Take your financial skills from zero to hero by giving yourself a bit of a money makeover that’ll ultimately help you reach your financial goals. Sometimes not saving enough makes us forgo our most cherished dreams and can also stop us from living our best life. Limited financial knowledge makes us miss out on a lot of benefits that can make a real difference in how our saving accounts look. Here, we’ll help you navigate through this overwhelming world of ‘financial stuff’ to help you save better than ever. Here are a few tried and tested ways you can try out for yourself:
In a world of all-things-automatic, you must opt for an auto debit into a savings account. When you don’t have much to spend, you’d naturally keep yourself from spending mindlessly.
Giving up expensive habits can help you save a lot of money. Say for example alcohol and cigarettes can cost you a big chunk of your earnings and you can simply save all the money by gradually cutting down on the consumption.
Planning your meals in advance can help you save a lot on grocery shopping. When a meal is scheduled, you know exactly what’s to be bought for the next week and you don’t end up purchasing anything that you don’t need. Planned, home cooked meals are more affordable too in comparison to takeaways and ordered food.
Apps like Mint help you track your budget and keep you away from spending over the assigned budget. You can link your account directly to the budget tracker and set the categories to keep a tab on your monthly spending.
Debts mean shelling out extra money for interest as well. You can save up some money to start pay off your debts starting from smallest and going up to the biggest. Even small debts can snowball into a big sum if they’re ignored for sometime. To avoid this mistake on your path to a better financial stability, you must consciously focus on clearing off all debts whatsoever.
If your plan is to have a certain number in your bank amount then a second job or an alternative source of income can be of real help. It doesn’t have to be forever, you can just aim at getting past your current crisis. You can save up all of the earnings from your second job or keep the earnings for an emergency fund.
Challenge everything single expenditure you have on your list. Do you really need those magazines that you don’t read? What about the makeup or clothes you bought but never wore? Is there a service subscription that you’ve been paying for but don’t need anymore? Challenge everything that you spend on, if you can fully cut down on something - do it!
If you get the same coverage for less money, then its probably time to revise your insurance.
If you need to save up for future then you have to be a savvy couponer. It might not be worth spending hours finding out a coupon for a regular expense but browsing through coupons whenever you can really save you a good sum.
When a crisis hits you, even the most thoughtfully laid out saving plans can crumble. For that it’s always best to have an emergency fund that’s easily accessible.
If you have to buy something big, you must wait for at least 30 days. If you still want it as mush as you did previously only then go for it. It so happens that you’ll find you no longer care for having it anymore.
If you’ve been thinking of replacing an appliance or furniture just because of the way it looks then you can always try to paint it in a new color. Painting will freshen up the overall appearance of the piece and make it look all new once again. So, always consider repainting before buying.
Credit card debts can pile up at a surprising speed. You can check it with your credit card providers and ask for a lower rate of interest. Most of the times they’re happy that you’re paying and not filing for bankruptcy. Its likely that your interest will be lowered.
Credits cards offer cash back on groceries and gas, this is a great way to earn while you spend.
You can start saving today to be able to enjoy its benefits in future. Saving money just means starting doing a few things while stopping a few that are straining your pockets. You can add or subtract from your monthly budget to calculate where your money is going.