Comments on: 8 Reasons Why You Don’t Save

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: Standing on Guard for Thee

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:43:51 +0000

[...] Vaz-Oxlade gives us something to think about with 8 Reasons Why YOU Don’t Save, how did she [...]

By: joanne

joanne — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:38:56 +0000

Snoopy/Catherine; using the future payment function in online banking allows for you to “pay” your bills right away and choose a date a couple of days prior to the due date inorder to keep the money in your bank account longer. I always “pay” bills when the bills come in by always choosing a pay date of just before the due date to ensure no past due charges. I have never had bill not get paid using this method.

By: Raina

Raina — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:51:39 +0000

I have a storage locker (through our townhouse — $400 a year). Our house is simply not big enough to have the Christmas tree stored in the summer and the patio cushions in the winter. I turned our indoor storage closet (very small) into a pantry with an additional freezer to take advantage of great meat sales. That $400 might have made a nice addition to savings each year, but I’d rather have those items safely stored so I don’t have to buy new patio cushions or a Christmas tree regularly and they’re out of sight. Also, the nice walk-in pantry & extra freezer space encourage us eating at home and to stock up when we buy on sale instead of just going out and buying whatever.

We’ve almost paid down every single cent of debt (except the mortgage), but the cars are ours (not fancy), the consumerism from our 20s has stopped and we’ve almost paid it all off and we have some half decent RRSPs for our age and a little bit of a nest egg (enough for a mortgage payment or so). We have the jars and I shudder to think what our situation would have been if we hadn’t started a year ago.

By: Snoopy

Snoopy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:45:17 +0000

Catherine, I feel just like you. The debt paying monster. I can’t wait to pay my bills each week too. I know I should start saving, but I just want to pay, pay, pay. And I know it’ll srill take me 2-3 years to pay off all debt regardless. I need to stop feeling so Pay eager and start feeling more Savings Eager!!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:21:38 +0000

This is all too true. In the last year I have stopped shopping when bored. I would rarely wear most of the stuff I bought. Thanks for reminding us all what is taking our savings away.

By: Cindi

Cindi — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:02:45 +0000

Catherine: I think the post about waiting to pay bills was directed at small businesses. I know that I can easily forget about my household bills if I don’t catch them right away…

By: John

John — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:47:04 +0000

Some people don’t save

I know one couple who have almost paid off their house but he has been out of work for a year and six months

I can sure understand when he tells me now they can’t save

By: Racheal. J

Racheal. J — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:25:31 +0000

I find I am in the debt category, although I am saving some money. I put about a hundred dollars away each month. I am married and my husband and I get paid bi-weekly so I just take 25.00 from each check then it doesn’t seem like a lot at once. I know watching Till debt do us part, has done wonders for my husband and I. We are both young and we both take active parts in our finances. I think I am little more stingy than he is though. I just hope that we will have enough self discipline to get all are debt paid off and not get into anymore. I hope you all have a lovely day.

By: Snagglepink

Snagglepink — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:53:06 +0000

There really is no excuse to not save. I finally got two automatic deductions set up for savings, then promptly quit my job for other reasons. Our family lived on one part-time income for four months before I found work again, but I didn’t have the heart to stop that savings program I had just put in place. It was tight, but we lived and now I feel really proud of the money we set aside during a time we could have been drawing on credit or savings.

By: Girl Makes Cents

Girl Makes Cents — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:45:22 +0000

I have debt, to family though. I also have a storage unit. Hopefully neither for too much longer. I am slowly learning how to save. I am 24 and I realize the importance of it, debt was my priority last year though and now I am trying to BALANCE savings and debt.

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:44:53 +0000

The savings vs debt repayment dilemma could so easily be avoided if the savings take place before spending so that no debt is incurred. If a fund for the next car is started as soon as the present one is bought, the money should be available to pay for it when the time comes. It works the same for any purchases. If you know approximately how long the new furnace or roof will last you’ll know how much to save each year so that the funds will be available when the need occurs. It’s such a relief to know that no money will need to be borrowed or interest paid, although it can get confusing with holiday savings, appliance savings, renovation savings, etc.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:33:56 +0000

Daniel C – I disagree with those articles. If you are worried about interest put the money in a TFSA. If you end up using the HELOC in an emergency, how will you pay it off after the emergency?

By: DanielC

DanielC — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:38:22 +0000

…and yet another point of view on why your HELOC can be your emergency fund.

http://www.four-pillars.ca/2008/02/26/reasons-why-your-heloc-can-be-your-emergency-fund/

By: DanielC

DanielC — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:34:21 +0000

Dont mean to throw a wrench in the gears but here is a nother point of view on savings versus debt repayment.

http://themoneygardener.com/2007/10/defying-cash-emergency-funds.html

By: larissa

larissa — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:25:49 +0000

I admit to number one and seven. This year is the year! We are working on debt repayment and small savings. I have had to tell myself at least once daily that I don’t need to go shopping. (Not always boredom, sometimes a desire to escape the non-stop work at home after working all day) I have even had to redefine the need for grocery shopping, much like how you (Gail) have on some TDDUP shows made a weekly challenge be grocery shopping only one time that week. It makes it easy to resist temptations/unneccesary spending. Now the only exception is the milk and bread…sometimes I have my hubby pick those up as I KNOW he’ll spend as little time and money there as possible.