Best ways to save money

[crystalhy101]

The most effective way is to inhibit your desire to buy something unnecessary.

[hoburto]

Things you can do without and still live!

-cancel land line
-give up vip mobile plan and use pccw $69
-give up watsons water for boiled water
-give up your night to catch the last mtr
-give up convenience and call 20% off taxi
-give up taxi for tram
-give up gadgets and sell them here
-drink during happy hour
-give up parknshop for wetmarkets
-give up watsons for local pharmacy
-eat lunch during 2-5
-don't cook @ night just eat out cheap
-give up facial packages for korean face masks
-give up dry cleaning and sometimes see your clothes shrink
-give up poker and play video games
-stay in clubhouse and use their a/c
-write good blogs and google will send you cash

[muse07]

Some good tips here, eg from Taihungai and Hoburto.

Hoburto - re Google sending you money for blogs, how does that work?

I quit my previous job in the corporate world and am changing career - I have since learnt to make big changes to my budget.

I realised that the main big unecessary expenses that I used to incur all too easily were (1) Rent, (2) drinks in Soho/Central/LKF areas ($60 to $90 a pop!), (3) meals and junks (can spend $300 to $500 all too easily), (4) taxi fares.

(1) You need to be smart in looking for a place. I now pay about ONE QUARTER of the rent I used to pay in midlevels (and I still only live a 5 minute taxi ride from Central, in an (albeit smallish) 2BR place)

(2) Drinks do not have to cost that much - cutting down on alcohol consumption won't kill you (!), and if female you can always go to ladies nights to potentially drink all night for free, you can get a cheapo traveller drink from 7-11 and drink on da street, enjoy 2 for 1 happy hours and/or simply drink outside of Central areas.

(3) I now only spend on meals on junks I really really want to go to, and express a preference for ones that are reasonably priced to my friends.

(4) Trams (unbelievable at $2), buses and MTR can get you most places. It's not as hard as I first thought when I came to HK!