This is a different post then the usual, but this is a topic that I have been reading and looking into a lot. Recently I have opened up a savings account to start saving for something big. After about two months of having this savings account I can honestly say I wish I had started one years ago. It has helped me save so much and I feel encouraged to add more money so I can reach my goals! Below is 4 tips for saving money, if you have any tips I have left off, write them in the comments below!
Set A Goal
Having a goal when it comes to saving has been so helpful for me. When I decided I wanted to start saving I set a number that I wanted to reach and as soon as I hit that number I would open up a savings account and then proceed to set another number I wanted to reach and put more in that savings account. I recommend setting a number you know you can reach, so if $100 is a good place to start and then the next time try to save $200.
The reason I wanted to start saving money is so I can have it to do the things I want to do in the future, like buy a new car, move into a house, travel or buy a new laptop. When I first set out to start saving money in the Summer I had a goal of buying a new car. I need X amount of money by X amount of time so I just set my eye on the prize and started to save. Saving is really hard especially for a long-term goal, so if you keep reminding yourself about that goal that can help. For example, is that $3 Starbucks trip worth you not having a new car in the future? That's what I always think about before I spend money.
Know Your Expenses
Before you start saving it is a good idea to write out all your expenses. The way I first started to do this is with an app called Fudget. It is free and is really easy to use. There are two ways you can use this app to benefit yourself (second way is listed below), the first way to just start tracking everything. So if you go to Trader Joes and spend $45, go to that month, click the "add expense" button and write "Trader Joes" (I like to write the date next to it) and how much you spent. It will total up at the bottom of the page how much you spent. By the end of the week, you can see how much you spent and where. This would be the time to evaluate what you need to cut out. For example, you might notice that your daily Starbucks trips add up to $60 a month or more if you like their Frappuccinos a month to your monthly expense. Now that you see how much you're spending at each place on each thing you can start to eliminate those things. So maybe only get Starbucks every other day or once a week as a special treat to save that extra cash to be put toward your savings account.
Budget
Budgeting can really help you figure out your need verse wants. The second and probably most helpful way to use the app I talked about above; Fudget to actually use it as a budgeting system. This time you are going to figure out how much you can and are willing to spend a month. To do this click on "add income" at the bottom of the page and write how much you make a month, for example, if you make $1,000 a month add that to the income section and now you can add your expenses. Write the ones you know you will have to spend at the beginning of the month like rent, car payments, utilities, things that are the same amount each month, this would be the time to figure out how much a week/month you want to put into your savings and take that out. From there you can see how much you have left to spend each month. So by the end of that, you may have $200 to spend on groceries, clothing and whatever else. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you need to spend it, read below.
Live Below Your Means
Just because you have the money doesn't mean you need to spend it. This is something I struggled with and I am sure a lot of other people do as well. Living below your means is never spending more then you make, but in this case, I am meaning spending below what you make. Because I have $100 I feel the need to go out and spend it because I have it. This was something that took me a long time to realize, but the fact that I could save that $100 instead of spending it on a new pair of shoes I don't need or eating out every night. If you are a shopper like me, I avoid going to the store, looking at online clothing stores and checking Instagram because doing those things triggers me to want to spend. Instagram for me is one of those places I find things I want to spend my money on and because I am in the moment and "have" (when I mean have, I have the money but really should be putting it towards saving, etc) the money, I go through with buying it. The other tip I have for this if you are an online shopper is to remove your card information for your favorite stores so it isn't that easy to buy things and you have time to think about if it is worth buying. For example, I shop at Nordstrom all the time and my information is saved on their site. It is so easy for me to hit checkout without even thinking about this. It is the simple things that can help you stop spending money and start saving it.
True indeed. This is really important to keep everything in the budget. Last, January I got married. It was really hard for us to make everything in our budget, as we were in short of budget. So we took emergancy cash loans. It's really awesome. Their policy is really great and totally hassle-free. We just needed to fill up a form and we got that money. There were no mortgage or no hidden charge.
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