Handling finances is a frustrating and daunting task for most people. You get your paycheck and a week later you wonder where all the money went. It is very easy to spend money. Did you see a nice dress? Bought it! Computer upgrade? Yes, please. However, it is extremely difficult to save money as we feel we are not pampering ourselves enough or there is no money to save in the first place. We always say we will wait for the right time to start saving money. Guess what? Now is the right time. If you are struggling with keeping your money in your pockets, here are 6 money-saving tips you need to hear.
Get Rid of Debt
Debt is the monster eating your savings every month and it will stop you from saving money as long as you have it. The first thing you need to do is to get rid of all debts you have. The debt snowball method works efficiently against erasing debt. If you have several debts, pay the minimum payment on all of them except the smallest one. Pay as much as you can on the smallest debt to get rid of it fast. Once you free yourself from that debt, you will have spare money to pay off other debts. Start again with the smallest one until you finish paying them all. This is an important money saving tip!
Automate Your Monthly Bills
Paying late fees on your monthly bills means you’re paying more than you have to. When you set autopay from your account towards your electricity, phone, credit card, and other bills, you will not be late or miss any payment at all. Paying on time will improve your credit score as well, which will help you in other financial aspects in the future. You can also turn on automatic savings so the bank will save a designated amount from your paycheck every month, and you get to set the maximum amount to be saved.
Revise Your Grocery Spending
Walking through the supermarket’s aisles, grabbing a bag of chips, delicious ice cream cones, and other guilty pleasures will add a lot to your grocery bill. You need to look at your grocery shopping habits and see which items are non-essential and get rid of them. The essentials can be bought at better prices by using deals and coupons or by avoiding pricey brands. A generic bag of rice may have the same quality as a branded one. You can also save money, time, and effort by ordering your groceries online or through an application. Scrolling through pictures of products is not as tempting as seeing them in person, so taking this approach will help you cut down on non-essential products.
Cancel Unnecessary Automatic Subscriptions and Memberships
Are you still waiting for the right time to go to that gym and still paying its membership? Now is the time to cancel the membership and pay on a session basis. Check all the automatic subscriptions you have; you may find that you are paying for something you totally forgot about. For example, you may find that you are subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Spotify, and other media streaming platforms. Prioritize them and unsubscribe from the ones you rarely use or that you can live without.
Some streaming platforms allow membership sharing, so think about sharing the account, and the cost, with friends or family. If you’re a music lover, don’t forget to visit Spotify Unlocked for a world of ad-free music at your fingertips.
Watch Your Eating Habits
This doesn’t mean you need to eat less, but to eat while being financially conscious. If you eat at work every day and each meal costs around $8, pack lunch instead which can cost only $3 per day. Calculate how much you spend from eating at work and how much you will pay if you made your lunch at home, you may end up saving $1,250 per year. The same goes for eating out as it becomes a burden on your budget. Learn to cook and save some money.
Track and Annualize Your Spending
When you are conscious about what you are spending, you will be more careful in your spending. Keep track of everything you buy and categorize them into essential, needed, wanted, pleasure, and unnecessary. You will be surprised how much you spend on the unnecessary category. To have more awareness, annualize everything you buy. For example, if you spend $20 on chocolates per week, that will equal around $1000 per year. Annualizing expenses will give you greater insight into your spending habits.
Following these tips will free your budget from unnecessary expenses and help you save for something important to you such as buying a new car, house, or going on a vacation. You must always be aware of your spending habits and try to replace them with healthier money saving tips.
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