I browse through the net and I found a few tips to begin saving more than I thought possible and the first trick is to rethink your spending habits! ^^ (learned from my own lesson when my company is giving out late paycheck and I have no savings to support my daily spending/needs).
I started with asking myself
- Who am I? What's my current financial picture?
- How do I want to live? How do I want to use my money?
- How can I make the best use of my money?
"The Key of saving is Spending Less than you Earn"
Draw up your current budget:
Find out where your money goes. Calculate your monthly income & make a list of all expenses.
Put priority on your loans: car loan, house loan etc
Cut down usage of your phone / downgrade your phone package to cut down your bill ^^
Plan ahead:
Map out your meals for the entire month, go through your kitchen cabinet, fridge and pantry. Making a list of any item you'll need for your planned meals.
Bring your own food to work:
Your breakfast, lunch and for break time. You can save more if you just heat up the left over food from last night ^^. Always make sure that you have your own coffee/tea and biscuits in the office to avoid a reason to buy food outside ;)
Make a list:
Before out for grocery shopping, make a list to avoid buying unnecessary things and to avoid over spending.
Learn to compare prices:
Whatever things or stuff that you plan to buy, try to survey around, look around or google it to compare the price of the item that you wish to buy. Cheap is better ^^
Credit Card:
Try to limit yourself with only ONE credit card (none is better).
Consider your credit card as a safety net.
Dont use it for anything that you dont absolutely need
Save 10% from what you earn:
This is the advice from mom that I will never ever forget, she always remind me again & again to at least the minimum is to save 10% from my paycheck every month.
Always ask youself "DO I NEED THIS?":
We often tend to buy stuff that we DONT really need or maybe some DONT really use it. Yea that 'some' includes me, sometimes I buy things that I only use once and just put it away just like that and at the end I misplace it or worse LOST IT -.-
Dont buy clothes or shoes or handbags when you already have TONNES of it in your room & in your closet and do you really need DESIGNER HANDBAGS, DESIGNER SHOES OR DESIGNER CLOTHING?? Even make up, your toiletries.. Do you really need to buy yourself branded and damn f****** EXPENSIVE?? when you can find other not so famous brands with good quality and reasonable price.
Clear your closet:
Overflow closet and you have no idea on where to toss it or HIDE IT?? Well best advice is to give it away or you can make profit out of it. If you browse through the net, there's a few blogs that are selling pre-loved clothes, take a look at it, grab the idea and do it!! Sell your pre-loved clothes, shoes, handbags etc ONLINE!! The best place is FACEBOOK ^^
Well I guess that's it for now, you can find more tips online ^^ JUST GOOGLE IT!!
Good luck on learning how to save (as what I am doing now). Have fun working, and dont forget to at least to treat yourself once a month for all your hard work esp hard work on saving 10% from your paycheck ^^
Save a little money each month and at the end of the year you'll be surprised at how little you have.
Ernest Haskins