Tips on saving and earning money?

D

DBowden

Member
I'm horrible at saving, I mean I spent all the money I got from work this year on camera and shred stuff.. But I need a laptop..going for a MacBook Pro/Air..any and all tips wanted. PLEASE.
 
Don't be such a retard and put atleast half your check away in the bank and use the other half for spending money.

i work at a job with tib, i save all my tips and half my pay check and use the other half for spending money. It's not hard.
 
And I'm going for a MacBook because the formatting is what m teachers prefer because that's what they use.. So it's just easier
 
i used to mow lawns and landscape yards after school all through middle school and high school while doing sports. Its not hard, and catch up on the weekends.

If you actually are dedicated to making money you'll find a way. Its not hard. The kids who were always broke in high school were the lazy ones. High schoolers have no expenses so just learn to be efficient with your moolah
 
you talk to your neighbors or go around the neighborhood. I just used a push lawnmower and asked my next door neighbors if they wanted their lawns mowed for $15-30 and within a month I had 5 customers for the next 8 years
 
So you can't get a job but want to save money? You need a source of income before you can start to save.

But like has been said before, put at least half of your check away. I work as a cook at a restaurant part time and I usually put 3/4 of my check in savings and use the last little bit (usually $50) and my tips to pay for lunch, dinner, dates, and gas.

Also be prepared to pay out of the ass for a Macbook just because its an Apple. I'd get a cheaper laptop with 10x better internals and ventilation and save yourself $400-500. I just bought a new laptop last week with my money for college so I can finally do homework during my breaks between classes.

I couldn't even think of any uses I wouldve had for a laptop in my high school. I just went to class, fucked around, got good grades and went home. I never needed to get on the internet during class since most teachers in high school hate electronic devices anyways. Plus, i wouldve spent most of my time browsing newschoolers anyways. In college my professors usually link the powerpoint slides on the uni page so I can pull them up and take notes on them during class which is amazing. So if your teachers do this, (which i can't imagine HS teachers doing since nobody usually has laptops in high school) then I would see some good use of a laptop during school hours. Plus there's a lot more asshole kids who would try to steal shit in high school than in college.

Just my 2+ cents...
 
Wait a second..... highschools expect kids to have laptops now?

What happend to the Ti-86? That used to be the most expensive thing you would possibly need. My mom cringed when I needed to upgrade from the 83 for calc.

I'm sad for you. I spent my highschool cash on concert tickets, ski trips, and clothes.
 
I've had my Ti-84 silver edition since 7th grade and its still working just fine and I'm just about done with my freshman year of college. I remember when my mom freaked when I told her I needed a $90 calculator for classes and I promised her it wouldn't get stolen!
 
Your college is like my high school, (rich school, brand new this year.. costed about 52 mill...) we got iPads but I hate them. Plus my home computer is shit and my desktop computer can't handle any editing software.. Plus I want something I can bring places with me (school, friends houses, etc.)
 
see, the reason you are broke right now is because you don't need things like a new laptop but you still buy them.

you are in high school and have:

an ipad

a home computer

a desktop computer

You do not need a laptop. How about you just save the money until you go off to college in 3 years and actually need one? And you wonder why you have no money...
 
iPad is fucked because my sister threw it, home computer is in the basement and doesn't work. My desktop my parents took away cause my mom wants it 'for the time being' .
 
Don't spend money on stupid shit. Work hard.

I spent lots of money but it was on big things. My snowboard gear, trampoline, drumset, cymbals for drum set, computer, shit I needed. Perfectly okay with doing it.

I didn't spend money on shit like candy, overpriced food, drinks from the machine, and all that stuff. The smaller purchases are what kill a lot of people. It's easy to say no to buying something expensive. A lot of people can't avoid those couple bucks here and there that kill you in the end.

The younger you are the easier it is to save. Not sure your age but if you're younger and can't save you need to change that or you're fucked. When you're young you don't have shit to pay for, everything you make is profit, many jobs are under the table. Later in life you have bills like rent, insurance, phone, and all that kind of shit that makes saving a lot more difficult.

