he was spending his money, he VOWED to make some changes to eliminate this wasteful spending.

It's funny to admit, but sometimes it only takes an outside influence to point out reckless habits for people to make a change. I sincerely hope this is the case for my dear old friend.

This concludes the story of how I saved my friend an extra $300! I hope this inspires you to do a little research and work in order to save you and your family more money each and every month!

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