I do think a penny saved is a penny earned - when I put a few extra pennies or dollars from here and there into my savings account, I end up making more money from the interest on the account. I am not super stingy with my money, but I want to make sure it goes as far as it possibly can - I don't want to waste it on something I feel isn't important.
I personally believe a penny saved is more than a penny earned.
Since in order to earn a penny and spend have that penny to spend you have to have earned more than one penny because you have to pay tax on what you earn and you have cost associated with getting to an from work and being at work like work clothes and lunches. The penny saved is one that was earned after tax dollars so it is more than one penny earned. Now let's just say for example I walk past a penny and pick it up is that penny more valuable than the penny I had to earn. In my opinion it is.
I have been couponing and skrimping and saving my pennies for years in the mean time other folks told me what I was doing was not worth my time, that it was a waste, that it was such small amounts that it would never add up to anything well 25 years of saving my pennies have added up to more retirement cash than all of my friends and many of them earn more at their day jobs than I do. So I personally think that I am right a penny saved is worth a penny plus a tiny percent of an additional penny!
I pick pennies up. Why? Gratitude to the universe for abundance. It is the environmental thing to do in keeping my local environment clean. Because every little bit helps.
I do not make a habit of picking up grimy pennies when I see them. I just prefer to not have grimy hands and pockets as a result!
Overall, I think sweating the small stuff is fantastic practice for sweating the larger stuff. After all, if I research several websites looking for the best price on a small item, won't that carry over when I'm looking for a fridge, car or house? Also, I've made some surprising discoveries, finding things on sites I wasn't expecting (gallon of castille soap at Target, anyone?).
At my point in the game of life in the very small potatoes garden, I don't have a huge amount of big stuff to sweat. I can tell you though, I'll be ready to save on it!
I think of it as, a penny earned on something that I rather not spend money on (car, socks, or cell phone) is a penny I can spend on something I want (vacation, diner out, or clothes).
That's interesting, I didn't realize that it didn't have the amount of coverage it has here in Chicago. I used it for fun in New York and it looked the same as it does here.
I get a thrill every time I find a penny on the ground. Yes, I know that pennies take a looong time to add up, but money is money. I feel special and sharp-eyed when I find a forlorn penny. And who knows, maybe it's lucky :)
I remember the first time I read Automatic Millionaire I just about fell off my chair when he used a lady from the audience to illustrate his point. She spent 22 dollars or something, it was only lunch.
For me the latte factor would be about 1.65 (size of a large coffee at tim hortons) and it would significantly affect my life to remove it.
BUT I will pick up a penny if I see one and I will drive a rusted out, piece of poop, 1985 car to save that stupid 300-500 car payment. I think everyone has to evaluate what part of their life they would be willing to save in, and then evaluate whether that would be enough to save the amount that they want to save.
is to note my upcoming needs and desires and then keep an eye out for savings on that item. If you watch and wait, you get a sense of the retail price, a good price and a great price. And a good place to watch is the Wise Bread deals. That's where I found a very inexpensive 15gbyte flash drive, a great computer backpack, and a pair of simple shoes for way cheap.
I do pick up pennies and other coins. It's a way to remind myself to be humble -- who am I to be too proud to pick up a penny?
The latte factor is like some PeeWee Herman button that drives me insane every time I hear it. My whole brain going "AHHHHHH". The assumption that everyone is spending $5 a day on some useless habit that they are unaware of. That I need to get rid of everything in my life so I can retire rich. Balance people.
I point out pennies to whichever child I happen to be with. To a child, a penny found is the highlight of the day.
"Someone will steal my idea if I'm not super secretive about it" - Far from true. Ideas are merely ideas when not put into action. We may have similar ideas, but it all depends on whether we implement them and how that will spell the difference.
"The customer is always right." - A hackneyed business expression and is overrated.
I once paid an entire phone bill in pennies that i picked up around school. Yep, $20 in pennies. Money that i didn't have, until I started thinking small. One penny doesn't seem like much, until you add that to a bunch more pennies. It adds up fast. same with coupons. Saving 50 cents doesn't seem like much, until you add them all together and save $36 on your grocery bill (a 16% savings total). I'm all for saving small, but don't get carried away. You still need a life.
A law that forces a balanced budget curtails the government's ability to deficit spend in times like now when it absolutely must be done. The federal government should be spending less than it takes in from tax revenues when the economy is growing, and spending more than it takes in when the economy is in a recession. This is absolutely essential to stabilize the natural peaks and valleys of mainly free market economies.
