Ways to Save Money You Never Thought Of
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Saving money can be a very lucrative devotion especially when you do it correctly and with consistency. Though sometimes, there are instances when you find yourself looking for extra cash because you are running out of it. This is a common scenario for people who think they are saving money but aren’t really doing so. Practically speaking, saving money goes far beyond slowing your spending. The concept of saving money is not more on simply buying cheaper meals or things. The key to saving money roots from thinking, managing and calculating.
A lot of people failed to do this simple thing because they might be easily lured by luxuries, or because they follow the concept of spending before saving what is left. Spending and spending and keeping aside what is left is an idiot thing to do because there will be nothing to save if you have spent everything. The pragmatic ideal to follow is saving and spending what is left. You should go set aside first a portion of your income and try to ignore it as if you never save. It is also important to note that you should have a consistent amount of saving. If you save inconsistently, that means you are prioritizing your spending and that is no different from the first illogical principle of saving.
While you might think saving simply means setting aside a portion of your money, it is best to know that you can save a lot more money in many ways. Here, you will read three categories of ways to save money; budgeting, managing spending habits and growing your money. The first two are focused on how you can save money by taking it slow; while the last one emphasize the concept of investing money to save extra cash and practically grow it over time.
Budgeting
Now here you can learn how to manage your monthly income by dividing it intelligibly. This is a practical way to create a standard of up to how much will you just spend to a particular division. After all, the concept of budgeting discussed in businesses originated from the household. You know why a lot of multinational corporation- or even just small operating businesses- succeed in earning a good amount of profit? That is because they follow their budgets as much as possible. Spending more than what is budgeted is a very bad attitude to keep; but spending lesser than what is budgeted is totally superb.
- Personal and Family Expenses. Typically this portion takes the most of the budget. This is especially true when you already have a family and your children are already studying. These expenses comprise of medical allowances in case you or someone in the family needs to be hospitalized, expenses for education like tuition fees and other small personal expenses.
- Food allowance. Now this one is another portion of your budget plan that takes another big financial consideration. If not as important, this is more important than your personal or family expenses because you need this to live and keep yourself up.
- Utility. Water bills, electricity bills and cable bills are the ones comprising this part. Water and electricity bills are variable in nature while a cable bill is mostly fixed.
- Auto expenses. You may think this is so posh but if you have a car or other type of automobile, this should be included in the budget. You ride your car so basically you pay for gasoline consumption. Also, this includes maintenance.
- Miscellaneous expenses. Miscellaneous expenses are those which are very little but sometimes are inevitable. This may include supplies needed in the house like tissues, shampoos, plates (if you usually break them), and many others.
Partitioning your income with proper thinking and consideration is a good way to save money by not overspending.
Managing Spending Habits
This is a very serious topic because you are now going to know ways can you save money from your day to day spending. Saving money does not stop from budgeting because you can further save by cutting your spending further. Don’t think you are getting thrifty; just take it as a practical way of preparing for your future.
If you succeed in budgeting and managing your spending habit, you can really save a lot of money.
- Minimize eating outside. If you can take it to stopping rather than just minimizing, it would be better. If you are planning to celebrate something, it is better that you buy your ingredients and cook it yourself than plan on eating outside and pay for what we call ‘profit’ of the restaurant. By cooking inside your home, you can eat more and save more.
- Preparing a grocery list. You know why this is a sure way to avoid overspending on groceries? Because you are precluded from buying what is not on the list. If you just go to the department store without a shopping list, you might just pick and pick and pick not knowing you have consumed your food allowance for the month, or oven more than that!
- Pay your bills on time. Utility companies are now clever. They charge you for paying late. So better pay your utility bills on time to avoid fees.
- Turn it off when not in use. Turn off the faucet tightly when you are not using it. Turn off the Television when you are not watching. Turn off the lights when you don’t need any. That way you are saving your money.
There are more ways to manage your spending habit. Just think of not overspending when not needed.
Investing
Now we are talking about really saving your money. You remember that you have saved already right before you had your budgeting, right? So where will you put them? Basically, you can create a bank deposit account or a simple savings account so you can grow your savings a little. Now, if you have already a bigger savings, you may want to consider investing in bonds and equity securities to cope up with inflation. You cannot expect your savings to grow bigger with just a mere savings account. Investing to equity securities and bonds will give you a very big earning.
