Learning how to stop spending money and save money is a very difficult task, but if you have an ideal reason why you will want to save your money and manage finances, it will still be possible with time and dedication. It is just going to take time for you to change your habits. You also need to stop things that will urge you to spend so you can meet your goals.
You have to practice proper budgeting to be able to meet your goals. For you to save your money, you’ll have to spend lesser than what you earn. I will highlight some of the best possible ways we can save money. Whatever may be your reason for saving, it may be for future uncertainties or you are in need of a possession, or a vacation trip. It may be for business purposes, maybe you want to start entrepreneurship
You can apply some tips to help you reach that goal.
1. Be cautious of your spending
Many of us are not cautious with the way we our spend money. I will start with a complaint story from a friend of mine.
“I’m a student, and I get support from family members towards the payment of my tuition fees alone. I engage myself in some part-time work so I can raise more money for myself. But I spend much of it on unnecessary pleasures and usually don’t get enough savings at the end of the month, what can I do?
Many of us can have such problems like this, it may be that we have several thing eating up the money which we could simply do away with. It may be an addiction to some certain things. I am a gamer and I spend so much on games and at that period I always feel unconcerned but at the end of the day when I’m alone, I regret my actions. But one way or the other, I’ll find myself in same place again and again. It made things so difficult for me as I could not save money or even manage my finances. IT seems like a curse but it’s normal to happen to us. We can testify that it won’t be easy to stop, we just have to be determined for a change. You have to identify the reason why you would do same thing you don’t want.
I identified my reasons and I was like “it’s because I’m bored and that’s the only place to get pleasure from”. But when I can identify the reasons behind this, I can think of ways to stop it. So, when I said to myself, how can I solve my problems, I would go out to make friends who I would engage myself with, and I also started finding things to do to keep me engaged in. You need to take care of the things that make you spend much. Identify it and find a solution to solve that problem.
2. Know your needs from wants
Separating your needs from your wants is another way to save your money and manage finances.
“Needs are things you can’t live without, like your insurance, transportation to work or school etc., while wants are things we desire.
You may have planned on buying things you need or trying to limit your spending on unnecessary wants, but after all the efforts you put, you still see yourself squandering the money and not meeting up with the budgeting goals.
It will take dedication to be able to achieve such goals. You can easily accomplish it by writing a list of things you’ll need and then prioritize this, meaning do the most important things first. We may have our wants like new clothes, new shoes, game console, new cars etc.
, but we shouldn’t allow it to cross with our needs like our important bills and our necessities. So, write down what we need and solve them from the most important to the less important.
3. Setting saving goal
Whenever we want something to motivate us or to make us dedicated into achieving what we crave for, the thing we consider doing first, is making goals and plans on how to achieve it.
You may want to save your money for a vacation or payment of house or car or any bills, or any other thing you want to spend money on. You should have in mind to set deadlines and then make plans on how to achieve them. I can give you an example.
“I’m just starting life now as a young adult and I need money to move to a new apartment, well things are not going smoothly with me so I have to save a lot to achieve that and also manage my finance. I have written down things I’ll need to buy. I’ll need some shelves and tables and chairs; I’ll need a bicycle too for mobility and some home appliances.
I’m working and currently earning something which I can say is worth my time. I sit down to think, how can I achieve this? I take a pen and paper, write down things I need to get and give myself some deadline to make me act fast, I create multiple accounts for them all and save your money in each of them till it hits the amount that I need.
As I keep getting money, I keep saving money and in 5 months’ time, if I’m still dedicated, I’ll reach my goals. With that I’ve explained how to set your saving goals. You can do it with any method of your choice. But, be sure to make realistic goals and add dedication so you can achieve it. Realistic goal in the sense that its achievable, you don’t have to set goals you cannot achieve
4. Avoid the use of credit when paying bills
We all want to be debt free, but many of us don’t do what it takes. We do things to increase our debts more and more. If you do not owe money, you won’t have any worries about some sort of annual fees or interest rates and late fees.
Do you know that when you purchase something with your cash, you see it and stretch your hands to pay, you will feel something leaving, but on the other hand, you won’t have a second choice, when you can just sign a receipt and pay few amounts on monthly basis. But you’ll spend more on your interest and the rates will get higher for the unpaid balances. Well, things like this can disturb my peace and I don’t really want that.
There are still so many things a poor credit score can affect. You can get a rate increase on insurance bills etc. Well, I don’t think this is a great way to save your money and manage finances, it may look cool but at the end of the day, you will find out that you spend more money.
My advice Is that you should save your money till you can afford what you want.
5. Learn to do things yourself
Have you ever considered that you could save a huge amount of money from doing things you pay others to do for you. We all need some services and assistance but when we can’t do it, we have no choice but to pay others to do it and it may cost a lot.
But when we consider learning and doing things ourselves, we tend to save more money. For example, I have a pet and I pay for it to be groomed. I can as well learn how to do it and save money if I’m on a tight budget. I need some woodwork plans and I have to pay for it to be done, it may be so easy to make if only I can Just learn it myself and save some money.
It may not be as good as what the professional will make. But if you don’t mind, it’s still useful, if you do it well. If you need something to be done well, you got no choice but to leave the work for the professionals. But if it’s something you believe you can do, you should get it done.
It can be washing your cars or other stuff we can simply do in time. When you learn to do some things that you pay others to help you do, you could save your money and also manage finance in time.
6. Lowering your bills and services
This is one of the most effective ways of saving. Lowering your bills and services can help you save your money for your budget.
As a student, you’re on a tight budget, if you don’t mind, you can get a roommate who you’ll share bills with. I did that at a time and it helped me save a lot which I use to get more things. I Know of families who left three-bedroom flat to a 2-bedroom flat and they ended up saving hundreds of dollars. If you don’t mind you can reduce your mortgage bills and it will save a lot.
It can be membership on different sites. You’ll feel it’s just 6 bucks for a month. But you may be into different membership sites, and summing-up will result in a higher price.
It can be our electricity bills, as we can lower it if we switch off our appliances when they are not in use.
Switching to lower plans if you don’t mind will also do good when you want to save your money and manage finances.
7. By using money managing apps
There are several money managing apps which can help save your money and manage finances well. They are user friendly and cost effective. So, if you don’t have problem sharing your finances and personal details with third party apps then this will be a great.
There are apps which focuses on any specific financial goals. You may be saving to buying a home or anything you would want to possess. Or it may be paying off debt or even saving for your retirement or vacation or anything at all.
All you will be required to do is for you to complete the setup and then, you can have the option to link your bank account. to your app. By doing that, you could see where your money is going. Many of these apps can also notify you for the upcoming bills payment.
This helps you to keep tracks of your spendings and it’s also a great way, to minimize your unwanted expenses and create a long-term financial goal. Well, I would recommend you try this and you will fully aware of your financial situations.
But if you have trust issues or don’t feel secured enough then you can leave this out. Would recommend you to check this post for the best money managing apps
So now that you have read about the best ways to save your money and manage finances, I hope you do reach your goals. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section and we can discuss. Thanks
