The Scrooge Strategy

Ramit Sethi
Ramit Sethi: New York Times best-selling author. Website hosts over 300,000 readers/month. Stanford graduate.

You already know all the obvious money saving tips - so why isn't your savings account overflowing?


If you're wondering how to save $1,000 in 30 days -- using fresh tips that really work, not the same old BS -- give me 25 seconds of your time to try this simple exercise. (As a thank-you, I've prepared a free 100-page Guide for you.)

Now, let's do it.

Think about all the money you've earned in the last 10 years. The side jobs, the birthday gifts, that tax refund, and the paychecks you get every month. All of it.

Add it all together. In the last 10 years, how much have you made?

Now ask yourself: Where has it all gone?

What do you have to show for all that money you've earned over the last 10 years?

You're making money, month after month, and it's getting deposited in your bank account. Sure, you have regular expenses -- like everyone else -- but you've earned a lot over the last ten years. So what do you have to show for it?

Saving is not about more willpower

How many times have you said, "If I just tried harder, I could save more." Ask yourself: How has that worked out? Look, you KNOW you need to save more. You WANT to. And you're EARNING money every month. So where does it all go? That "try harder" idea sounds suspiciously like my friends who are hopeless yo-yo dieters…"If I just try harder, I'll be able to lose weight," they say. 6 months later, the weight is back on (plus a few more pounds). What if you stay busy "trying harder" while the real savers are following an entirely different set of guidelines?

You don't want to seem cheap by cutting coupons in front of friends.

Who wants to pull out a $5-off coupon at a group dinner? Ironically, the same friends who would laugh are the ones who probably don't have much in their savings accounts. But don't worry about seeming cheap -- there are dozens of strategies for saving money that you can do before you even leave your house. By the time you go out to eat, you'll have a SYSTEM in place that saves you money while you're out having a GREAT time.

What if you could uncover an extra $100 or $500 each month in your current spending?

Are you spending money but not getting your money's worth? It drives me crazy to see people wasting money on invisible, unnecessary expenses that add up to hundreds of dollars each month. Did you know your credit card can save you thousands per year on travel and warranties? Or that you can save hundreds of dollars on one Saturday afternoon making fewer than 10 phone calls and negotiating your subscriptions down (with proven negotiation scripts)?

You've already tried saving money on everything you can.

It's not like you haven't thought about this before. You've stopped eating out so much. You canceled those retail catalogues and started a budget and postponed that vacation. But even with all that frugality, your savings account isn't growing as fast as you want.

You don't want to give up the few small things you love to save a few bucks.

Sometimes it's just not worth it -- why should you stop spending $3 a day on coffee if it's the one thing you really enjoy in the morning?

Who wants to worry about saving money on 50 things in your life.

You wake up and think about whether you can eat out with your friends, or whether you can afford to buy that magazine, or even whether to order a Coke with dinner. It's exhausting just to think about it.

But you DO want to be the one who's paying less for the same things your friends own.

Ask your friends what they pay for their cellphone. Or their credit card interest rate. Or even their rent. What if you could shock them with how little you pay for all those things? Let your friends complain about money. In 30 days, you'll know how to save hundreds on the things they're paying so much for.

You want to save HUNDREDS on a FEW super-charged tactics, not pennies on dozens of worthless tips.

You've tried many different approaches. Some of them aren't right for you, and others are just unrealistic. (Who has time to make their own laundry detergent?)

And the most important thing is: You don't want to waste time saving pennies. You need to save a LOT of money to make it worth your time.

If you're like me, you hate most frugality tips. You know most Americans suck at frugality. Why? First of all, frugality is painful. And then, we spend more than we make. We're terrible at deferring our immediate wants and investing for the long term. We go into debt. And finally, we blame everyone but ourselves.

And "saving money" has negative connotations -- for good reason. It's depressing to think that the only way to save money is by cutting the things you love. Is "saving money" really only about cutting off everything you spend money on? Somehow, I doubt that.

