Tips on how to save money. It’s something that you might want to know but whenever you talk about it, you’re flooded with the same type of advice from everyone around you. So here is some of the most common and most typical advice you’ll get when you’re saving money. But mind you, they do actually work when you do it right.
How to Save Money – Most Typical Advices
Stop spending – Yes. It’s easier said than done of course. But putting in the effort to stop spending could help in saving money or at least spending less. A lot of people would tell you to just stop spending but if you ask them how, they’ll give you back a look of uncertainty.
DIY everything – Create your own gifts. It makes it all just that much more special and personal. But what if you lack the creative gene? Or the necessary tools? You’ll just end up racking up the bills in buying the required tools and crafts.
Garage sales – Garage sales are always fun. If you have extra stuff you don’t need or just need to make a few bucks, you can hold your own garage sale. If you need something for a few dollars, you can find a garage sale around your neighbourhood. You might just strike a bargain, you never know.
No more credit cards – Having credit cards are always the worst when you’re trying to save money. When buying something is just as easy as swiping a card or tapping it on a machine, you end up doing it a lot more than you’d like to admit. You should hide them somewhere that would take some effort to retrieve. Or just getting rid of the card altogether can be great for you too. No cards mean minimal expenses.
Couponing – When buying groceries, the supermarkets may have coupons in the newspapers, the weekly special magazine, online vouchers, etc. So get your hands on those coupons that will give you great discounts on your grocery shopping. Some people who do this well can actually buy a week’s worth of groceries for a whole family with less than $30 and a lot of coupons collected over the weeks.
Bargains – Hunting for bargains is always good when you’re trying to save money but need to buy something essential. There will always be more than one store that would have what you’re looking for. The trick is to go to all or most of the stores to see how much they’re on offer at each location. Compare the prices and maybe even pit some shop owners against another about prices. You can reduce the price by doing this properly.
Extra jobs – Sometimes having one full time job may not be enough to pay all the bills. It’s always good to make more money and have the opportunity to save money and pay bills at the same time. But the ramifications of having more than one job are that they can have negative effects on your physical and mental wellbeing. You might exhaust yourself with one job and lose focus on the other. It takes a great deal of care to be successful at all jobs if you’re doing them at the same time.
No coffee outside – Buying coffee at a coffee shop or a street vendor is something that we’ve all done and it has become a common habit for most people. But even the $1 coffee from 7-Eleven can rack up to $365 if you do it every day. Other coffee shops will charge you more than $1 so that makes it worse. It’s better if you just have it at home or free coffee at work or at functions. Not buying coffee will help a lot in your attempts at saving money.
Use cash instead – Cash? Who carries cash anymore? Everybody uses cards to buy things these days, barely anyone carries cash. But using only cash instead of card can actually help you save money. When you witness the physical transaction of the money from your hands to the vendor’s hands will make you want to spend less. Just seeing your wallet grow thin will convince you.
These are the most common advice you will get when you want to save money. It might sound repetitive but they actually do work if you do it with discipline. A lot of people start strong and then fail in the long run. So you need to motivate yourself to save money. Convince yourself that you want to own a house in 5 years or so. Focus all your energy into saving money for that and you will definitely end up saving more money than you’d imagined. Actually using that money to buy property or not is entirely up to you after that 5 years.
