Saturday, September 25, 2010

N.S.M

Priorities


  There is always that one earthly possession you long for, rather it’s the latest cell phone or an expensive piece of jewelry. But when you are a college student living on your own or coming from a family that has a humble background, it all boils down to what you want and what you need.  I would like to share with you my opinions on managing money, through my personal experiences. I prefer to follow the three step system on managing money, the “N.S.M” (Need, Save, Make) system.
  Living in California, not everyone can find a job in this economy. That means a lot of people have to dig into their savings, some people can make a thousand dollars last longer than others. It all depends on if you can determine the differences between need and want. For example I wanted the new iPhone, but the price tag was well over half my savings, and I already had a perfectly working phone. To top things off I still had to have an English book.  Of course I picked the English book over the phone, since I needed the book to pass my class. The want over need rule doesn’t just apply for school text books. I’ve seen people go out and spend their milk money on a pair of new shoes; I don’t think a pair of Nike dunks is very nutritious for you.
  Now if you are living on your own, bills can be such a hassle. I know you are expecting me to say “Use energy efficient appliances.” That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even though using energy efficient appliances can reduce your bills dramatically, they also cost more. Instead try using natural sunlight in the day and turning off unused lights at night. This also falls under the need before want rule. Do you really need 3 lights on in 1 room or running the TV and radio at the same time? I don’t think so.  That covers the home, but what about daily life? Let’s start looking around what you can do to save an extra buck.  Instead of buying soda from vending machines or local gas stations, try buying in bulk, you can save an extra 25 cents. Buying in bulk is a wonderful way to save money. If you are paying 12 dollars for a 24 pack of soda that normally cost $1.25 per soda you are saving 18 dollars! This is just a small example on what you can do to save money on a daily basis.
  We have covered the difference between need and want, and saving money. It’s time to show you how you can make money. I like to live by that saying “A problem is just an opportunity in work clothes.” Sure you should be sending in your resumes for a job. But landing a job won’t happen overnight, in the mean time why don’t we look around the house and see what we can do.  See that plastic bottle in your trashcan? That’s a nickel. It only takes 20 nickels to make a dollar. It’s not hard to find little ways to earn money; I had to come up with $300 dollars for text books before school started last august. I couldn’t find a job, so besides saving bottles and turning them at the end of the month, I mowed lawns. Yes! The thing you use to do for your parents to earn your allowance, also works as a temporary job.  Ten dollars here and there start to build up. Pretty soon I had more than $300. Another way to make money is to go into your closet and look around and find things you don’t use. In my case it was a snowboard, I haven’t snowboarded for years and all it was doing was collecting dust in the back of my closet. I decided to turn on the computer and go onto an online ad site (Craigslist.org) posted it on there, in 3 days I sold it for $75. Now you are not going to get rich by doing this. But you can earn enough money to pay for the basic essentials (for me it was college text books).
 These are just a few examples of the “N.S.M” management system. Simple yet brilliant, anyone can do this and live on a little bit of nothing.




53 comments:

  1. Nice, well thought out paper you got there.

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  2. Lol, Yea I actually used this for an essay.

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  3. awesome info there looking forward to more posts in the future.
    Laters mate

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  4. followin 'n' supportin 'n' fappin bro :)

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    check also this to find new interesting blogs to luv daily

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  5. fascinating. i can take some of your advice and use it.

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  6. Lol, I hope the Cali grant I sent this essay to actually pays off ^_^

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  7. Some good pointers in here I will use some of hem in the next fffew months considering I'm a student :|

    Can you remove the comment captcha please?

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  8. Priorties If that is how you spell it.

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  9. is that me fap fap fappin? yep, nice post

    follow for a follow

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  10. Haha thanks guys, I know its a bit long, but I had alot to say

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  11. Not sure if this system will work for me but good luck to you!

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  12. great info, I've been doing this for years, need versus want. one way of really deciding whether that thing you want is an actually want or just an impulse buy is to write it down and come back to it in a couple weeks (or ideally a month). if you still want it, go for it, if the initial urge has passed, well you've just saved urself some money.

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  13. wow a bit long but worth the reading :D kinda refreshing to read too

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  14. New follower - Look forward to seeing some more videos etc!

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  15. cool blog bro, but the soda example, i think you can just drink water to save even more! lol

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    ;)

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  16. Outstanding! Keep the articles rolling in!

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  17. tl;dr but will come back... just wanted to let you know.. I'm here. lol

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  18. awesome can't wait for more posts always following you mate
    keep it up
    cya

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  19. Working on my next 1 right now actually.

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  20. Hey, nice post - very interesting... looking forward to more. Keep in touch!

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  21. Good stuff dude, I know exactly how that goes.
    I have daily deals posted on my blogs because I HATE spending money.

    Twitter.com/CawlinForReal

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  22. good ideas in this
    will help for the future :)

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  23. Got any more tips on dealing with money?

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  24. looking forward to the next update...

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  25. lol yea still working on update, of course a powerbot member would say tl;dr lol

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  26. I feel your pain man! thanks for the advice

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  27. Great advice man. Cool post and cool blog.

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  28. Thanks for the comments on my last GTL blog post.

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  29. Hey man, this sounds good, loving the blog, check mine out if you got the time.
    http://everythingilikesucks.blogspot.com/

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  30. Very informative post although most of the content is simply common sense. Keep up the good work and share the love.

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