Everyone has a dream.
Some dream about getting tall and intangible, some dreams to go to Thailand, or to acquire new furniture. Is it worth condemning that their dream is related to money?
If you think that way, let us help you with sharing our top 10 ways to save money for real.
Let’s make a reservation right away – these tips are NOT meant for loafers!
These tips will help those people who have a stable income, but almost all of their money goes to the primary (as it seems to them!) Needs.
1. Boost Your Income
You are completely satisfied with your life; You are absolutely not ready to give up anything (even trifles) so that you can save it, but you do not have enough money for your dream.
Then you have the ONLY exit button to increase your income on the condition that you will not increase current expenses and that will help you achieve your dreams!
If you are waiting for a single recipe – alas. This is not the case. Everyone solves this issue individually.
Understand, we are not talking about how to double your income! If you had such an opportunity, then, no doubt, you would have used it long ago.
The point is that you have the means that could be put off. And many successfully solve this issue: some get a second job, some changes the first one, some just earns extra money, some remains to work overtime; you can, in the end, try to ask for a pay rise or start a side hustle.
In any case, you have to change something in your life – at least, its rhythm. Otherwise, you should abandon your pink or blue dream.
However, there is one more way out – it is worthwhile to think about reducing current expenses. And for this, you will need to follow the following tips.
2. Keep A Record of Expenses
If you have a stable salary, then you clearly know the amount of money that goes into your budget every month.
Its worth to find out how much money you spend on a daily basis.
To do this, you will need some time to create a convenient record file or an online document using your computer or mobile device, which is recommended to be filled every day.
Save absolutely everything! Checks, movie tickets, used cards and even the tickets for travel on public transport – in general, everything that can help you track your daily expenses with a penny accuracy policy.
And even if you don’t have time to fill out your spreadsheet regularly, checks and receipts or the mobile receipt messages will help you do this later.
Now about spending. You should not be limited to general sections, such as “Food”, “Clothing”, “Utility Payments” or “Transport”. Detail each section.
For example, if you are taking notes on your “Food” expenses, then what kind of food? food in a cafe, food for the house, or a barbecue in nature?
Ideally, it is better to note all the food-related expenses separately.
Of course, initially, you will be too lazy to do this accounting thing.
But, soon you will get used to, that you do not even hesitate. And start analyzing every purchase you will ever make. There is almost no doubt that you will find absolutely unnecessary expense items.
The money you hitherto spent on them (not in use items), with a clear conscience, you can put on your dream. This is the most effective advice on how to save money effectively and easily.
3. Make Plan for Daily Costs
In general, it always makes sense to plan your daily expenses on a regular basis, regardless of whether you save money or not.
If we are talking about the desire to save some money, cutting some expenses, then planning of spending becomes a must. In addition, planning is a logical consequence of cost accounting and saving money.
If you follow the advice of the previous paragraph, that is, you begin to fix your cash expenditures in details, the need for planning will come by itself and you will have the data for that.
Moreover, you will do it automatically, gradually abandoning unnecessary expense items and optimizing them to save money and use that money for your dreams or save it for next years to come.
Money accounting and planning help develop self-discipline.
This will surely bring you closer to your goal. Start small – make a plan for spending a day on a budget.
When there are enough experience and material available for analysis, it will be possible to plan to spend for a week or even for a longer period like one year or two.
Naturally, it is impossible to foresee everything.
There are occasional meetings with old friends who are accompanied by a trip to an expensive restaurant; there are, after all, illnesses that can not be predicted either and nobody can predict these things.
Provide a percentage of your budget for unforeseen expenses. And do not buy spontaneously all nonsense! However, about this separately.
4. Stay Far from Spontaneous Purchases
Giving up spontaneous purchases is a powerful money saving tool that will help you accumulate/save the necessary funds for your dream much faster than you might think.
With stable earnings, not everyone is able to abandon spontaneous purchases as for most of them its a priority.
The psychology of such people is arranged so that they, acquiring something under the momentary influence, are 100% sure that they need this thing right now.
Okay, no one is going to convince you otherwise! Yes, you really need this thing, but what about tomorrow? Do not refuse to buy at all – just transfer it to tomorrow and you will have bucks saved in your bank account.
You will probably be tormented by a feeling of dissatisfaction when you go home without another spontaneous purchase or actually with empty hands; you will think of that thing all evening; perhaps that won’t get out of your head even when you lie down in bed.
Some people may even fall asleep with the desire to make this purchase tomorrow for must.
But, as practice shows, this time, in most cases, is enough for you to realize that the given thing is just unnecessary for you and you don’t need that in real.
Perhaps such purchases are a kind of anti-stress for you and make sense in your work-life.
Well, no one forces you to stop pampering yourself at all. But try to act according to this rule at least once a week per month and try to slow down your extra spending.
5. Try Not To Spend on Small Things
NO, Nobody forces you to give up forever, for example, the habit of drinking several cups of coffee every day; no one forces you to walk all your life for a relatively short distance to the subway station because you usually used to travel by bus.
Finally, nobody will force you to forever abandon business lunch or dinner.
You are quite able to do without these expenses one week in a month, just one week without these small spending.
But what happens to you if you drink one or two cups of coffee a day, instead of several cups?
And if you get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning to walk to the metro station on your own foot?
And if you start taking lunch to work from home?
Yes, you can limit yourself in these and many other things. But not forever! And just for one week will make sense and help you feel the change.
The amount of money that you spend daily on your habits or other small things, you must save.
It is desirable separately.
