10 Points for Saving Money.
Short term goals or long term planning, nothing works like virtue of saving money. In absence of proper planning, we would end up spending all that we earn. Life is all about ups and downs and keeping some back up for rainy days is extremely important.
Are you saving money for bad times?
Lets explore few easy points to encourage ourselves to save more money.
1) Make a list of things you want to buy or invest in next 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years respectively. Also make a list of possible times which could get tough. Start doing some calculations. It could be buying new Hybrid Toyota car or could be sending money for young sister's marriage. Jot down things on paper.
2) Calculate how much you earn every 15 days, how much is cost of living and how much do you save.
3) The biggest hurdle in saving money is that we always keep saving as last item in our list i.e. we save what is left. Try to come up with figure, 1000 bucks per month. Take out that amount first and then use rest to run your cycle.
4) I have stopped the regular visit to Starbucks. I use to spend close to 100-150 bucks every month at Starbucks. I have come down to 20 bucks.
5) Use saving account to keep the access money, let it earn some interest.
6) It is found that 80% of people who use credit card tend to spend more, compare to those who use Cash. I tried this strategy and trust me it works. I use my credit card for few decided things, like paying my monthly bills, items which are fixed amount. But for day to day living I try to use Cash dealings, this makes me more conscious of what I am spending.
7) Try to finish your loans as early as possible.
8) Banks provide automatic monthly or weekly transfer of money to specific account. Use that to save up some amount.
9) Last month I got more than $ 4000 after my tax filings; this amount was lot of cash coming to me. I pushed this amount straight to my saving account. I didnt mix it with my regular account.
10) Theres a silly game my friend told me. He puts aside 5 dollar bills whenever he gets it. He said every month he ends up collecting some 100-150 bucks ;) try doing this with singles or 5 dollars or 10 dollars.