If you’re here reading this, it probably means that you want to learn more about saving money. You have to deal a lot with the discipline of restraint. Just the mere effort of thinking twice or thrice before doing an impulsive purchase can save you money, and develop financial discipline in the long run. Here are easy tips you can follow:
1. Establish your budget.Having difficulty starting to save? Set a portion of your money for savings, and then delegate the rest to your necessary expenses. Whatever’s left is your spending money.
2. Set monthly challenges for yourself (E.g. No Sweets July and Bring Lunch to Work August). With this practice, you don’t just get to limit your spending, you can also use these challenges to eat healthier and stay in shape.
3. Pack your coffee and snacks for work instead of buying them every day. Treating yourself to a good caramel macchiato before going in for work is a must have to get through the day, but making coffee at home will save you around 150-250 pesos. So save the good coffee on rewarding yourself on those extra tedious days.
4. Keep only a limited amount of money in your wallet. One of the biggest things that can help you in budgeting is keeping only what you need in your wallet – spending money.
5. Set up a savings account at a different bank, and give yourself very limited access to it. Open an account at a different bank and don’t get a card for it, or internet banking access. This way, you can only access your money if you physically walk into the bank and make a withdrawal. If you can’t touch it, you can’t spend it. It’s a good tip if you’re lazy or prone to social anxiety.
6. Use the 24 hour rule.This helps you avoid impulsive buying. Think over each nonessential purchase for at least 24 hours. This is particularly easy to do while shopping online, because you can add items to your cart and come back to them a day later.
7. Use Excel to make an organized spreadsheet of everything you earn and spend. Use Excel to look at your budget. It looks scary at first, but it’s actually fairly easy to use. Mostly look at what your monthly income looks like, and how much all your bills cost so that you can calculate how much you can save and how much is left for splurging. You can also write down all the things you buy so that you could track what you could cut down (e.g. take out, milktea, etc.).
8. Treat yourself, but use it as an opportunity to save.Match the cost of your nonessential indulgence to your savings. For example, if you splurge on milktea, put the same amount into your savings account. And think of it this way, if you can’t afford to save the matching amount, you can’t afford the treat either.