Worst of all, many frugality tips focus on things like saving $10 per month for a huge amount of effort. That's just not worth it. If you're going to spend time to change your lifestyle—and eliminate the things you've been enjoying for years—you want to save thousands of dollars, not ten bucks.

The truth is, you're right. There are a million people promising to help you save money, but the advice is (1) nothing new -- it's all the same stuff you already know and (2) not even worth spending time on. Who cares about saving $10 per month (that's only $120 per year) when you really want to save $500 or $1,000 per month?

But what if you had a system that was fresh and tactical and targeted to you? What if you knew this system had already saved thousands of dollars for other people?

The New Scrooge Strategies That Saved My Readers Thousands of Dollars in One Month

The main problem here is that it's easy to save a few dollars, but when you want to save lots of money (I'm talking hundreds or thousands of dollars per month), it gets much tougher.

If you want to save an extra $2,000 or $5,000 this year, where does the money come from?

Another problem: Most tips to save money are completely obvious. You know the ones I'm talking about: It's easy for someone to say, "Spend less than you earn" and "Stop spending on ___," but those tips don't offer anything original after the same old tired old cliches.

You've already saved on the obvious things -- so now what?

It's not like you aren't TRYING to save money. Look around -- times are tough and everyone is trying to save more money.

Well, a few months ago, I saw how bad the economy was getting. Instead of writing about investing and entrepreneurship, I decided to write a series called, "The Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge."

$1,000 in 30 days. Why not aim high?

Here's the thing: I gave myself only two rules. And it turns out those two rules were the key factors in helping people like you save $100, $500, or in one case, $16,000.

Let me tell you about the two rules.

The Two Factors That Will Skyrocket Your Savings

Nobody needs more useless tips like "spend less than you earn." But if you follow just these two factors, you'll save money without the stress that most people feel.

  1. BIG WINS ONLY: Save hundreds or THOUSANDS in one month. No stupid tips that save $0.50 for 2 hours of work. They're just not worth the hassle. When you save money, it has to be focused on the big wins.
  2. DON'T JUST CUT DOWN on spending -- also EARN MORE and optimize your existing spending. You can't out-frugal your way to rich. At a certain point, you've cut everything you can. But when you take a magnifying glass to your own spending, you can often find surprising ways to save significant routes to saving without sacrificing.

Wouldn't it be nice to discover an extra $500 per month from making a few phone calls to bargain your monthly cable and gym fees? What if there were a proven script you could literally read from?

What if you could save on the big purchases in your life -- like eating out, buying a home, and prescription medicine -- with just a few hours of your time? What if there were a step-by-step guide for identifying the big wins and cutting costs on them?

If you can lock in those savings now, imagine how much you'll save over your lifetime. Wouldn't it be nice to stop worrying about 50 ways to save on pennies (the kind of worries that never end up really saving money) and instead focus on a few things that really matter?

The only question you have to ask yourself is: You've been thinking about saving money for a long time. How has it worked for you so far?

Fortunately, there's a better way.

Your "Scrooge Strategy" To Save $1,000 Dollars in 30 Days

I've compiled my 30 days of proven strategies into a Save $1,000 Dollars in 30 Days Guide that you can download today.

I believe you're sitting on a gold mine of ways to save money. My Save $1,000 Dollars in 30 Days Guide shows you how you can tap into that gold mine, step-by-step, every day for 30 days.

And if you do just these 30 strategies, I guarantee you'll save hundreds of dollars -- if not $1,000+ -- in 30 days.

Now I could make grandiose claims about saving you $10,000 or $50,000 but that wouldn't be realistic. When I shared these strategies with my readers, I asked them to tell me how much they saved. About 1% of my readers filled out my survey, and the most anyone saved was $16,000 in one month. But that's not typical at ALL.

If you're looking for some get-rich-quick scheme, forget it. This isn't for you.

But if you're looking for one strategy every day that will save you dramatic - yet realistic - amounts of money, you can obtain my Save $1,000 Dollars in 30 Days Guide in a matter of minutes.

