Hi everyone,
Hope you're well. (My apologies in advance for the long post.)
This topic is created as an attempt to glean the wisdom of the community in tackling problem I've been having. I'm a college student (finishing up undergrad) and live with my parents. They are, unfortunately, incredibly spendy and save little to nothing.
Here are the details:
- Parents: Dad (52), Mom (42)
- Dad works 60+ hours per week; Mom ~ 40 hours per week; both low-paying jobs (we immigrated here 17 years ago, and are now residents, but they're stuck in their low-paying jobs.)
- Combined monthly income (net): $3370 + ~ $400/month contributed by me currently = $3,770
- Savings at the end of the month: usually nothing
I can list out some of our top expenses, but this is less a thread about cost-reduction advice, and more a question about how to get parents (who are psychologically stuck in the consumer mind-set - i.e. $200 extra income = $200 extra spending money) to start saving.
- Rent: $1200
- Electric/Gas: $220
- Phone: Paid by me (outside of the monthly income above, so this is free to them, $135 for me)
- Internet + home phone: $100
- Cable (no one even watches, but they won't cancel! Ugh): $95
- Netflix: Paid by me
- Car insurance: $220 (thinking of buying another car, even though dad works ~3 blocks away)
- Gas: ~$100
- Laundry (5 People): $90
- Total: $2,025
Even with this
insane spending level, we should have $1345 left over each month for household toiletries (TP, Toothpaste, etc.) and food, but they literally spend that amount somehow each month. I've tried to introduce my mother to Mint, but she doesn't feel comfortable putting her bank statements on an outside website (though I think this may have more to do with not wanting transparency in her spending.) Much of this goes to ordering food - often when there is a home cooked meal left over from the day before (SO much food in our house goes to waste - it's revolting) - and random purchases (we invested in a $45 knife set last week that's still in the box because our utensil cubby is full of knives, spoons, and the like.)
I love them, and they're honestly the most hardworking people I know (classic hardworking spendthrifts - HWST!) My dad has worked 17+ years at 60-70 hours per week. I expect to be supporting them in their old age (after all, they gave up a comfortable life - dad was in the law field - to come here and worked their butt off for me and my siblings), however their spending habits definitely concern me.
For one, they often argue and money is the underlying reason maybe 75% of the time. Additionally, when it was just my father working, we were broke. Then my mother joined in at 40+ hours per week (the promise was my dad, who's getting up there in years, would be able to take a day or two off a week), and we're still broke - curse you lifestyle inflation. I've also been contributing (and more recently than before), and we're still broke. The challenge is, they don't seem to want to acknowledge its within their power to break the shackles of wage-slavery...
Mustachians of the interwebs: how do I get my parents on board to curbing some of this crazy spending??TLDR: Parents work like crazy at low-paying jobs, and save nothing due to cray crazy consumer spending. Help!