cash cache

ripock

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Every week I take $20 from my paycheck and put it in my secret hiding place. I just counted the money and it is obscenely large. I think all newbies should do this. You can pack away a little more than $1000 / year this way. After a year you shall have outgrown your beginner's ukulele and, if you're so inclined, you could get something pretty awesome for $1000.

The key is not to think about it. If you think about it, there will always be objections in your mind. Just give that first $20 to yourself and finance your life with the rest of your paycheck.

Obviously just a suggestion
 
A very good suggestion. There is an age old principle of "paying yourself first". That is usually 10% of your earnings that goes into your savings account. You can take a small amount of this, like your $20.00 from that for your "Uke Fund".
I agree about giving yourself one year or so to learn to play, learn what you like to hear, learn what you are comfortable with in terms of size and dimensions. Then purchase a next level ukuele.

But I didn't do any of that. Life situations are different for each, I could afford to buy multiple used high end ukuleles during the first two years. Learning as I went what was important to me in playability and sound. Selling those used ukes for close to what I paid was like renting, a worthwhile investment in educating myself with hands on experience.
 
I didn't buy my Kamaka using a cash cache either. When ukulele guru Peter Forrest came back from his trip to Hawaii, he told me I should get a long-neck tenor Kamaka (he knows my style) and I scoffed at buying a ukulele that costs more than a used automobile. But as time went on, the idea spread through my marrow like a cancer until I had to have my spruce-topped 100 year anniversary Kamaka. Luckily my wife was complacent when I put $1000 down payment on the instrument.

However all my other instruments and my unicycle I have purchased with a cache to avoid any uxorial ire (spouses can be a bit mercurial).
 
I'm old now and I don't wear underwear. That's a Jimmy Buffet line from Pencil Thin Mustache that I use whenever I can. I'm at an age in life where ukuleles aren't going to break me. Besides, I've only bought three of them over the four years that I've been playing and none of the three are real expensive ukes. But when I was younger and money was tight, I had this scam going. My wife and I both worked, and I would offer to go fill her car up with gas whenever it got low. Back then we wrote checks, and I would always write a check for five bucks over and pocket the cash. Same thing when I filled my car up. Just like riprock's advise, I had a jar out in the garage where I would stash it until I had enough money to get something I wanted. Back then it was cameras, lenses, and darkroom equipment. I was quite clever. Later in life I found out that my wife knew that I was doing that and was doing the same thing when she bought groceries. Great minds think alike.
 
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I'm old now and I don't wear underwear. That's a Jimmy Buffet line from Pencil Thin Mustache that I use whenever I can. I'm at an age in life where ukuleles aren't going to break me. Besides, I've only bought three of them over the five or six years that I've been playing and none of the three are real expensive ukes. But when I was younger and money was tight, I had this scam going. My wife and I both worked, and I would offer to go fill her car up with gas whenever it got low. Back then we wrote checks, and I would always write a check for five bucks over and pocket the cash. Same thing when I filled my car up. Just like riprock's advise, I had a jar out in the garage where I would stash it until I had enough money to get something I wanted. Back then it was cameras, lenses, and darkroom equipment. I was quite clever. Later in life I found out that my wife knew that I was doing that and was doing the same thing when she bought groceries. Great minds think alike.

I love that story Rolli. In Canada we got rid of our paper one dollar bill and replaced it with a coin, known as a Loonie, because there is a loon on it. Anyways, saving loonies added up quickly, pennies not so much but one dollar at a time yes sir. All you did was empty the change from your pocket everyday, pull out the loonies and toss them in a jar.
 
That's great idea. Since I've never been married or had kids, I have enough disposable income to buy as I want. In my first year playing uke about 5 years ago (after almost 50 years playing guitar), I went through 16 ukes, all around $100-$200 (except one custom for $780). At the end of a year when I improved fairly well and bought a Kala cedar top recommended by Mim for $380 that became my go to uke, I decided that I'm only going to keep the best sounding, so I culled them down to 4. In the last couple of years I picked up 4 more that are all very good, and since my humidified shelf can only hold 8, I stay with that number, moving one on when I get another.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
I've been stashing twenties and sometimes more for years, plus if I get a performance bonus at work some of that gets put into the cache, I have varied interests so the spending cash comes in handy now and then. I've got 3 or 4 ukes I'm looking hard at right now (likely to buy one of them) and some other outdoor gear that looks appealing......might just get a little bit of everything in the next couple of weeks.......then start over......
 