Good luck and YOLO
 
I still hate Macbooks but thats just me. The cheapest base model Macbook Air is $999 and has shit for internals.

1.8Ghz i5 processor (cheap chip considering you can get a MUCH better i5 in most other pc's)

64GB of memory

760p screen (not 1080p or the retina)

4gb of DDR3 RAM (thats pretty much as low as it gets and won't allow for multitasking or editing)

No dedicated GPU (just the onboard intel HD graphics which is fine for simple things but can't handle HD video's very well)

Thats what you get for a whopping $1000. A computer that is already subpar by today's standards and will probably be completely outdated within 6-8 months.

Hell I couldn't even fit 1/3 of my iTunes library on the computer since it has no storage.

My laptop cost me $880 and has better internals than the top level Macbooks that cost over $1800. Only thing that Macbooks have that is better than most laptops is their low weight and aluminum case (which is also a downside seeing how they aren't vented for shit and Macbooks get hot as fuck and that leads to lower life on the internals).

 
Lunch killed me in high school. I was spending 6-7 bucks a day for lunch and that shit makes you go broke. Also using a debit card didn't make me realize that i was slowly draining my checking account.

Now I only pay for lunch in cash, I eat off campus to save money, I only spend about $4 a day on lunch, and I keep a record of how much I am spending on food per week. I save about $20 a week by doing this which in turn can pay for dates, movies, and all that other shit I feel like doing. Or I can just save it and get expensive things.

Also save your change. A little bit of change adds up to a surprisingly nice cash out after a year or so.
 
do good in school

get into college

do good in college, live frugally (be broke)

when you get out of college, obtain good job

it will feel 3x better because you were broke for years and you'll have a greater appreciation for money and won't blow it on electronics and clothes
 
For sure, most people have absolutely no idea what the little things add up to. It's pretty easy to remember the $200 for your car, or $350 for rent, remembering all of the $6.50 for lunch, $1.69 for a soda and that kind of shit is where a lot of people get fucked.

Some shit you just have to spend money on, there's no way to live for free, but if you cut out some waste and keep track of what you're spending you can save quite a bit of money.
 
Who are you kidding OP, beg your relatives for it. No way in hell you're getting a macbook pro any other way.
 
After all of my research I ended up settling for the Lenovo Y500. Lenovo is owned by IBM so its not some shit company nobody has heard of. For my $880 I got:

1TB storage

Full 1080p screen

Dual NVidia GT650 SLI graphics cards

Intel i5 3230 2.6GHz processor. (I currently have mine running at 3.0 GHz and don't have any problems)

6GB DDR3 RAM (I upgraded this to 8GB because it helps with multitasking. This is the only "weak" point of this laptop stock)

15.6 inch screen (compared to an 11" screen for the macbook air)

All the other bells and whistles (Bluetooth wireless, backlit keyboard, HDMI out, all that jazz. Most laptops come with this stuff nowadays but companies like HP charge you $25-50 for each little upgrade.)

Also comes with Windows on it so that saves $200 or so. (Not sure how much windows costs right now.)

I also just bought a wireless mouse which speeds up productivity a ton compared to a normal trackpad.

This thing is also very well ventilated and is one of the cooler running laptops on the market today.

Other laptops I was also looking at before I settled on this one were the ASUS N56DP and the ACER V3-571G. Both of those are around $650-$750 and are also great laptops.

If you insist on a Mac, you could probably get a last years Macbook Pro or Air much cheaper than buying a new one and could save $200 or so that way?

 
Also more than anything, make sure you bust your ass off in high school. Take hard classes, get AP credit, get a good SAT/ACT score by taking it more than 3 times and then laugh at your friends who made fun of you for trying hard and taking hard classes when you have a 1/2 to full ride scholarship to 2 different universities and they now have to pay $4k+ a semester just for tuition that you don't have too.

That will save you more money in the long run than anything.
 
