The usual saying of ‘Money can’t buy you happiness’ may be more than accurate to describe life. It may not buy you happiness, but it is more than important to buy you the things you need for your everyday survival. What may look like an easy life isn’t one without the money to make it possible. Money is something you need irrespective of your position in life. To accomplish your dreams of buying a house or having enough funds to send your kids to a good college, you need to have some savings and saving money is not a simple mountain to climb. Saving money is more of an art that one needs to practice and excel at. It may not look like you need the money now, but you will need it in time. Once you do realize the importance of saving, you need some help to do it. Here are a few tips to help you save money.
- DIY
What may be available on the internet or in the stores for you to buy may be something that you can easily make at home. Use YouTube or any other such places on the internet where you are given an explanation as to making things and make it. Do it yourself rather than spending money on it and buying the fancy stuff. Once you do it and start saving money is when you will realize that you will be able to save a lot of money in the course of it.
- Set a budget
Depending on your income, set a budget as to how much you want to spend this month and also set aside how much you want to save. You may not be able to meet it to the point, but meeting it halfway is also a considerable amount of savings. Whether you save 10% or 50% of your set target, savings are savings and they will matter in the long run. So, don’t get disheartened and decide to save from later on and spend this little amount you saved up. Keep it going and you will see a good number in your savings account.
- Set priorities
You know you are on a fixed income and also on a very thin budget. So, go ahead and prioritize your needs and wants and you will know where you need to spend your money on and which can be avoided. You may be thinking you need something really badly and when you prioritize, you may not be looking at the same. It is a whole different thing that you want it when compared to needing it. So, get smart and choose wisely.
- Record your expenditure
Keep a track of what you are spending and where. Even if it is in the spur of the moment, note it down and when you do lay down the sheet to analyze your expenses, look at what you could have avoided and where it could have been invested instead. It may not turn out to be helpful in the beginning, but when you come to a point where you take out your wallet on the same category of the unnecessary expenditure that occurred previously, you will know better this time.
- Be smart about where you keep your money
Choose a good and safe bank to keep your money. You may be in a position to keep an account and you will be offered certain interest on your savings. Be smart with this option and try and move your money to banks that offer you more amount of interest. It is only wise to do so. By doing this, you are not only keeping your money safe, but also making a small amount off the stored money on a regular basis.
- Sell the unwanted
You may have been storing a lot of things which you think will come into use someday. But the truth is you may not even need it. So why are you storing things that are occupying space waiting for a rainy day to use them? Sell them off. And you will see how you can make some money to add to your savings by the unwanted items you’ve kept in your closet. So stop gathering stuff up and start making some free space.
- Sign up for reward programs
You may be purchasing a lot from one particular store or even be out doing a lot of your grocery shopping from a store that is your favorite. So when you do this and keep it up on a regular basis, getting rewarded for your loyalty is one of the perks you can have on your side. You can use these reward points and purchase something from the points and that will help you save some money as well. My victoria secret credit card login is bookmarked on my laptop because I’m constantly checking out my spend and rewards that I have built up.
- Shop with a list
Avoid supermarkets as much as possible. Supermarkets make you feel like you need things even though you might not. The display of the products gets to you and you tend to buy things you want rather than the ones you need. So make a list and try to stick to it. If you do go to a supermarket, look at your list and go to the respective section and pick it up. Period.
- Turn off
Electricity is something we do not seem to care much about. But, you will know the impact of it when you look at that expensive bill that will hit you at the end of the month. Turn off your switches when you do not need them and you will slowly see how much you save. If you intend to analyze, keep a track of it.
- Cut off those credit cards
It is never a smart thing and never will be. Credit card companies will chew you off by the neck and toss you into the ocean filled with people who are in debt. Take care of it and pay off your credit dues and slowly try and cut off your cards. Keeping them and telling yourself you will not be using them is a scam that you are leading yourself into. Because sooner or later, you will be in a situation where your instinct tell you to use your card. However, if you do not have a card on you at all, you will try and figure out an alternative way out of that situation. And if you do not end up making that transaction, well, maybe you didn’t need it after all.
There are only a few out of the many ways you can save money. Although, a major chunk of your savings will come from differentiating between your wants and needs. You need to understand what your needs and also what your wants are and make the needs overlap the wants. If you find yourself making the wants overlap the needs, then you are being foolish than ever in doing so. Never take money for granted no matter how much of it you have and always look for ways to save money out of every single transaction you make. Even if it is one unit of a currency that you save, it is a start towards savings.