Saving is an art!
I do that with coins. At the end of the week, I put all loose change in my purse into a container. It really adds up in a few months!
It's also less painful than $20 from a paycheck. Hardly anyone misses spare change plus its heavy lugging it around.
 
I second Dave on paying yourself first. Save 10-30% of the monthly income for future/investments, 10+% for learning and skill development (in form of books, lectures, workshops etc). And remaining for every other thing including loan repayments. From this remaining amount save for any ukulele without any second thought.
 
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I have a regular job, and that check goes to the joint account that my wife pays household expenses (mortgage, groceries, etc.) from. I have a pension check (thanks Uncle Sam) that I pay my bills and some of the household bills from. So, where can a guy get some uke money? Well, I ALSO have a side gig doing closed captioning, and THAT is paid straight into a separate PayPal account. That stacks up pretty quickly. I was going to get a motorcycle, but I decided my aging bones probably wouldn't like it. So instead, I'm ordering a tenor uke since I think it will fit my hands better. Out of the PayPal side hustle money.

Yes, always pay yourself first.
 
:eek:ld:

Geeze, sounds like JECfromMC is the only person here living in the digital age while the rest of you guys are using piggy banks. A jar out in the garage is great for pocket change but one COULD set up their finances so the $20/week or whatever comes straight out of your check and into something that pays a bit of interest, if even just a money market account. It's out of sight out of mind until you need it and when you do, there's more in there than what you put in.

Congrats on the Kamaka though;)
 
:eek:ld:

Geeze, sounds like JECfromMC is the only person here living in the digital age while the rest of you guys are using piggy banks.

I think you should reread the everyone's comments before making this claim.

:eek:ld: one COULD set up their finances so the $20/week or whatever comes straight out of your check and into something that pays a bit of interest, if even just a money market account. It's out of sight out of mind until you need it and when you do, there's more in there than what you put in.

This sort of practise is called financial planning, where a monthly SIP (systematic investment plan) is set up for long/short term financial goals. This type of plan is fairly easy to set up if you know in which fund to invest.
 
I think you should reread the everyone's comments before making this claim..

I did, and of those who mentioned the specific place they save their uke money, we have "a secret hiding place", "a cache" hidden from the wife, "a jar in the garage", "a jar full of loonies", "a stash of $20s", and "a container" for purse change. Hence my comment.

But, it's all in good fun. Relax.
 
Every week I take $20 from my paycheck and put it in my secret hiding place. I just counted the money and it is obscenely large. I think all newbies should do this. You can pack away a little more than $1000 / year this way. After a year you shall have outgrown your beginner's ukulele and, if you're so inclined, you could get something pretty awesome for $1000.

The key is not to think about it. If you think about it, there will always be objections in your mind. Just give that first $20 to yourself and finance your life with the rest of your paycheck.
















Also if you want to save money you can stop with just shortening your budget and find another way to get that money into your pocket. You can sell some of the old staff that you no longer use or try loan apps. They are very popular nowadays all around the world. One of my friends read a review about one of those apps here https://triceloans.ph/finbro-ph-review/ and bought a ukulele with that money that he got from the app. So if you really want to get one, you better look up on offers that financial apps can give you.


Obviously just a suggestion

I second Dave on paying yourself first. Save 10-30% of the monthly income for future/investments, 10+% for learning and skill development (in form of books, lectures, workshops etc). And remaining for every other thing including loan repayments. From this remaining amount save for any ukulele without any second thought.
I am sorry that I am posting here. Maybe this thread is old but the idea of buying a ukulele is important for me. I am a theater student from the Philippines and I don’t have enough money for food, but my teacher gave me a task to buy a ukulele and learn how to play it because it will boost my skills in acting!
 