Introducing the CEO Model: There's More to Saving Than Saying "No"

You don't need an encyclopedia of the same old savings tips...those just end up sitting on your bookshelf while your savings account never gets any bigger despite years of income and effort.

But, if I asked you to spend one hour on one strategy each day to save $1,000 in a month, would you do it?

Especially if the strategies were hand-picked to yield the biggest wins?

Of course. The only question is, "How much can I really save?"

How To Boost Your Cash Savings Beyond Any of Your Friends

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to always be on top of their money? They eat out whenever they want, even take vacations twice a year, but also seem to be saving money?

Maybe it's one of your friends. Maybe he even earns the same income as you, but he's somehow saved $10,000 or $20,000 in the last few years, while you've been wondering where all your money is going.

Now, let's be real. Some of the people who spend a lot are what we call "Ramen Princes" -- they have an iPhone and a new car, but eat Ramen at home and barely scrape by on their rent.

That's not who I'm talking about.

I mean the real savers. People who save on a few really big purchases, instead of feeling guilty about saving on every single thing in their lives. They realize you can't do it all -- but if you save on the big wins, that's more than enough.

The very best savers have their own strategies for locking in savings every month without becoming obsessed with scrimping and pinching. In fact, some of the biggest savers spend extravagantly on the things they love.

They set up regular reminders to get the best rates on any subscriptions (like their cable and gym membership). They know how to get deals on travel that others skip over. (And that allows them to have extra-amazing vacations because they've saved so much on their tickets.)

Imagine someone else did the research for you and could give you the bottom line -- only what you REALLY need to know -- so you could make purchases with confidence that you're not overpaying?

Step-by-Step Strategies With Specific Call Scripts, Screenshots, and Phone Numbers

You don't need yet another "expert" giving you lame tips with no specifics. Let me show you REAL headlines from around the web. But prepare yourself: You've seen these and they may drive you crazy.

"Coffee -- According to the National Coffee Association, the average price for brewed coffee is $1.38. There are roughly 260 weekdays per year, so buying one coffee every weekday morning costs almost $360 per year." IMPLICATION: Stop spending $1.38 every single day on the thing you love, and you can save $360 per year. Wow! Get a life.

Here are the headlines on a Wall Street Journal article on saving money on healthcare:

  1. Use in-network providers.
  2. Use the right provider.
  3. Prefer generics.
  4. Use online tools.

You already know this stuff. There's nothing new here! There's nothing to change your savings, earn you more, or even optimize your spending.

The #1 Problem of "Money-Saving" Tips: Generic lists like "track your spending carefully."

Really? Wow! What a genius revelation! These worthless tips are written to make the writer feel good, not to save you money. And even when they DO save you money, it's a few dollars here or there. Your time is more valuable than that.

But there's another problem.

The #2 Problem of "Money-Saving" Tips: They tell you WHAT, not HOW.

Here, let me show you. What if I shared this savings "tip" with you:

"Hey there, you should really get a lower price on your car insurance. Call them."

Does ANYONE consider that useful?

There is only one goal of ANY true savings strategy -- only one goal. And that goal is for you TO SAVE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY.

Here's what they tell you. Here's what I'll show you.

Tips that casually say, "Call your car insurance company" don't help you. The authors lazily say, "Well...they can figure out the phone number. And if they REALLY want to save money, they'll figure out what to say on the phone…"

I hated thinking about people wasting time on useless, obvious frugality tips. So I decided to put together a series of truly effective, step-by-step strategies that include every single step you need to make them work.

No more wondering. No more nerve-wracking phone calls where you're not sure what to say. No more wasting time or money.

The Scrooge Strategy includes every single step and tactic you need to save money. If you want to know how to save hundreds of dollars with 7 phone calls (which I show you on pg. 35 of my Guide), I give you the phone numbers, websites, and scripts of exactly what to say.

If you want to lock in low gas prices (pg. 16 of the Guide), use the screenshot of how your bank account will look, along with detailed step-by-step instructions.

A breakdown of Ramit's savings accounts

Here's What You'll Learn In My Save $1,000 Dollars in 30 Days GUIDE