30 Most Wanted Financial Tips, Tricks and Hacks
Almost everyone dreams of expanding his savings, but the daily life expenses make it hard for him to realize this dream. In today’s time, the expenses come one after the other and a normal man just finds it hard to manage his finances. And in such a situation, it becomes too hard to add to your savings. But let’s tell you that it is not impossible; you just need to make some efforts to save even the very small amounts and you will be surprised to see the amount you managed to save in the end.
As beginning is the thing that seems difficult to everyone, here we are mentioning some tips that will help you manage your budgets and add to savings. So, let’s start.
1. Create your monthly budget
You are most likely going to spend more than need if you don’t have a pre-planned budget in your hands. So, keep a recording of your earnings, spendings, and plan a budget accordingly.
2. Get a piggy bank
It may look childish, but starting a piggy bank is a great habit that will let you add to your saving. Either you can fix an amount to put in your piggy bank daily or simply, you can empty your pockets into it.
3. Choose gifts smartly
Giving gifts has become a tradition as it shows your care and love for the particular person. But, nowadays, this tradition has become commercialized and really expensive. So, instead of spending money on expensive gifts, you can give them a self-cooked dish, spend time with them or provide them another service they need.
4. Use coupons
Coupons are a great way to save money. Many companies are offering coupons for their products and services to beat out the tough competition in the industry. You can find these coupons in the newspaper, magazines or online.
5. Turn off the lights and fans when not in use
If you forget to turn off the lights and fans while going out or at night then make your habit to switch them off. It will help you save a lot on the electricity bills.
6. Try shopping at thrift stores
Thrift stores are a great place to buy furniture, luggage or other household items with which there is no problem of being second hand. You will remain just surprised to see the quality of the things that people donate at such stores.
7. Find the way to happiness and life, not to spending
Most of the people do shopping thinking that it would give them happiness but that happiness lasts just for few days. After that, they crave more for the new things and this process never ends. So, rather than finding happiness in such things, you should do the things that you love to do. It would let you enjoy your life better along with adding to your savings.
8. Keep savings and debt first
While planning payments for all your bills, you should separate the amount that you would add to your savings transfer and debt payments, first. It will prevent you from cutting down their amount and you will still manage to pay the bills, groceries, gas, etc. by cutting out other unimportant spendings.
9. Make a 30-day list
Separate your needs from wants and put these wants in a 30-day list. Everything, you want to buy but don’t need urgently, should be added to this list. Do this from 1st of every month and have a look at the list on 30th. At that time, the desire for many things will be gone which would help you save money from the unnecessary spendings.
10. Remain away from the catalogs
If you have subscribed the catalogs and emails from different brands through which you get to know about their latest launches then stop such catalogs and emails. The new attractive items infatuate you and let you spend on the things that you don’t need.
11. Prefer using cash over credit and debit cards
No doubt that credit and debit cards offer you an easy way of making payments. But if you want to have a control on your spendings then you must prefer using cash. It will let you prevent spending more when you will be out of cash.
12. Share your apartment
If you are living in a room then it would be better to find a roommate as it would let you share the rent. And in the case you are living in your own house and are having an extra room or the whole floor (which is not in use), then you can rent it out. In both the cases, it will let you add to your savings.
13. Save at grocery by growing your own vegetable garden
Your own vegetable garden will not only let you save from grocery but it will also provide you the 100% natural vegetables ensuring safety from the food poisoning like infections. Thus, you can save money in two different ways by growing your own vegetable garden.
14. Avoid eating out
No doubt it is hard to avoid but the food cooked at home is more nutritious and lets you save money in the long run. So, you must get the habit of eating at home.
15. Get rewards card
There are many stores that offer you rewards on the gas or any other utility item if you make a purchase from them for more than a particular amount of money.
16. Have “no spend” day every week
It would look a little bit difficult to start this process, but you will begin enjoying this day after doing so once or twice. As the day would allow you to add to your savings, you will start waiting for it. And chances are there that you would increase the days to two after noticing the difference.
17. Wait for festival or seasonal sales for making big purchases
Most of the people do special shopping for summers, springs or winter. Instead of buying the clothes, shoes and other items every month you should do your shopping in the sales season. It would be better to do shopping for the whole family then only. You will just be surprised to see the amount you would be able to save.
18. Buy in bulk
Do you buy the things according to daily or weekly needs? If yes, then change your habit a little. Buy those things in bulk (for your monthly needs) that would not get damaged. It would not only let you save on the items used but will also let you get discounts on the big purchases.
19. Borrow books from library
The hard copies of the books are too expensive and many of these books are such that you would not use them once the exams are over. So, instead of spending money on these books, you can borrow them from the library. It will be a big saving.
20. Don’t waste food
There is nothing worse than wasting food. So, rather than throwing the left food in the dustbin, you should eat it the next time of the day if it is not spoiled. It would be much better if you make the habit of cooking only the required amount of food.
21. Try ebooks
It is the era of internet and ebooks are available on almost every subject. What’s more, they can be downloaded free of cost. So, instead of buying the hard copies of the books you should try using ebooks. It is the conventional and economical way.
22. Prefer repair over replacement
Most of the times it is expensive to replace the particular item as compared to repairing it but still we choose to replace it. But, you should get it repaired if it would be in the well-working condition after that. Always remember the rule of 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle).
23. Train your pets
It happens in many houses that the pets damage the furniture, carpets and other items. Though there is no bad thing in having pets but you should train them to live the right way. It will help you save that money that otherwise you would spend on doing repairs or on replacing the damaged items.
24. Get a water filter at home
Undoubtedly, buying your own water filter will cost you more initially but it is an economical and eco-friendly way as compared to buying water bottles. It will help you save money in the long run.
25. Buy things by quality, not by quantity
Like most of the people, you may get easily attracted towards the things that are less expensive. It would also allow you to buy more things for the same price. But, you are recommended to give priority to the quality rather than getting infatuated by the quantity.
26. Use clothesline
If there is the sun then you must prefer drying out your clothes on the clothesline. It will reduce your electricity usage and thus, will cut on your electricity bill. Also, it will protect the fabric from getting shrunk.
27. Buy products that come with warranty
There are a plenty of products for which some companies offer warranty and some not. You should always make your purchase from the companies that offer a warranty. It will not only give you the surety for the quality but will also save your money for the repairs if they happen within the warranty period.
28. Alter your clothes at home
It is not the “once in a blue moon” matter that you need to get your clothes altered. And the service providers charge you much for that. It would be better to have a small sewing machine at home as it would let you save money that otherwise you would spend on the alteration of the clothes.
29. Don’t spend much on trendy clothes
Trendy clothes may let you get popularity but most of the times, they are the wastage of money because you would not like wearing them once the trend is gone. So, try to buy the clothes that remain in the trend forever.
30. Do exercise daily and do it at home
Exercise should be not-to-skip part of your daily routine as it keeps the health infections at bay and saves the money that otherwise you would spend on medications. But, it does not mean that you should join the gym. You can easily do these exercises at home and avoid paying money at the gym.
None of the above-mentioned tasks are difficult; you can easily become habitual to them by making little efforts. And we are sure that these methods, collectively, will let you save a significant amount of money.
Tags: finance, tips & tricks