A Penny Not Saved is a Penny Burned

hmfmoderator's picture

If you believe Ben Franklin that a “penny saved is a penny earned”, then you must believe the corollary that a “penny not saved is a penny burned”. 
 
And historically we’ve been pretty good at burning money.
 
We bought Christmas bargains with high interest credit cards, got charged overdraft fees at the bank, and have paid late fees for past due bills.
 
We didn’t seem too interested in cutting coupons to buy groceries.
 
We may have thought to buy new books before considering used ones.
 
And we are probably guilty of paying for the video at Blockbusters when we could have first called the local library to see if they had the same video for free.
 
But necessity is the mother of invention, and times are forcing us to become more frugal.
 
Analysts tell us that Americans are saving more this year even as people earn less.
 
That’s a good thing.
 
Fortunately, the Internet can be a tremendous resource.
 
Simply do a Google search for “best ways to save money”.
 
You’ll find plenty of sites will help you buy used instead of new, save on your cell phone bill (or help you determine if you even need it at all), or even earn money selling stuff on eBay or Amazon.
 
A closer look at your bank account might reveal leaks that have sprung causing precious dollars and cents to flow out freely. So patch the cracks and measure the outflow so you don’t get burned again.
 
Ben was right about earning money by holding onto it. And thinking creatively “outside the box” can save you the penny you thought you had to make. 

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I like the way of your thoughts.

Tom271's picture

I like the way of your thoughts. It's true now we are spending too much without even thinking where to use sparingly. Oh, you can write custom dissertations on our careless attitude towards saving money.

Anyway, the idea is that as

marlena21's picture

Anyway, the idea is that as you become aware of where your money is going, you tend to spend less on things that you don't really need. People start to realize that they don't want to spend hard-earned money on an over-priced dessert at a restaurant, or that worthless plastic toy for their 3-year old that will be tossed or broken the next day

Money is always talked about

Lexie P's picture

Money is always talked about and has always been an issue. Like for instance, credit card debts,some people are opting to eliminate this one in response to our economy. As this article is talking about, we are really good at burning money but do not realize on how to evaluate one's spending habits when money problems is on the line. It is an old advisable measure that one should learn how to manage their expenses and recreate a better budget to able to resolve and pay off debts and bills and handle the things properly. one thing that pushes me to learn from this one is that we all suffer because of over consumption, if we only realize that this is the root cause of our economic crisis this will close all the issues and problems with regard to money.

Better budget

socal's picture

I've heard that just the exercise of putting together a budget and tracking expenses will save the average person 10% to 15% per month. You don't even necessarily have to stick to the budget but just track your expenses. (I wish I could find a study or report to back this up. If anyone knows of one, I'd be interested in reading it.)

Anyway, the idea is that as you become aware of where your money is going, you tend to spend less on things that you don't really need. People start to realize that they don't want to spend hard-earned money on an over-priced dessert at a restaurant, or that worthless plastic toy for their 3-year old that will be tossed or broken the next day.

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