Blogs, weddings, and saving

First off, let me just say that I LOVE pfblogs.org. Months ago, I thought for sure that I would eventually get sick of reading about personal finance, but I haven’t. Pfblogs.org has allowed me to find some really great blogs with awesome stories to tell. Although the blogs that spout out generic advice several times a day are helpful and well-written, it’s the daily chronicles of staying frugal or attaining goals or struggling with speedbumps on the road to wealth that I really love to read about.

There are some drawbacks, though. You know you read too many personal finance blogs when you start having dreams about how you came across Debt Hater’s business storefront while driving around town one day, decided to check it out, and find out that you went to preschool together.

But I digress. I found a really awesome new blog called Dual Income No Kids that I can really relate to. I love their posts on how they funded their wedding, and it’s basically the same formula no matter how much you need to save. My parents paid for most of our wedding, but I still had to save up about $2000 for various things like plane tickets, Hobie’s ring, gifts, and bridal accessories.

Here’s what I did:
Direct deposit into ING account.
Cut down on some vices like eating out and poker.
Stop acceleration of debt repayment and allocate that extra money to savings.
Put all extra money into savings (like cash back rewards, gifts, and any poker winnings).
Pay for everything in cash. No new debt!

I can’t go into any more detail because I think it’s just that simple. When someone asks me, “How do you save money?” my best response is, “Don’t spend it.”

And now, post-wedding, we’re following all the same rules except instead of funneling all the money into a savings account, it’s going into our debt snowball.