Learning to save the money you earn is not easy, but only a few can save and save. Most people do not manage their finances rationally. Every day buying unnecessary things impulsively, without thinking or because of the gimmicks of marketers. At such times, it is worth thinking about not wasting money in vain.
As a result, many have to shrink at the end of the month to live up to a salary or an advance. And some even go into debt and take out loans. And they are very difficult to pay. Therefore, every conscious person, sooner or later, the question arises – how to spend money for unnecessary things. And start properly managing the budget, and better yet – save?
In fact, living within your means and even saving up for some expensive purchases is not difficult. Just follow simple recommendations. And life will become easier and the wallet – thicker. Let's break down the rules point by point.
The content of the article
budget allocation
To understand how to save money, make a table of your family's income. It needs to include all sources of money – salaries, pensions, scholarships, welfare, etc. After that, make a list of monthly mandatory expenses. The list may include rent and utilities. Or kindergarten, school, travel expenses.
After that, you need to decide how much you want to save each month. For a “rainy day”, for vacation or for expensive shopping. Then, from the total money, you need to subtract the amount of mandatory costs and the amount that you will put in the “piggy bank”.
The remaining money is the amount that can be spent during the month on groceries and small household necessities. Divide it into four parts. You will receive an amount that can be spent in one week. Make a schedule for the purchases and allocate a specific amount of money for the purchases.
Shopping at stationery stores
Don't spend money on unnecessary things. It will happen if every time you visit a store or supermarket, you follow these tips:
- Make a list of groceries or other goods and in no case take anything extra.
- Don't go to the supermarket on an empty stomach. Marketers do everything they can to keep you from spending. And when you feel hungry, and delicacies and treats are in front of your eyes, your hand reaches out to something that is not on the list.
- Don't go to the store if you're stressed or tense. Spending money uncontrollably is a way to relax, get compensation, some kind of bonus, improve your well-being.
- Don't buy a product just because it's on sale. Ask yourself if you would buy this item if there was no promotion. No? So you don't need this item.
Withdraw cash from the card before entering the store, buy with cash only. When placing items in your shopping cart, add up their cost so it's not clear at checkout that you don't have enough money to pay for your purchases.
Shopping in online stores
How to spend money wisely? Make big purchases online. So, you have time to carefully study the features of the product, its advantages over analogues. You can read reviews from other buyers, from which you can often extract a lot of interesting and useful information. In this case, you will not waste your money, because you will buy the most suitable and high-quality products. In addition, you will make a purchase at the best price. In online stores, prices are lower than in stationary ones. And if you search for goods through aggregator sites, you can choose the best offer out of all available on the market.
The only downside to online shopping is that you pay with a card, i.e. virtually intangible virtual money, which is easier to spend than cash. Therefore, to make sure that the choice has been made correctly and that you are buying a really important and necessary item, place the product in the basket and complete the purchase only after a few hours. And only if you remain confident in your decision.
little extra things
A big gap in the budget is made by expenses that are insignificant at first glance. So you just have to think how to save money for coffee, coffee lunches, water and juices, snacks for snacks, etc. Amounts of 50 to 200 reais, which are spent regularly, do not seem to have much effect on the general state of affairs, but this is not so.
Let's take an example – you spend 250 reais a day on coffee on the way to work or at a business lunch. With a five-day working week, it costs 750 reais a week, 3,000 reais a month. If you just put a coffee maker in your office (you can “throw” it with colleagues), it will pay off very quickly. And if you take a ready-to-eat lunch from home, you'll spend at least 2 times less money on food.
Install a budget app on your smartphone, for example CoinKeeper, enter data of all expenses in it. And you will see how much money is spent on such insignificant expenses. There is no need to give up all your favorite habits and small purchases. Just delete 1-2 positions, without which you can easily do without.
saving the motivation
If you stop making unnecessary expenses, money will accumulate. What is the next? This is where numbers come into play. For example, you want to buy a new smartphone or collect the money you need for a vacation. Use the recommendations you read in this article and evaluate the result in a month. And then estimate how many months it will take you to reach your goal. You can even make a visual table and cross out the amounts that have already been collected.
As soon as you buy something you need for the first time with the money saved, you will receive a powerful positive charge and you will be proud of yourself. In addition, things will be much easier, because you have already managed to enjoy all the benefits of savings and rational distribution of the budget. When there are no useless expenses, even life is easier, there is no blame for impulsive or, in general, optional purchases. There is a sense of confidence in the future, as there is an “air bag” in case of dismissal from work or other emergencies.