Balanced budget requirements would tie the governments' economic hand and cause the recession we're in now to last substantially longer and be far worse than they are.
I share in your frustration that we do have a "leadership deficit". Instead of doing what they were supposed to do such as during the 90's (deficit spend in the recession of the early 90's and surpluses when the economy was steaming along in the late 90's), the federal government deficit spent in historic proportions following 9/11 on what was a very minor recession, and continued to deficit spend at record levels without pause during one of the largest periods of growth in US history. Not only did that fail to prevent the economic calamity we face today, it contributed to it.
However, historic deficit spending now that we're in what is one of the worst if not the worst recession since the Great Depression is absolutely the right thing to do. There's no doubt in my mind that without the recent gobs of money being spend by the federal government in stimulus packages, our economy would have collapsed. Note there was very little debate and change in policy about the need for massive stimulus packages even as there was a transition between two significantly ideologically different presidential administrations. It's because they simply had to be done. (And we should be encouraging our leaders to work together like they did then when our country desperately needs them to!)
Be enraged at the decisions for the uncontrolled spending leading up to this recession, not the decisions now to continue it for the immediate future, and fight for surpluses once the economy is back on track! And make sure you vote for candidates in whatever political party (or independents) that in fact are fiscally responsible. Please remember though there is a time for deficit spending. It is macroeconomically a necessity in times of at least moderate or severe recessions.
Sorry for the long post. I know many readers, to their praise, have fought hard to get out of debt, as I have. But when it comes to federal government budgets, there are larger macroeconomic forces at play that complicate this topic more than personal financing. While requiring balanced budgets sounds like a simple, common sense plan, it doesn't mean it's a good one. Believe me, I wish it were!
I do pick up pennies, but I don't trace where it goes after it goes into my pocket. Did I use it when I needed the tax and only had bills? In that case I didn't break a bill. Did I place it in a charity box? I didn't save anything but It made be feel better is that worth something to me? Did I plunk it into a jar ( in my case my big green crayon) and accumulate it with other change which I then use to get more bills?
Is a penny saved a penny earned,I'd it depends on what it eventually does afterword doesn't it?
Hate to be too deep, but it's sort of like saving someones life, was it worth it? There is no way to know.
As for the coffee, I don't drink it, I've never really cared for it, so I haven't "saved" any money from that.
Collecting change is sort of like tricking yourself into buying something later. Granted you could have just given the cashier eighty-five cents when they asked instead of breaking a dollar. But then you wouldn't have as much change later to get those few extra dollars for a trip, or a gift card.
I used to pick up pennies, but buy Porsches. I think I've normalized my nonsense a bit over the years.
That said, I knew a guy (a gambler) who would not pick up tails-up pennies, bad luck. For some reason that rubbed off. Maybe I think it's a cheap superstition, at 1 cent.
I don't pick up pennies, but I do clip coupons if they are at least 25 cents because I would pick up a quarter.
On lattes - My husband and I go to "Coffee Friday" each Friday morning at our favorite coffee shop to kick off the weekend. It is expensive compared to coffee brewed at home. As a result there is something in the Latte Factor, but is $10 for Coffee Friday going to save us a ton of money? Maybe it would if it were a daily occurrence, but we have lattes as a treat.
Overall I prefer to keep large expenses low and try to save on daily expenses. That combination keeps me from sweating the credit card statements.
Coincidentally, I just loaded my dehydrator with Mountain Apples. The neighbors gave us an entire box which we couldn't eat. If you are new to using a dehydrator, it's good to experiment. Pears are absolutely wonderful; we also love bananas and apple rings. I have a Nesco and it's fast and easy to clean. Dried fruit in stores is really expensive.
Redfin works really well for California, but like some of the commenters said, it just doesn't have enough backing to break into some states. I have been using Redfin since its early early days and saw a lot of improvements. I really do hope it sticks around.
Saving your pennies is worth it, especially if you think of it as a game. I put all the coins in a jar, then take it to Coinstar in exchange for Amazon gift card, which I'll use for Christmas shopping.
A penny saved is about 1.33 pennies earned, before taxes. Or you can think of it this way: considering the national savings rate is currently 5%, a penny saved is 20 pennies earned.
I do think a penny saved is a penny earned - when I put a few extra pennies or dollars from here and there into my savings account, I end up making more money from the interest on the account. I am not super stingy with my money, but I want to make sure it goes as far as it possibly can - I don't want to waste it on something I feel isn't important.
saving is good, but without earning, you won't be able to saving any money.
