10 tips to save money without sacrificing quality of life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A guide for those who are horrified to spend less.

Why save at all and how to do it

If you want to learn how to save money correctly and manage your savings wisely, come to the lecture “Effective personal finance management. How to save money and enjoy it”from the cycle“Financial Environment”.

Financial Advisor Natalya Smirnova will tell you why savings are needed, share life hacks on how to save money, teach you to set financial goals and go to them without suffering.

The lecture will take place on March 28 at 19:00 in the N. A. Nekrasov Central Library (Moscow, Baumanskaya Street, 58/25, p. 14). Admission is free, but seats are limited. To attend the lecture, register in advance.

1. Save money right after paycheck

A financial safety cushion is a must. This is the first thing you need to save money for. Ideally, it is a good idea to have a separate savings account: as soon as the salary arrives on the card, you immediately send 10-15% of the amount received to this account.

You can't spend that money and promise yourself that next month you will save twice as much. Firstly, you will have to send to the savings fund not 15, but already 30% - almost a third of the salary. Second, financial affairs require discipline. Once you have decided to save money, there can be no excuses.

2. Don't delay paying bills

Suppose you really don't feel like paying your utility bills this month because you already have a lot of ideas on how to use your money. Surprise: Pay more next month. If you delay with payment, a decent amount accumulates, which will surely pierce a hole even in a balanced budget.

Recurring payments is the next item on the list of what you need to spend money on right after your paycheck. We set aside funds in the savings fund, paid for everything that was needed, dispose of the rest of the money at your discretion.

3. Make shopping lists

First of all, this applies to daily trips to the supermarket. After all, you probably noticed that you go to the store conditionally for milk and buckwheat, and go out with bags of all kinds of things that you don't really need right now.

To avoid wasting money, make a menu for the week and make a list of which foods you need to buy on which day. So there will be less chances to face a situation when the products on which you spent your hard-earned money are ingloriously rotten in the depths of the refrigerator.

4. Keep track of discounts

Subscribe to e-commerce newsletters, study flyers in supermarkets and install a discount aggregator app. It doesn't take much time to find the most attractive prices, and the savings in the long term may turn out to be quite decent.

There is one important point here: if we are talking not about the nearest store, but about a hypermarket on the other side of the city, estimate how much money you will spend on the road. The cost of a trip in a taxi or in your car can bring the seductive discount to zero.

5. Consider acquisitions

First of all, decide whether you really need this thing or just found a crazy mood and was impatient to urgently spend money. Wait at least a week: if the desire to purchase the treasured item does not disappear, proceed to the search for the most profitable option. Perhaps on the Internet it will be possible to find a dream thing at a discount.

And you definitely shouldn't go shopping on payday. Even if you have a decent amount in your pocket right now, this does not mean that you need to drop it as quickly as possible. You still have to live on this money, and no one has canceled the financial safety cushion.

6. Plan big expenses in advance

The cold is over - shake up your warm clothes and see what you can wear next winter, and what needs to be updated while the sales are on. At the same time, check how you are doing with the summer wardrobe, and write down what you need to buy for the season.

This approach allows you to avoid situations when, willy-nilly, you have to give any money for a thing that is urgently needed. It's a kind of carelessness tax, but no one is forcing you to pay it.

7. Cheap doesn't mean bad

Take, for example, the products of the hypermarkets' own brands. As a rule, these things are cheaper than similar products with a big name.

For the sake of interest, compare how much a can of peas of a well-known brand and a hypermarket's own brand costs. At the same time, the quality of the product does not suffer, so you can safely buy and save.

8. Some things are more profitable to buy from hands

For example, party clothes that you are unlikely to wear often, baby clothes, musical instruments and sports equipment. Used dumbbells are no worse than new ones, but they will cost you less.

And yes, things you don't need can be sold. So they will benefit people, and you will get some money.

9. Divide expenses

For example, you can make joint orders with friends from online stores and share the shipping cost equally. Another option is joint trips to a hypermarket. If you come across the action "Two for the price of one", it will turn out to be a good saving.

Finally, if you're hosting a house party (which is, in principle, cheaper than going to the bar), split the purchases. Food from you, drinks from guests, or vice versa.

10. Make a list of things you can't save on

Savings have to be smart - overly restricting spending often leads to even higher costs. For example, buying cheap boots for the spring threatens with the fact that after the first walk through the puddles, the boots will leak, and you will have to spend money on repairs or a new pair of shoes.

Good clothes and shoes, medicines, fresh food - this is the minimum list of things that are worth paying a little more for. If you manage to find the perfect combination of price and quality - great, if not - choose quality all the same.

To save, you do not need to deny yourself all the joys of life - it is enough to reconsider your habits and behave more disciplined. If you want to put things in order in your relationship with money, on the Financial Culture website you will find useful articles, life hacks and tips on how to manage your personal budget.