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Ukes are cheap if you compare to other things. Like a trip to Hawaii. Few years ago it was easy to get a decent room for around 120 a night. Now the bidding starts at 300 per night. So compare 4 nights or less in a hotel vs a K brand tenor.
 
That's great idea. Since I've never been married or had kids, I have enough disposable income to buy as I want. In my first year playing uke about 5 years ago (after almost 50 years playing guitar), I went through 16 ukes, all around $100-$200 (except one custom for $780). At the end of a year when I improved fairly well and bought a Kala cedar top recommended by Mim for $380 that became my go to uke, I decided that I'm only going to keep the best sounding, so I culled them down to 4. In the last couple of years I picked up 4 more that are all very good, and since my humidified shelf can only hold 8, I stay with that number, moving one on when I get another.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
Time for a bigger shelf.
 
However all my other instruments and my unicycle I have purchased with a cache to avoid any uxorial ire
I wonder how she would feel knowing that on the Internet, you are telling strangers that you buy your stuff in secret. It paints her as something of a villain. I know that this is not a serious thread but many true things are said in jest.
I am a theater student from the Philippines and I don’t have enough money for food, but my teacher gave me a task to buy a ukulele and learn how to play it because it will boost my skills in acting!
All musical instruments are a price per hour, so the price is largely irrelevant.

However, the good thing about ukuleles is they are really, really cheap and unlike old instruments even the cheapest are very accurately made.

You can get a playable one for very little, and you don't need more - there is no such thing as "outgrowing" a ukulele really. There are expensive ones and cheap ones but providing you don't have one with a manufacturing defect you can get to a professional standard on it. You might make a marginally better sound with one brand than another, but really there's not much in it.

In fact, if that's really too much, you can make a ukulele from junk. A, box, a piece of wood and some fishing line are enough. That's what the old blues singers did, and they did some great art with it. Some of the best albums in the history of western music were made with instruments that would be dismissed of as junk by many of the people on this forum.

It really depends on how much you want to do it.
 
I wonder how she would feel knowing that on the Internet, you are telling strangers that you buy your stuff in secret. It paints her as something of a villain. I know that this is not a serious thread but many true things are said in jest.

All musical instruments are a price per hour, so the price is largely irrelevant.

However, the good thing about ukuleles is they are really, really cheap and unlike old instruments even the cheapest are very accurately made.

You can get a playable one for very little, and you don't need more - there is no such thing as "outgrowing" a ukulele really. There are expensive ones and cheap ones but providing you don't have one with a manufacturing defect you can get to a professional standard on it. You might make a marginally better sound with one brand than another, but really there's not much in it.

In fact, if that's really too much, you can make a ukulele from junk. A, box, a piece of wood and some fishing line are enough. That's what the old blues singers did, and they did some great art with it. Some of the best albums in the history of western music were made with instruments that would be dismissed of as junk by many of the people on this forum.

It really depends on how much you want to do it.
I have outgrown several instruments. I just gave one away to a good friend who has been bitten by UAS, buying one cheap Amazon uke after another. I grew weary of playing it years ago, because it hurts my hands. It was modified for comfort twice, and I still needed something easier on my hands. "Playable" is subjective, it's entirely up to the individual what that means.
 
I am sorry that I am posting here. Maybe this thread is old but the idea of buying a ukulele is important for me. I am a theater student from the Philippines and I don’t have enough money for food, but my teacher gave me a task to buy a ukulele and learn how to play it because it will boost my skills in acting!
Yeah, there is only so much Instant Raman Noodles you can eat.
I remember those days and can empathize. Scrounging for money can be exhausting and disheartening. I used to have to find it for art supplies and equipment.
I signed up to tutor Algebra to freshmen who were struggling to pass the required course.
Set a goal for how much you'll need for a cheap used uke that can hold a tune. And try to drop change into a jar when you can.
Check to see if the library has a uke lending program. If there is a ukulele club nearby see if they can help. Our club used to give away ukes to students and schools every year. (It ended with COVID.)
There are usually groups for Filipino students or associations that you might be able to do odd jobs for and get paid cash.
Put up a notice on bulletin boards that you are in need of a very cheap ukulele for your studies. (Meet only in a very public place.)

Best of luck.
 
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