This will allow you, after a week, to assess how useful your weekly “deprivation” has been and how much you have saved.
Without a doubt, counting the accumulated amount of money, you will be surprised at the result and will love to do it again and over again.
If you make it a rule to arrange a sort of unloading week every month, after a few months you will have quite a noticeable amount of money saved, which, if you combine it with the other savings, will definitely bring you closer to your dream.
And if you arrange two “discharge” of the week on a monthly basis? what can happen?
6. Use your Unused Items
This advice should be listened to by everyone without exception, although, of course, first of all, it will help shopaholics.
Agree, for example, that many of us tend to replenish our wardrobe without much need. We ran into a discount, saw an interesting cut, finally made a spontaneous purchase, that’s where we are losing our to-be-saved money.
Nobody forces you to go barefoot and in a worn jacket.
If there is a need to buy new clothes – buy it. But first, rummage in your wardrobe, check there.
Among the heap of things, many can find a practically undelivered jacket or jeans, which for some reason have been bought and forgotten and can be used now.
Check your wardrobe and other “bins” – this advice is more like a one-time.
Indeed, having understood their things once, it is unlikely that soon there will be a need to check them again for using the things that are just resting. However, this will not be necessary!
Our task is to save money in a fairly short period of time.
But such a one-time action will certainly help you get rid of unnecessary large expenses on a seasonal basis.
Its advantage lies in the fact that you can quickly save money, not much changing your lifestyle/looks and not denying yourself some of the usual little things.
7. Get Rid of Bad Habits
Do you smoke? Do you sometimes indulge yourself? Not always find enough willpower to go to the gym or park?
Finally, often late for work?
Begin to fine-tune yourself for every such offense or any act that, in one way or another, harms your health or work life.
Do not confuse a fine with a reward or anything else.
This method may seem unusual – what, you may actually think, punishment, and why if you save money for yourself?
At first glance, it will even provoke you to, for example, not go to the gym – you will save money. And the secret is that this method is not for everyone and not everybody should do it.
This method of accumulation is suitable for those people who have a high sense of self-discipline and already know what health really is.
Firstly, this feeling will not allow you too often “mow”. Secondly, the trick is that you do not under any circumstances touch the “fines” money throughout the entire period of accumulation for saving money.
In other words, for each of your misdeeds, you are depriving yourself of urgent means that are stopping you to save even a penny.
Yes, this method is unlikely to allow you to collect funds, for example, for a holiday at sea view; but it is great to periodically replenish your total piggy bank, bringing yourself closer to your goal.
8. Save Small Amounts of Money from Purchases
Most of those who want to save a certain amount of money for something limited to the fact that … dreams!
Tend to save every penny that they can and daily saving some amount of money from purchases is something that can be done on a daily basis and help you easily fulfill your piggy bank.
It is not so difficult.
You buy something every day. Begin to postpone the change, putting the money in a separate pocket in your purse or your piggy bank.
Okay, you can put off not the entire change, but, say, its part is a certain amount of money that is not more than a certain amount that you may need for more necessary purchases.
Say, let it be 10 dollars. Anything less than or equal to this amount should be set aside.
Do this purposefully for at least one month.
Perhaps this method will not allow collecting an astronomical amount of money for a short period of time. However, it can act as an additional method of accumulation and savings compared to other methods of saving money on a daily basis.
9. Self -Tax Your Purchases
We initially agreed that these tips are intended for those people who are not ready to save money, knowing that this may adversely affect their quality of life.
For example, in the period of accumulation, you may well need more or less large purchases and it all depends on your own self.
It is necessary – it means it is necessary.
In addition, average and large expenditures are different. For one, this is a kitchen set; for the 2nd, a daily car overhaul; for the third – the purchase of winter shoes or jackets.
The main thing is that you clearly understand the need for this purchase and tax your own purchases.
Try to save ten percent from each purchase.
It’s not so difficult – by choosing a product and agreeing with the price, increase it by this same 10% and put up with it. You take a thing for yourself, and you will immediately set aside an amount equivalent to ten percent to your “piggy bank of dreams.”
This money is inviolable and that’s the passive saving tip.
It is possible that initially, it will be “painful” for you to impose your own expenses on such a tax by yourself.
In this case, you can recommend to “withdraw” money only from those purchases that cost no more than a certain amount like 500 dollars or more.
If you see that you can do it, “tax” on larger purchases. Believe me, the amount for your dream will be collected pretty quickly and surprisingly.
10. Set Only Realistic Goals
This is for those who want to know how to save money with a small salary.
Perhaps the previous 9 money saving tips seem useless to you and you are thinking every day about how to spend less money, but how much less?
Most adequate people who do not have a serious monthly income tend to purchase something where it is cheaper and according to their budget. And it is right.
But, since you can save, so why don’t you introduce a kind of self-tax on purchases, as was suggested in the previous paragraph?
Do not deny yourself anything to the detriment of health, work or enjoying your life.
Life is one. The dream to relax in Thailand, take a walk in Paris or enjoy a glass of delicious beer in Prague – there is nothing reprehensible in these desires and everybody dreams this life.
But there is also nothing reprehensible in the fact that you cannot realize this dream right now or even in a relatively foreseeable future when you are not saving enough money.
The previous 9 tips to save money may well benefit obligatory people, but the last tip is one of the most important.
And it sounds like this: try to set realistic goals. In the end, what good and healthy for a week-long vacation in Bali, if you ate half a year for this “Useless Thing”?
No doubts that you should not spend before you save.
