QUOTE(Nokia convert @ May 24 2011, 10:41 PM)
I've been able to consistently save >30% for the past 8 months here. Here's how I do it:
1) I control myself by limiting my debit card purchases to plane tickets and minor online purchases only. I pay the rest of my expenditure with cash. That way you will feel money flowing out of your pocket and tends to deter you from spending further. Never ever get a credit card....you will be tempted to spend future money. With every single cent spent on your debit card, you will feel the burn in your pocket.
2) I track my daily expenses on excel file so I can monitor where the bulk of money flow every month. For example, suppose I notice an increase in food expenditure, I will watch out more on that the following month.
3) I only withdraw $100 weekly and try to survive on that for 1 week. Only withdraw more when absolutely necessary. If I spent $100 in less than 3 days, that will kinda prompt me to recheck my spendings.
4) Match my holiday spendings in Malaysia with my daily expenditure in sg (apply a factor of 1.3 if it's a major holiday). E.g If I spend $12 daily in Sg, I am only allowed to spend rm30 daily in Malaysia. If major holiday, I am allowed to spend up to Rm40 daily.
All these budget measures serve as check and balances for my personal money management.
Here's how I do it
1) Married and have kids without having a maid.
-- We don't really have much time and energy left to spend money.
-- looking at childcare fee alone will make me think twice when spend money. I gave away at least two set of iphone every month

When my kids sick and stay at home for 2 week, one iphone4 go down the drain for nothing.