Saving
money is one of those things that is easier said than done. It requires more
than just minimizing
costs. In this presentation I will present a few tips how to determine the real potential
for saving, control your spendings, and in particular, how to pay yourself.
Steps
1. Determine why you want to save. It is easy for the short-term
goals. If you want to buy a video
game, find out how much it costs. If you want to buy a house, determine how big
a deposit you
will have to make. In the long-term goals such as retirement, you will require more
accurate planning. First of all, get rid of your debts.
2.Write down all your expenses. Write down all your expenses for a
few weeks or a few months. Be
very meticulous and try not to overlook even the smallest expenditure.
3.Limit your spending. Take a look at all your expenses
after a month or two. You'll
probably be
very surprised when you see 300 zł spent on sweets or 100 zł issued for parking tickets.
*Think, if
you can save money on fuel, or give up the car?
*Think
about giving up the phone and either use only a mobile phone, or save using the
free version
of Skype.
*Think, if
you can live without your cable TV or satellite TV.
*Try to
save on bills for utilities (water, electricity, gas)
*Think
about whether you can limit meals outside the home. Buy food in bulk
quantities.
*Try to
cook more at home. You can probably save a lot of money on food.
*If you are
a smoker, think about reducing or quitting smoking (if you smoke one pack a
day it
costs you 3000 zł per year)
4.Often we buy what we don’t need
Most of us
do not need a very large number of things that we buy. Think about it. In
particular,
we aim here at clothes. How many clothes do we buy and then we never wear them or possibly
assume once or twice? I myself have quite a few pairs of pants and sweaters in
the closet and
I walk continually in the same ones. Apparently, most people war only 20% of the clothes
they possess.
5.Construct a budget. construct a budget to know how much
money you can spend
6.Stop using your credit card. Pay for everything with cash or money
order. It is much
easier to
spend too much money if you withdraw money from your credit card because you're not sure
exactly how much money there is.
7. Open interest-bearing savings account. Much easier to keep track of your
savings if you keep them on
the side of the money for expenses.
8. First of all, reward yourself. Savings should be your priority. Put
savings into your
account as
soon as you get your paycheck. An easy, effective way to start saving is to simply deposit 10%
of your salary.
If you get
a payment of, say, 2000.98, move the dot one space to the left and deposit this
amount:
200. It works well and does not require any great thought, after a few years
you can earn a
"large sum of money". You have an automatic transfer from checking
account to a savings
account.
Tips
If you
receive unexpected cash, put all or most part of it to the savings account. This
way,
your
savings’ goal will be achieved faster.
When
planning a vacation, use special occasions by searching the internet. Some
sites offer discounts
on holiday resorts because they are partners.
Warnings
Never go
shop window watching, having money on you. You will be tempted to buy useless things. Go
shopping only with a predetermined shopping list.
As long as
you are in a really desperate situation, try not to keep an eye on your
health.Do
regular
check-ups, which can prevent huge expenses when your health is in a really bad
shape. Try
to prevent the causes instead of spending a fortune on mitigation.
Questions:
Do you save
money?
Do you use
the above mentioned methods to save money? Which ones?
Do you use
any other methods of saving money?
ReplyDeletePersonally saving money is one of the hardest things in my life. No matter how much I try to save, I end up spending it anyway. I wish that there was an easy way to do it. Furthermore, I do not say that I spend money on anything that I like. I am talking about money that I spend on groceries and bills.I am very cautious when spending money,yet, can't never have any extra. I believe that life is very expensive and spending money is inevitable. I always read tips about saving money and try to follow them as much as possible. One tip that I could offer is to never buy electronics at their full price. If you are patient and willing to look around,there is always a deal somewhere to find.
From about 1,5 a year I do save money :) It is a great thing, but only if you know on what you want to spend this money later, because if you do not have any plan, it would be easer for you to give up.
ReplyDeleteI use method one which says about why I want to save, and i write down my expenses.
I have to disagree with one thing. If you are living alone in Warsaw (or any other big city) and you don't have food from your parents it is better to find cheap restaurant than buying food.
It is because if you do not eat much, sooner your food will expire than you would eat them. I hate waste my food so only option for me were to buy food from "Mr sandwich" at my office.
It realy becomes cheaper and I don't have to worry about my dinner any more :)
I use one other method of saving money. about 1/3 of them I'm investing in something. I think It is good option, because it is still not such big amount if you lose it, buy if you get profit you will be happy and have more :)
Unfortunately, saving money is not easy :/ I agree with you s7495. Before you buy electronic equipment, you should look around at different stores or on the Internet. I recommend ceneo.pl page. You can sometimes save a lot of money on this.
