People say you’ve got to spend money to make money. Here’s a far less risky piece of advice: save money to make money. There are likely so many ways in which you’re currently wasting your finances through your day to day lifestyle without you even realizing how wasteful you’re being. Maybe you’re quite a frugal person but you might still have overlooked certain expenditures in your life which are completely non-necessary.
The best way to increase your disposable income is to become smarter at saving your earnings in the first place. If you’ve no idea as to the kinds of changes you should be making within your lifestyle so that you can save up more money for the future then here are some tips and pieces of advice that might just help to build up a safety or emergency fund for a rainy day.
Budgeting.
The best way to start saving money is to make a budget. The reason as to why so many people run into debt problems or simply eat away relentlessly at their existing savings is that they exhibit poor money management skills. It’s as simple as that. If you’re earning a reasonable sum of money on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis then there’s always a way to make it cover all the essentials in life and ensure that expenditures never exceed income. That method involves creating a budgetary plan and sticking to it. You need to begin by making a note of all the necessary expenditures in your life. Write down the monthly cost of petrol, utility bills, mortgage payments or rent, and food shops (or a rough figure).
Once you’ve calculated the cost of your necessary expenditures, calculate your monthly income. You need to set aside a portion of this income to cover your necessities and whatever you’re left with is your excess income (or disposable income). You can’t exceed this figure if you want to live within your means; that’s how you end up down the route of borrowing money and accumulating debt. The key to being financially savvy is to keep track of your expenditures and income every month (or even every week) so as to be sure that you’re never living beyond your means. It’s also the best way to save money because you’ll know how much spare income you have; if you only have a little bit of disposable income then you can start to make the conscious decision not to overspend and to put more money into your savings account.
Decluttering your home.
You really don’t have to spend money to make money. Take a look around your home. You’ve probably hoarded a lot of junk over the years but that doesn’t mean it’s junk with no value. Something that you no longer use or look at might be worth a heck of a lot to somebody else out there, so you should have a big clear-out of your house and see if there’s money to be made there. Remember, if you want to save money then you need to stop collecting and start selling.
Hoarding is a very dangerous financial spiral to get into. Plus, it makes your home look messy, so tidying up is really a way of hitting two birds with one stone. You could have a yard sale to try and shift some of your old goods that you no longer need or want. Start off with as high a price as possible for each item on sale because you need to be prepared for people to haggle for a lower price; if you start off too low then you could end up selling yourself short.
Saving money at home.
If you’re wondering where the money is really at then you should look to your household. You pour a phenomenal amount of money into home life every month of every year. Of course, many of these expenditures are entirely necessary, as mentioned in the budgeting section earlier in the article. Still, even necessary bills and other costs can be reduced in a more efficient manner if you start to rethink the way in which you live at home. Simple changes such as limits on showering time can make a huge difference with regards to your water bill. Try it out; everybody in the family gets a 3-minute shower every day.
There’s no reason to stop at water bills, of course. Energy bills are another big utility expenditure on us which many of waste huge amounts of money every year, here are some tips and tricks to help with that . You need electricity, of course, but you can choose how much electricity you use. Start turning things off at the power source when you’re not using them; TVs, computer monitors, and plugged-in laptops left on standby are still wasting energy. You should also maximize the energy you’re already using so as to save money. You could look into a renewal by Andersen windows and doors to get some better fittings and ensure you’re doing more to trap the heat generated in your home. Insulated walls are a smart way to ensure you’re not losing excessive amounts of heat generated at home; you might find that you don’t need to turn the radiator on (or as high) once your household is naturally better at containing heat. Becoming more energy-efficient is a great way to reduce your energy bills and save a lot of money every year. It’s also good for the environment, so it’s a win-win situation.
Switching bank accounts.
It’s understandable that you’re comfortable with your current bank account. Finances can be a very stressful thing to manage and, once you’re finally with a bank with good rates that you can trust, it can be difficult to consider ever wanting to switch. However, think of it this way: banks are desperate for people to switch to them. That means you hold all the cards, and there are many opportunities for you to save huge amounts of money if you, say, Start a checking account with Atmos Financial. You can get a decent sum of money from some banking companies simply for opening an account with them; you don’t even have to use the account if you don’t want to.
Even if there aren’t any attractive sign-up offers going at the moment, you should always keep your eye on competing banks because many of them offer much more enticing interest rates. Rather than letting your money earn 0.1% interest, you could let that same amount of money earn 0.3% interest from a different banking firm. It’s a no-brainer, really. It requires no more money on your part and you’ll be making a lot more money.
Shopping.
One of the best ways to save money is to be a smarter shopper. That involves techniques such as shopping around for the best price, haggling in certain markets if you think you can get a lower deal, and waiting for a good to reduce in value if it’s currently brand new and you know it’ll be cheaper in a few weeks. There are other ways to be a smart shopper than by simply hunting for the best deals on certain goods; sometimes, the smartest tactic is to… well, avoid buying an item altogether. Laugh all you want but you can probably recall many occasions on which you bought something that you later realized you never needed.
A good method to practice is the “30 Day Rule”. If you see something you instantly want in a shop window or whilst you’re browsing online then take a step back from making the purchase. Give yourself 30 days from seeing that item. You don’t need to set a reminder on your phone. Just wait for 30 days. If the thought of that item is still buzzing around your mind then you can make the purchase. If you’ve forgotten all about that thing in 30 days time, however, then it’s very likely that you didn’t really need or want it; you would’ve just forgotten about it if you had bought. This way, you’ve saved yourself the money and regret of making such a poor decision.
Starting a ‘change’ bank.
A final piece of advice that may seem small and insignificant is that you should save your change from every purchase made and put it into a jar or even a bank account. We often forget to make the conscious decision to save money in life. You might have a reasonable amount of disposable income every month but you find yourself spending it on nights out, meals, family trips, and other luxuries. This is fine, of course; you should give yourself the freedom to spend your money on the finer things in life.
However, you should also find small ways to gradually build up a savings account that could serve as the family’s emergency fund or college money for your kids in the future. Saving your change is a great way to do this because it’s money that you would otherwise see as an insignificant amount ‘loose cash’ rattling around in your pocket. Those insignificant small amounts of money can really add up to a hefty sum if you invest all of them into the same place every time you make a purchase, however. This being said, you might also want to consider using your insignificant change to make some clever bets. The lucky numbers betting game, for example, is a good place for beginners to start placing bets. You don't need to bet much, but the jackpot can be worth it. If you win the jackpot, it'll transform your change into a much larger sum of money. If you lose the bet, on the other hand, all you've lost is some insignificant change that you won't miss anyway. It’s an easy way to start saving money if you’d rather spend the majority of your disposable income on enjoyable things in life.