I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Well, it applies to saving money too! There’s all kinds of strategies for piling cash. I want to share with you my 3 favorite. All math will be done without taxes in mind to keep it simple.

Strategy #1

First, there’s the 70/30 strategy that I learned from an awesome book called, The Richest Man In Babylon. That’s where you spend 70% of your yearly take home pay on living expenses and bills. And the 30% you save and invest. For example, if you make $35,000 a year, multiply 35,000 x 70%. That equals 24,500. So, you would live on $24,500 a year and save $10,500 a year.

Now, break that $24,500 down into how much you’d have to live on each month.

24,500 divided by 12 = $2,041.66 a month for living expenses.

Now do your savings.

10,500 divided by 12 = $875 straight into the money market account every month.

Strategy #2

Another strategy that you can use is to save 10 or 15 percent out of every paycheck. Let’s go with 10% for our example.

If you earn $16.00 an hour, you’d get paid $1,280 every two weeks.

So, 1,280 x 10% = 128.

You would be saving $128 out of every paycheck.

You’d get paid twice a month, right? 128 x 2 = 256.

256 x 12 months = $3,072 a year you would be saving. Awesome!

Strategy # 3 (But first, let me get your head right.)

This is the third strategy that you can use and also the one that I used to save $30,000. It’s a strategy that I still use today. But, before I get into how I did it, let me get your head right.

You are not John the cashier. You are John, CEO and president of John, Incorporated.

You are not Chris the maintenance man. You are Chris, CEO and president of Chris, Incorporated.

Now reader, say your name and do the same. I am “your name” CEO and president of “your name,” Incorporated. Feels good, don’t it!

I am Lex Vance. The CEO and president of Lex Vance, Incorporated and I provide a maintenance service for an apartment complex.

My favorite keynote speaker Brian Tracy said to always see yourself as self employed. You provide a service that a company pays you for.

So, you’re actually running the business of you! And for a business to run smoothly, the business has to make a profit, right? Too much month at the end of the money is not running a very profitable business. Living paycheck to paycheck is not turning a profit. It’s treading water.

How I, a maintenance man saved $30,000.

Now that your head is right and you’re thinking like a business owner, this is the strategy that I used to save $30,000 in 4 years. Earning only $12.00 to $14.00 an hour. I paid myself the first hour of the day. Every day. The first $12.00 of the day went to Lex Vance, Incorporated.

$12.00 x 5 days = $60 a week.

$60.00 x 4 weeks = $240 a month

$240 x 12 months = $2,880 a year.

I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t add up to $30,000 in four years. Let me explain. I got so freaking fired up after I saw my first $1,000 in the bank, I went absolutely bonkers! So bonkers that I cut my lifestyle down to the bone and tripled it. Lex Vance, Inc. was taking in the first 3 hours of a work day.

$12.00 x 3 hours = $36 a day

$36 x 5 days = $180 a week

$180 x 4 weeks = $720 a month

$720 x 12 months = $8,640 a year

Remember, I did this math without the taxes taken out to keep it simple. I also got a .50 cent raise through the time period. From $12.00 to $14.00. (2006 – 2010) And I had side hustles going! Side hustles are a must!

That is my favorite strategy. I don’t see myself as an employee. I am a business that pays itself the first profitable hour of the day. The other 7 hours go to the expenses that keep the business running. Like food, gas, car payment, and rent/mortgage.

I was 26 years old when I started saving the $30,000. It took me until I was 30 years old. I wasn’t married nor did I have kids. I’ve never been in debt or had a credit card. To this very day, I don’t have any debt nor do I have a credit card.

In 2004, I traded in my 1985 Scottsdale Chevy pickup for a 1998 Ford Explorer. I paid it off in 2007, a year after I started my financial journey. Not having that $250 car payment was an extra bonus towards my savings every month. They sure do drive nice when they’re not dragging a payment behind it.

A Break Down Of How I Did It.

1) I was paying myself the first 3 hours of the day. Every work day.

2) I cut my lifestyle way back. No more short term pleasure, long term pain lifestyle. EXAMPLES

I started bringing my lunch to work instead of eating at restaurants everyday. ($7.00 average for eating out everyday. Amount saved every month? $140 a month!
I ate breakfast and dinner at home. I gave myself $100 a month for groceries.
I never had any kind of crazy debt. Only a $250 a month car payment from 2004 to 2007. I rented an apartment at the time. $416 a month.
I stopped going out with friends so much. I gave myself 1 Saturday a month. Amount saved: $200 a month. (Yea, I partied!)
I stopped smoking, cold turkey, in 2006, Amount saved: $20.00 a month.
I didn’t buy clothes for years. The only clothes that I needed were work clothes. And they were free from the company!

3) I kept 3 to 5 side hustles going at all times. (to pay for vacations! You don’t have to be a stick in the mud!)

That’s it! Common sense stuff, right!

$416 rent + $250 car payment + $100 groceries + $100 for gas + 100 insurance & phone = $966

$966 a month. That’s pretty much what I lived on for 4 years. It fluctuated up and down a little, like when I paid off my car, but that’s pretty much how I did it. Sacrifice!

A sacrifice for the better though! I lost weight and felt healthier due to not eating fast food all the time. I quit smoking. I quit drinking beer every weekend. And, stopped cluttering my apartment with sh#t I didn’t need!

