Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/money-finance-business-success-2696238/
Saving money is as important as making money. Unless you are extremely rich, you would want to start, sooner or later, saving money for an independent, debt-free living in a long run. Those who start saving right from their first job, even if a small amount, can build up substantial funds.
If you haven’t thought of saving yet, no worries, ‘now’ is always a good time to start. You’d be surprised to see how little you need to do and how easy it is once you decide to start saving money. You don’t have to sacrifice and start living a frugal life. It is simply about managing it all well enough to enjoy as well as save.
Here are 10 simple and doable ways to start saving money.
1. Track Spending
Tracking your spending is the very first step if you want to start saving money. Once you know how much you spend and where you’d also know how to manage it well. You’d also know if you are spending your hard-earned money on the right things or not and will be then easy for you to cut down on any unnecessary spending. Tracking it will also ensure you are fully aware and mindful of your spending.
You can maintain a daily/weekly or monthly tracker depending on the daily/weekly or monthly spending. There are several mobile apps available to help you track your spending.
2. Make a Budget
Once you know about your spending, the next important step is to make a budget. This will help you to clearly distinguish between and identify the expenses and savings. There are already some popular budget and money planning rules like ‘50-30-20’ or ‘70-20-10’ that you can follow or create your formula.
The idea, however, is to basically, divide your money into 3 parts/percentage in such a way that the biggest chunk is for your monthly essentials (like rent, groceries, and bills, etc.) The second biggest chunk is what you save. And the last and the smallest chunk is what you can keep for personal expenses and entertainment etc.
3. Clear Saving Goals
Choose how do you want to start with that saving fund. Depending on whether you want to save long-term or short-term, plan, divide and save the money, accordingly. You might also want to consider creating a separate emergency fund, that you can dive into in case of any unforeseen emergencies and without really getting into debt or drying out the other savings. Having clear saving goals – long-term, short-term, emergency funds – will not just make saving hassle-free but also give you clarity and better control over it.
4. Sharing is Saving
Instead of always buying stuff, like books, you can always share and swap with your friends. S you are planning to go on a trek, and it’s just a one-off event, you aren’t sure if you’d go again. Wouldn’t it then be wise to simply borrow the trekking gear from a friend who regularly goes trekking than investing in it? Similarly, borrow and exchange stuff that you can when there’s no practical reason to buy it. There are a lot of things you can share and save this way.
5. Share Rides and Carpools
Sharing rides or carpooling will not just help you save; it will also help the planet. You might already be aware of global warming and other challenges faced by our planet. So, you see, it is a win-win for all. Talk to your friends/colleagues, and take turns to plan and organize carpooling each week or month, at everyone’s convenience.
6. Sell What You Don’t Need
There’s no point in letting the things you don’t need/don’t use occupy space. If you are not using these items and know that won’t ever use them again, just sell them off. Platforms like eBay and Facebook let you sell old stuff right from old clothes, to books, to watches, to electronics, to housewares, and more.
7. Rent Out Tools, Gadgets, and Equipment
You can also rent out your tools, gadgets, and specific equipment if you are not too okay to sell them off. Sometimes, we have reasons to not sell such stuff, like the first camera purchased after saving religiously for months. Even if you do not use it regularly, you may not want to sell it off and that’s understandable. So then, you could rent these for some extra bucks to save (or spend).
8. Rent Out the Extra Space
If you own a place and have an extra room that no one uses, rent it out. If you stay in a rented place, do check and obtain the necessary permissions, if any, to avoid any confusion or issues later. You can list your extra space on Airbnb and likes. That way, it will remain entirely in your discretion whether and when you want to stop renting it out.
9. Cook at Home
Eating out every day can cost you a lot and unless you track the amount you spend on it, you won’t even realize that it is in fact, quite some amount. Even if you are not able to cook at home every day, try and eat at home instead of going to the restaurants every day, whenever possible. And if you are tracking your spending, you can see for yourself, the amount spent eating out versus the money saved when eating at home.
10. Buy Wisely
We all have shopped on impulse at some point in time. However, if you want to save money, then you need to plan and shop wisely. Especially, when making a big purchase, research well and plan properly. Instead of diving into your savings or spending up a month’s salary or maxing out on a credit card, set up a saving goal for this particular purchase. When you know how much it’ll cost you, you can make a plan and set aside money specifically for that item. As tempting as it may get, do not break into other chunks of your budget and go for the purchase only when you achieve the saving goal you planned for it.
You can also save when you take public transport that is inexpensive as well as good for the planet. Buying from thrift shops or used-items stores (not for everything, of course) will also help you save some bucks. These are just some of the many ways to save if you set your mind on it. Think a little harder and you might come up with many more ideas of your own.
You must be logged in to post a comment.