Cool list
 

1) Forgetting To Pay Bills - I pay all of my bills through wamu.com. It's so handy and helps me keep track of what's paid and what's not... Love it.
2) Bank Fees - I got hit with an overdraft fee last week. Total suckage.
3) Tickets [Moving violations and parking] - None to report... thank goodness.
4) Memberships - Just Costco. Split with Ralphie.
5) Subscriptions - None
6) Letting food spoil in the fridge - Does gin spoil?
7) Wasting Energy - I never leave anything on when I leave for work. Occasionally, I will leave the fans on... I don't want to boil the fish in my aquarium.
8) Letting your money sit in a checking account - I tried not to let it sit and then I got that overdraft. :D
9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you'll never read, or clothes you will never wear... - I have a rule of thumb now. I don't buy DVDs unless I am for certain that I will watch it over and over. It really did cut down on my DVD buying...
10) Paying too much for cable - I got rid of my cable. Nothing to watch. I only have internet to pay for...

Following GC's lead:

1) Forgetting To Pay Bills - (many are e-pay and get paid once I get the email, everything else is sorted by date and paid on time)
2) Bank Fees - Sad, but I do not have enough in there warrant free accounts, yet.
3) Tickets [Moving violations and parking] - None, I have my parking sticker for my neighborhood, and speed enough to keep up with the flow of traffic, so no citations, yet
4) Memberships - Costco is through my office, so I'm good, and I rarely go. The big waste, so far, this year is the unused AP sitting in my wallet
5) Subscriptions - TCM Viewer's guide $9.95 a year
6) Letting food spoil in the fridge - I'm good with leftovers, try to be, my problem is hitting the store too often and not sticking to the list
7) Wasting Energy - I suppose I do, but I really do turn the lights off when I leave a room, etc. Now that it's just me & the cat, PG&E has gone down by $10
8) Letting your money sit in a checking account - guilty, just not too long
9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you'll never read, or clothes you will never wear... - very guilty, or books that I've read once. I offloaded a ton before the great drive back to CA, but I still moved way too many boxes of books, according to some.
10) Paying too much for cable - cable is a ridiculous expense, looking for ways to cut it down as we speak.

1) Forgetting To Pay Bills - Has never happened, but I might just try that wamu.com GC speaks of.

2) Bank Fees - My account has no fees. Notice it's account singular.

3) Tickets [Moving violations and parking] - None in the last few years.

4) Memberships - The only thing close is my Disneyland AP, at a whopping $350 a year - ouch (when it's time to pay).

5) Subscriptions - I subscribe to a couple of magazines, less than a hundred per year. Plus Netflix at, what, $16 per month?

6) Letting food spoil in the fridge - um, not a problem. If an earthquake happens on a Friday, I'm screwed. (aka, only a week's worth of food in my house at a time.)

7) Wasting Energy - well, I do drive an SUV, so I guess I waste energy on a regular basis. I'm pretty good with electricity though.

8) Letting your money sit in a checking account - Ha. Um, excuse me, Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you'll never read, or clothes you will never wear... This is my downfall. DVDs I will watch once, maybe twice. All the while, paying for Netflix. Ugh.

10) Paying too much for cable - My cable is included with my HOA fees, so I have no choice about it. I think it's $11 per month. A waste, since I don't watch any TV ... but no opt out available.

1) Forgetting To Pay Bills - Yep
2) Bank Fees - Yep
3) Tickets [Moving violations and parking] - Yep (although it comes in spates)
4) Memberships - Yep
5) Subscriptions - Yep
6) Letting food spoil in the fridge - Not too much since we tend to eat out a LOT (which is another money burner)
7) Wasting Energy - Yep. We have six dragon enclosures in our house, each with a heat lamp. This warms up the house significantly. We run the AC a LOT to compensate
8) Letting your money sit in a checking account - Nope
9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you'll never read, or clothes you will never wear... - Nope; they all get watched and books get read repeatedly
10) Paying too much for cable[/quote] - How much is "too much"? We pay for it and we use it. Now what IS stupid is that we stopped using Dish Network several months ago. Yet we are still paying for it each month. Why? Because we have a warranty return receiver that when (if) we return it, we will get that $100 deposit back. In the mean time, we have spent a few hundred dollars paying for a service we don't use. Makes sense, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

Taking a tip from MG here, I want to thank GC for bringing up this subject. I've made strides and still have a long road to travel, but you've inspired me to really sit down and be serious about my finances.

I've pulled the cc's out of my wallet and am considering taking the drastic step of freezing them (a darn good idea) and I'm working on a MS Money budget. It is depressing to see how much goes out right now. Of course, it has to, I am serious about paying things down and starting to really save. Once the CC's are paid off and I close all but one card (I have 4) then I won't have stress of those kind of bills hitting me month after month.


So, GC, thanks! My hat's off to you, you are my hero (as is everyone else here who has offered sagely advice and support) :snap:

Yes! I want to thank GC for coming forth and being open with his situation. Some people get funny with their money and make it a taboo subject that we must suffer with in private. But, with a little help from our friends {advice, tales from their experiences, etc.} we can work through it!

Thanks to everyone who has posted advice and experience, it does help. Any one single plan won't work but a little bit of everything can!!

Major visable mojo for you, GC!!!:snap:

1) Forgetting To Pay Bills - Rarely, but it happens
2) Bank Fees - Free accounts. I stick half my rent money in an ING account and get a little interest 2 weeks out of the month. Also helps me make sure I have said rent money
3) Tickets [Moving violations and parking] - none lately
4) Memberships - DL AP and Ducks Tickets. I use and enjoy both
5) Subscriptions - none
6) Letting food spoil in the fridge - Biggest issue is buying too much produce
7) Wasting Energy - my roommie likes to keep the place a freezer
8) Letting your money sit in a checking account - See #2
9) Buying DVDs you will never, ever watch, or books you'll never read, or clothes you will never wear.. - Clothes are my downfall but I am getting beter.
10) Paying too much for cable - When I paid for cable and internet I would call every few months and get on a promotion. I ended up paying full price for each 2 times a year.

Heck, I appreciate the kudos and the help. It helps to vent about it. It's comforting to know that I ain't the only one with budgetting probs. :)

I forgot to add something to my expense list... prescriptions. Allergies suck. I have a couple of prescriptions that I have to fill monthly...

Heheh, I save on my personal electricity expenses by chaging all my portables at work.

It's a perk.

GC do you have insurance? For mine if you use the mail in option for perscriptions that you take all the time it's much cheaper. You get three months supply at a time but you pay less. You have to make sure the doctor writes the perscription the right way otherwsie they'll only send you one month at a time with no real cost savings. Also supposedly Costco is much cheaper for perscriptions. My copay on my allegra seems to be the same there as it was at SavOn so actual mileage may vary.