I personally believe a penny saved is more than a penny earned.
Since in order to earn a penny and spend have that penny to spend you have to have earned more than one penny because you have to pay tax on what you earn and you have cost associated with getting to an from work and being at work like work clothes and lunches. The penny saved is one that was earned after tax dollars so it is more than one penny earned. Now let's just say for example I walk past a penny and pick it up is that penny more valuable than the penny I had to earn. In my opinion it is.
I have been couponing and skrimping and saving my pennies for years in the mean time other folks told me what I was doing was not worth my time, that it was a waste, that it was such small amounts that it would never add up to anything well 25 years of saving my pennies have added up to more retirement cash than all of my friends and many of them earn more at their day jobs than I do. So I personally think that I am right a penny saved is worth a penny plus a tiny percent of an additional penny!
I pick pennies up. Why? Gratitude to the universe for abundance. It is the environmental thing to do in keeping my local environment clean. Because every little bit helps.
I do not make a habit of picking up grimy pennies when I see them. I just prefer to not have grimy hands and pockets as a result!
Overall, I think sweating the small stuff is fantastic practice for sweating the larger stuff. After all, if I research several websites looking for the best price on a small item, won't that carry over when I'm looking for a fridge, car or house? Also, I've made some surprising discoveries, finding things on sites I wasn't expecting (gallon of castille soap at Target, anyone?).
At my point in the game of life in the very small potatoes garden, I don't have a huge amount of big stuff to sweat. I can tell you though, I'll be ready to save on it!
I think of it as, a penny earned on something that I rather not spend money on (car, socks, or cell phone) is a penny I can spend on something I want (vacation, diner out, or clothes).
That's interesting, I didn't realize that it didn't have the amount of coverage it has here in Chicago. I used it for fun in New York and it looked the same as it does here.
Too bad cause it's a lot of fun to browse on!
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I get a thrill every time I find a penny on the ground. Yes, I know that pennies take a looong time to add up, but money is money. I feel special and sharp-eyed when I find a forlorn penny. And who knows, maybe it's lucky :)
I remember the first time I read Automatic Millionaire I just about fell off my chair when he used a lady from the audience to illustrate his point. She spent 22 dollars or something, it was only lunch.
For me the latte factor would be about 1.65 (size of a large coffee at tim hortons) and it would significantly affect my life to remove it.
BUT I will pick up a penny if I see one and I will drive a rusted out, piece of poop, 1985 car to save that stupid 300-500 car payment. I think everyone has to evaluate what part of their life they would be willing to save in, and then evaluate whether that would be enough to save the amount that they want to save.
is to note my upcoming needs and desires and then keep an eye out for savings on that item. If you watch and wait, you get a sense of the retail price, a good price and a great price. And a good place to watch is the Wise Bread deals. That's where I found a very inexpensive 15gbyte flash drive, a great computer backpack, and a pair of simple shoes for way cheap.
I do pick up pennies and other coins. It's a way to remind myself to be humble -- who am I to be too proud to pick up a penny?
The latte factor is like some PeeWee Herman button that drives me insane every time I hear it. My whole brain going "AHHHHHH". The assumption that everyone is spending $5 a day on some useless habit that they are unaware of. That I need to get rid of everything in my life so I can retire rich. Balance people.
I point out pennies to whichever child I happen to be with. To a child, a penny found is the highlight of the day.
I pick up change...but it never feels "earned."
"Someone will steal my idea if I'm not super secretive about it" - Far from true. Ideas are merely ideas when not put into action. We may have similar ideas, but it all depends on whether we implement them and how that will spell the difference.
"The customer is always right." - A hackneyed business expression and is overrated.
My Well Of wealth
I once paid an entire phone bill in pennies that i picked up around school. Yep, $20 in pennies. Money that i didn't have, until I started thinking small. One penny doesn't seem like much, until you add that to a bunch more pennies. It adds up fast. same with coupons. Saving 50 cents doesn't seem like much, until you add them all together and save $36 on your grocery bill (a 16% savings total). I'm all for saving small, but don't get carried away. You still need a life.
RBAROSS,
A law that forces a balanced budget curtails the government's ability to deficit spend in times like now when it absolutely must be done. The federal government should be spending less than it takes in from tax revenues when the economy is growing, and spending more than it takes in when the economy is in a recession. This is absolutely essential to stabilize the natural peaks and valleys of mainly free market economies.