You want to know the really weird part? I thought that being broke and what I was doing was normal! I wasn’t suppose to have a lot of money. I wasn’t a lawyer or a doctor. I was a freaking maintenance man! When I changed my mindset, everything changed.

I did all this through the meltdown of 2008. Remember that? “The second great depression,” they said it was! When everyone was running around saying the sky was falling and the country was going into the toilet.

I stayed focused on my goals. Not what others were telling me. Through all of it, the government was about the same. Prices were about the same. The negative media was about the same. Everything was about the same.

If everything was about the same, then how did I pile so much cash?

I was not the same! I changed!

Write Out Everything That You Spend Money On

After you read this. Get a piece of paper and a pen and write out everything that you spend money on. From bills to bullsh#t. Now, look at it like a garden. A garden that you want to spruce up and make beautiful. To do that, you’re going to have to pull some weeds.

A pack a week smoking habit. Weed. Get it out of there.
Eating at your favorite BBQ joint 4 times a week. Weed. Pull that bitch!
$500 car payment. Are you f#ckin kidding me?! Weed. Stop trying to impress people you’re never going to meet. Really. NO ONE cares dude. $250 a month was and always will be my max car payment.
Crippy bud/marijuana habit. Weed. (pun intended)
More clothes for your cluttered bedroom and closet. Weed. Yank it!

Okay, I think you get the point. Find out what’s nickel and diming you and remove it from your life. Because it’s the little things that kill you, right? It’s not the big stuff. It’s the $40 going here. The $20 going there. We nickel and dime ourselves until there’s nothing left! Find it and remove it.

You’re going to have to remove your wants. Only focus on your needs. It’s not forever! Just for a little while. And you don’t have to be a hermit either. I took a 7 day cruise every year while I was going bat sh#t crazy about saving money. Every goal that you hit, celebrate.

After I piled up around $20,000, I let off the gas a bit and started to enjoy a little more freedom. I could afford it now! So remember, this isn’t forever. Just until you get some good saving habits going and one flat tire wont sink you into the dark abyss of broke.

Billionaire Sam Walton’s pickup truck that he drove for years. He started Wal-Mart.

So, prioritize your wants and your needs! Do you really need a new truck pulling a bass boat behind it? Nope. Do you really need 6,000 cable channels? I think you know the answer. Until you can afford it, sell it or dump it!

My Life Today

As of today, I am happily married and have two great kids. I recently traded in my 1998 Ford Explorer for a used 2012 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. On May 3rd, 2016 to be exact. So I was driving an SUV that was from the 20th century. Other than it squeaking like a sum bitch as it went down the road, it was a great car. No car payment for 9 years!

Remember, I’ve never had a credit card or any other debt. So my credit score was 0. Goose egg! And I wanted my bank to loan me $10,000 for a $27,000 truck. I was putting $17,000 down on it myself.

How was I able to get a loan with no credit you ask? Well, the truck was $27,000. When the banker saw that I could buy the truck out right, she didn’t hesitate to cut me a check. I got the truck. My payment? You got it! $250 a month.

One day our landlord surprised us by telling my wife and I that she was selling the house. So, we needed to buy a house. Fast! By getting the bank loan for my truck, I was able to build a good credit score so that we could buy a house. I was able to put $18,000 down on a house and we are now homeowners.

I’m still paying myself first. And reading all that I can get my hands on about personal finance. Folks, this stuff is really common sense. It’s 80% discipline and 20% head knowledge. And if you can’t save right now because you have a lot of debt.

Read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. That book is easy to understand and will guide you step by step out of debt.

MY INVESTMENTS

I put the money that I save into a money market account. A money market account is where you will put your rainy day fund. A rainy day fund should be 3 to 6 months of expenses. In case you get laid off or the refrigerator goes out. I keep my rainy day fund and my “have fun” money in my money market account.

A money market account is the same as a savings account, except it earns more interest than a regular savings account does. The banks aren’t going to tell you that because they don’t want to pay you more. Go to your bank tomorrow and open up a money market account. Then put all your savings into it.

Roth IRA Mutual Fund

My other investment is a Roth IRA (individual retirement account) that I have $100 a month automatically taken out of my checking account. I don’t see it. That way I know at least something is going to it. I’ll also send checks to invest when I have a good month. But $100 will always go there for the rest of my life. I invest with American Funds. The 2 that I invested in is AGTHX and AIVSX. Google those and you’ll find all that you need to know about them. I hear Vanguard is good too! I’m not endorsing anything. Just letting you know how I roll. You do your own research and find what you like the best.

I also had a 401k at my old job that I rolled over into my Roth IRA after I left the company to pursue music full-time. I maxed out my 401k contributions and the company matched it! Awesome! I recommend you do the same if your company offers 401k. Especially if they match. Do not pass up free money!

CONCLUSION

Well, that’s my story folks. That’s how a maintenance man saved $30,000. Your pay is not an excuse. Having kids is not an excuse. I have 2 kids, a wife, a mortgage, insurance, phone, and all that fun stuff. Yet, I was still able to save $15,000 in 2016. It’s time to set aside the excuses. You can suffer the pain of discipline. Or, you can suffer the pain of regret. Things are only going to change for you when you change. Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. If a maintenance man can do this, I know you can too!

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3 EASY STRATEGIES FOR SAVING MONEY. HOW A MAINTENANCE MAN SAVED $30,000