TIL my old landlord's budgeting trick actually makes sense

Last month my landlord Frank was fixing my sink and we got to talking about money. He told me he puts 10% of every rent check straight into a separate account and pretends it doesn't exist. I laughed it off then but last week I tried it with my paycheck and I actually saved $300 without even noticing. Has anyone else had a random conversation that changed how they handle their finances?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesroberts5d ago

Yeah but ellis.susan's point about late fees is actually real. I knew a guy who was always complaining about being broke but he'd buy coffee every morning and then pay like $35 in overdraft fees every month. That's over 400 bucks a year just for being lazy with his bank account.

milaw148d ago

Call it naive but that 10% trick only works if you're already making enough to cover your bills. Frank probably has zero debt and a paid off house. Try telling someone living paycheck to paycheck to just "pretend" 10% of their income doesn't exist. You'll end up eating ramen and hoping your car doesn't break down. It's easy to save when your basics are already handled.

ellis.susan8d ago

Take your point about the 10% thing being hard when you're barely scraping by. But honestly, if you can't save 10%, you're probably already paying more than that in late fees or interest somewhere. I've seen people drop 20 bucks on late fees every month for one bill, and that's 240 a year they could have kept. Even 5% is something, and you can build up from there once the emergencies stop kicking you in the teeth.