Balanced budget requirements would tie the governments' economic hand and cause the recession we're in now to last substantially longer and be far worse than they are.
I share in your frustration that we do have a "leadership deficit". Instead of doing what they were supposed to do such as during the 90's (deficit spend in the recession of the early 90's and surpluses when the economy was steaming along in the late 90's), the federal government deficit spent in historic proportions following 9/11 on what was a very minor recession, and continued to deficit spend at record levels without pause during one of the largest periods of growth in US history. Not only did that fail to prevent the economic calamity we face today, it contributed to it.
However, historic deficit spending now that we're in what is one of the worst if not the worst recession since the Great Depression is absolutely the right thing to do. There's no doubt in my mind that without the recent gobs of money being spend by the federal government in stimulus packages, our economy would have collapsed. Note there was very little debate and change in policy about the need for massive stimulus packages even as there was a transition between two significantly ideologically different presidential administrations. It's because they simply had to be done. (And we should be encouraging our leaders to work together like they did then when our country desperately needs them to!)
Be enraged at the decisions for the uncontrolled spending leading up to this recession, not the decisions now to continue it for the immediate future, and fight for surpluses once the economy is back on track! And make sure you vote for candidates in whatever political party (or independents) that in fact are fiscally responsible. Please remember though there is a time for deficit spending. It is macroeconomically a necessity in times of at least moderate or severe recessions.
Sorry for the long post. I know many readers, to their praise, have fought hard to get out of debt, as I have. But when it comes to federal government budgets, there are larger macroeconomic forces at play that complicate this topic more than personal financing. While requiring balanced budgets sounds like a simple, common sense plan, it doesn't mean it's a good one. Believe me, I wish it were!
I don't sweat the pennies, I'll act on quarters, and I'll go out of my way for dollars. There is a point where the effort outweighs the savings.
I do pick up pennies, but I don't trace where it goes after it goes into my pocket. Did I use it when I needed the tax and only had bills? In that case I didn't break a bill. Did I place it in a charity box? I didn't save anything but It made be feel better is that worth something to me? Did I plunk it into a jar ( in my case my big green crayon) and accumulate it with other change which I then use to get more bills?
Is a penny saved a penny earned,I'd it depends on what it eventually does afterword doesn't it?
Hate to be too deep, but it's sort of like saving someones life, was it worth it? There is no way to know.
As for the coffee, I don't drink it, I've never really cared for it, so I haven't "saved" any money from that.
Collecting change is sort of like tricking yourself into buying something later. Granted you could have just given the cashier eighty-five cents when they asked instead of breaking a dollar. But then you wouldn't have as much change later to get those few extra dollars for a trip, or a gift card.
I used to pick up pennies, but buy Porsches. I think I've normalized my nonsense a bit over the years.
That said, I knew a guy (a gambler) who would not pick up tails-up pennies, bad luck. For some reason that rubbed off. Maybe I think it's a cheap superstition, at 1 cent.
Save tons of pennies by eating fast food from $1 menu.
I don't pick up pennies, but I do clip coupons if they are at least 25 cents because I would pick up a quarter.
On lattes - My husband and I go to "Coffee Friday" each Friday morning at our favorite coffee shop to kick off the weekend. It is expensive compared to coffee brewed at home. As a result there is something in the Latte Factor, but is $10 for Coffee Friday going to save us a ton of money? Maybe it would if it were a daily occurrence, but we have lattes as a treat.
Overall I prefer to keep large expenses low and try to save on daily expenses. That combination keeps me from sweating the credit card statements.
Coincidentally, I just loaded my dehydrator with Mountain Apples. The neighbors gave us an entire box which we couldn't eat. If you are new to using a dehydrator, it's good to experiment. Pears are absolutely wonderful; we also love bananas and apple rings. I have a Nesco and it's fast and easy to clean. Dried fruit in stores is really expensive.
Redfin works really well for California, but like some of the commenters said, it just doesn't have enough backing to break into some states. I have been using Redfin since its early early days and saw a lot of improvements. I really do hope it sticks around.
Saving your pennies is worth it, especially if you think of it as a game. I put all the coins in a jar, then take it to Coinstar in exchange for Amazon gift card, which I'll use for Christmas shopping.
Yes I pick up pennies and all other cash when I'm out and about. It adds up to a small amount, usually the price of a dinner out every year.
A penny saved is about 1.33 pennies earned, before taxes. Or you can think of it this way: considering the national savings rate is currently 5%, a penny saved is 20 pennies earned.