Comments on: 7 Ways Saving Money is like Losing Weight

By: Bankruptcy Saskatoon

Bankruptcy Saskatoon — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:00:02 +0000

Great round up post. Step number 2 is absolutely vital. Writing down all your expenses and tracking them on a monthly basis will give you a better idea on where you can possibly cut down any unnecessary expenditures. Wesabe is a great online personal finances tracking tool! Thanks for the suggestion.

By: RLG

RLG — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:17:17 +0000

Actually, saving money and losing weight doooo have a lot in common. If it was easy…we’d allll be rich and thin.

Seriously though. Best load up any TSFA accounts you can. I wonder how long before they go the way of the income trust.

By: Ms Save Money

Ms Save Money — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:17:02 +0000

Hey Phinance,

I think 2 years is a really really safe cushion :) you would be good with that. Generally I think they say you should have at least 3 paychecks saved for emergency purposes.

By: Phinance

Phinance — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:12:59 +0000

FrugalTrader,

Thanks for the response. I think I’ll follow that advice, though I’m a bit paranoid about what the right emergency savings amount should be. I want 2 years of savings at least.

By: Horlic

Horlic — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:17:49 +0000

Kathryn thanks for sharing. For me on top of the above points, persistent is vital. I believe in achieving goals we need to be persistent with what we are doing either losing weight or saving money.

By: TStrump

TStrump — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:56:44 +0000

I sure love to eat, which has gotten me into trouble with respect to my weight in the past.
I also love to spend, which has gotten me into financial trouble.
Thankfully, I’ve learned to ‘cut the fat’ the past 5 years.
Thanks!

By: Deborah

Deborah — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:25:58 +0000

Just joined up at FitDay — it’s wonderful — exactly what I’ve been thinking that I needed to get going on losing 20 lbs.
It’s taken me a year to develop good financial habits and routines — 6 months of “trying” and getting nowhere and 6 months of getting serious by reading PF books, blogs and forums and by tracking and planning expenses. I began to realize that a big-picture person like me has to force herself to sweat the small stuff. More recently, I began to see a parallel between financial habits and diet habits and to understand that if I am ever to achieve my goals, I need to stop being so darned easy-going and start being somewhat obsessive-compulsive about what I really care about. It’s working and I am now optimistic that I can do what I need to re. weight loss.
Thank you!

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:56:17 +0000

Phinance, in my opinion, once you have an emergency fund that you are comfortable with, pay off the debt in the order of the highest interest.

By: Phinance

Phinance — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:16:05 +0000

Pretty cool way of looking at saving. I’m really good at setting goals to lose weight, but not great at saving money. I manage to put away about $1k a month, but I could be saving more.

Here’s a question: should I be paying off student loans and my car loan, or just making the minimum payments and saving everything? I’ve been paying off more than the monthly payments for the school and car loan, and have been moderately saving.

By: vilkri

vilkri — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:41:15 +0000

There is another similarity. If you want to keep off the weight, you got to change your eating habits. If you fall back into your old habits, you start gaining weight again even after a successful diet. Saving money is similar. If you want to continue saving money, you need to change your spending habits.

By: InvestAssetWealth

InvestAssetWealth — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:44:46 +0000

Well Done Kathryn!

In the words of Robert Kiyosaki:

“Physical exercise improves health, mental exercise improves wealth, laziness destroys both.”

InvestAssetWealth

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:25:11 +0000

Here is where I posted the before and after photos. (I blocked out my face to hide my identity.) :-)

http://mommysavers.com/boards/self-improvement/91884-promised-final-before-after-photos.html

By: Colourful Money

Colourful Money — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:46:21 +0000

Interesting analogy…can we see before and after pictures?

Yes I have found the journey to wealth similar to the path to the health. By eating foods that I’ve prepared myself as opposed to fast food, not only did I save more money, but I’ve lost weight as well! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

By: dalmanca

dalmanca — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:19:53 +0000

Hi, I have a question about wesabe website. Is it better than accounting software like Microsoft money except it is free? Any security and privacy concern with them? Thanks!

By: Canadian Finance

Canadian Finance — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:33:49 +0000

I’ve been doing pretty good with my finances… maybe it’s time to set goals for my weight? While might debt keeps shrinking, my waist is slowly expanding!

By: Sampson

Sampson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:45:52 +0000

Congrats Kathryn!

I’ve been able to do one of those all my life (the save part) – now to apply those concepts to my paunch.

By: Xenko

Xenko — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:43:33 +0000

Congrats Kathryn. Keep it up! :D Hopefully others can learn from your excellent example.

By: Clair Schwan of Frugal Living Freedom

Clair Schwan of Frugal Living Freedom — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:17:25 +0000

May I add #8?

Enjoy what you wind up with. In other words, reward yourself a bit for your success.

Clair

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:53:39 +0000

#6: “Learning to eat well is not about deprivation. It’s about getting healthy and feeling better.” — On the flip-side of this, I’ve never had weight issues but have been on “performance diets”. I used to be a competitive endurance athlete and when I held myself to a strict dietary regime, the physical results were definitely positive and led me to the best shape of my life. However, it took its toll on me mentally. To this day (ten years on), just the thought of canned tuna makes me cringe!

So, yeah, save every dime you make and watch your wallet build muscle, but if it leaves you sitting at home all the time doing nothing but watching basic cable TV…you WILL go crazy!

As per #7, one of my recent “lightbulb moments” (sorry!) on this site has been the mantra of “spend money in areas I value”. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that, I just always thought in terms of spending on essentials and saving/investing. Definitely ‘Value Spending’ (even at the expense of saving) enhances the quality of your life.

As a side note, I’d just like to say how good this site is, really. I read a couple of other money/investment sites and there always seems to be a rather large contingency of “fanatics” taking up space. Not here. I sincerely appreciate all the advice and expertise given by the many contributors (professional and non-pro alike).

By: The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:49:39 +0000

It all comes down to #5. Eat less than you burn, spend less than you make.

As someone who lost 75 lbs, I can speak from experience.