I'm not paying for it. The University of Utah and Regents Scholarship is paying for tuition, books, and about 1/2 of housing. So I'm out about $500 a semester to go to school full time. Meanwhile a bunch of my buddies are paying for tuition, books, housing with loans/part time jobs and are going to be in lots of debt when they graduate and I'll hopefully come out ahead if I can keep my grades about a 3.0 in college to keep both scholarships for 8 semesters.
 
make you own food (sandwiches, meals)drink tap water

spend less on alcohol/weed

find non expensive hobbies/sports

get a job

don't spend money on girls

don't break stuff/care for your belongings

when you break stuff, learn how to repair it, rather than pay someone else to do it

pay attention to your bank statement

off the top of my head
 
^^

I worked at a local warehouse during the summers in HS mowing lawns and keeping weeds at bay. Got $250 a week for keeping the grounds weed free/mowed. I got to choose my own hours so I would go in early with my mower and edger and gloves and work a few hours each day until i started getting too hot. Then I'd go to breakfast/lunch and have a normal rest of the day. Pretty chill job. Ended up averaging about $11 an hour if i worked fast and down to $6 if I was slow or when the cotton wood trees started sending up little mini trees all over in the river beds.
 
this, it was tough but when my jobs over lapped with sport seasons, i works after practice 6-10 or so a few days a week, and weekends 7/8-5 both days if i didnt have a day practice, its all about priorities
 
i don't recall ever seeing a laptop with dual graphics cards.

but i agree with other people in the thread that you can get a very solid windows laptop for 500-600 bucks nowadays.

check out dealnews.com for daily listings of discounted laptops and lots of other goods.

best tips for saving money: think before every purchase, make your own food, keep a budget, live below your means.
 
Great stuff.

I would add sell off things you don't need. You have HUNDREDS of dollars worth of items in your house that you no longer need; sell that shit.
 
From the man himself

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Caddying is the best money youre going to get as a 15 year old, IF and only if you have an actual work ethic. It can be pretty tough in your first year, and to be honest, you won't make tons of money your first year. But you'll still make more than minimum wage for the most part, and you have the possibility of making $120 in 4 hours in a few years.

So many perks to it as well, you work when you feel like it and you make bank if you get over to the club a lot. A friend of mine made 10k last summer as a sophomore in high school, so theres money to be made. I'd highly recommend it if you've got a prestigious club around you.
 
Sell coke. Try and be the first kid in your HS pumping that shit and you're gonna be sorted. Even if you and your pals don't blow lines right now before you know it everyone will have tried it "that one time" and want more. Try and find a good connect so you don't have to stomp on it. Go to Narcotics Annonymous to find your connect. Don't bring it to school though meet people after school somewhere else to do the deals.
 
I feel that everyone should have to read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. It literally has gotten millions of people out of debt, including my aunt. The book gives you a detailed plan on how to properly use your money (don't worry you still have spending money). But it shows you how to save and specifically get out of debt if you have any. My aunt was in debt and within 5 years was able to get out of debt and properly finance a 15yr mortgage on a $250,000 home that she plans on paying off even earlier. The book is awesome and probably exactly what you're looking for
 
I jumped on the macbook train a while back. Have my macbook pro for like 4 years now and it runs pretty well still.

that saying, I WONT be buying a mac book pro ever again. As a finance major, I need tons of programs that can't run on macs. Plus they are INSanely overpriced for what you get.

Ill be buying myself one of those google chrome books next time. $300. All I need is internet, music, excel, word, powerpoint, and mail
 
It was such a nice job! It was hard work mowing a 2 acre lawn and edging the thing but its way better than stocking shelves or whatever other bs job I wouldve had at 16-18. Also have some fun stories of catching a duck that got inside the warehouse and releasing her back into the river outside, trapping a peacock and getting it removed, and picking up the ducklings that would follow me around when i was weeding the river bed. The hot asphalt killed a couple ducklings one year so i was on duck patrol and made sure they stayed in the water with their mom.

Also was able to take my dog to work with me every day. How amazing is that? The tenants put up a dog house inside of the garage/delivery area so he could chill on the cool cement on the hot summer days. (That is when he wasn't running around in the river.)

Thinking about this makes my current job (cook at a restaurant) seem so much worse :(
 
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