ReplyDeleteNatalia I think that investing is a good way to save money, but it's best if we are aware of what's going on. Although you can always take advantage of the support consultant who will advise you how best to invest your money.
ReplyDeleteToday we have a serious time crunch and the prices of products and services are constantly increasing. It's hard to save money. Many banks offer mutual funds are offering high rates of return. Saving and making it really difficult subject. I try to use the set of points, but not all can satisfy every month. It is important to start saving now and then somehow just all goes. Education habits and rational accumulation of money is the issue on which everyone should pay attention to when have a problem with finances.
ReplyDelete1. Do you save money?
ReplyDelete2. Do you use the above mentioned methods to save money? Which ones?
2. Do you use any other methods of saving money?
I really enjoyed your post. Mostly because I'm also saving money and I think I do it quite well.
First of all I do not let my money to get eaten by inflation. In order to do that I always put the majority of my salary on interest-bearing savings account. What more every time I do that I am looking for the best option - the outcome is I have accounts in several banks and I put savings in every of them. I am switching between banks to get best interest on the market. Plus - the more money you have, the more money you'll have :)
Second very important thing is to always have a LIST when you go shopping. If you don't buy anythiong that's not on the list you'll save money on useless crap you don't need. This is very important, because that is exactly what commercials do - they're trying to convince you to buy things you don't need.
As for windows shopping - I think this is more like a girl thing :) I never had this problem, because I go to the shop only if I need something specific. My girlfriend on the other hand is a real window shopper and she loves to stare at those clothes. However she can control herself, so it's not an issue. There are people who can't - and that's when windows shopping is getting dangerous.
Another tip from me - do not fall into a trap of American Dream : "People buy things they don't need for money they don't have to impress people they don't like". Amen to that.
However I'm not free of temptaion too. No one is. When I'm in Saturn or Empik I always have this little devil in me who screams "BUY ALL THE GAMES!!!", or when I go to the music store - oh, the sweet, sweet Gibson Les Paul's :)
The point is to have enough strong will to control that temptation. I think this is the most important factor in money saving process.
Actually, I do not force myself to save money because I realize that would be impossible in my case. I think that credit cards and online shopping are the most dangerous temptations since in case of credit cards you can buy something in every circumstances, even when you do not have cash which enables the bargains and occasions manipulate your wallet. When it comes to online shopping, it is the most convenient way to buy some products, especially the heaviest ones such as tables or other pieces of furniture. Online shops also provide us with a huge choice of products and services which always facilitates the way of finding something appropriate or just nice. I agree that watching shop widows is tempting but I do not experience it so it does not stand as a problem in my case. What is more, I do not try to save money as I know that there will come a day e.g. Christmas day, when I will need to spend all the money I had saved. That is why it seems to be pointless. Of course, for someone who is good at preventing himself from wasting their wages on useless products, it seems to be very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can save money, but I think only if we have them in abundance, as we know, life in the big cities does not cost too little and salaries are not very high, especially for fresh graduates. Sam tried to save what is a very difficult task in today's world, shopping, lunch at work cost a little money and even starting on a Friday evening with friends is also not the cheapest. My only way to save money is to postpone their bank account and not to seek to retrieve them too often, so that from time to time in the account comes a large amount by which the interest grow at a faster pace. Sure there are many way to save money and everyone mentioned in the presentation to be checked but I think each of us knows best how to save money and knows the needs or simply can lead a rich life.
ReplyDeleteOf course I save money, although sometimes it`s hard to do but always pays off. I remember times when as a kid I was putting coins into a piggy bank and the best feeling was opening it and counting money. It always seem like there is a large sum of money
ReplyDeleteI`m using some of mentioned methods. First of all I`m writing down my expenses. It helps me to control how much money I spend on things I need and my pleasures. Sometimes there are unexpected expenses like car breaks down when you need money quickly, that’s the time when is good to have some savings that you don’t need to wait next payment of salary.
I don’t like the idea of not using credit card. When I use it I always know what I spend money on and when, but with money in my wallet if I don’t get a receipt I might forget where the money went.
I`m also using savings account, but can`t think of any other method of saving money.
Nice article, i don't save money because it generates a cost. Cash without a flow is a cost so it's a bad money. You would ask what is wrong in having a million dollars on your account? Everything! because it's a cost for you, so you should have your money in projects or you should make them flow to earn for themselves and if you will "collect" alot of them :) :) they will earn for yourself. I am not a banker, not an economist so of course this is just my point of view :) everything what you have written is true i guess but if this was the key, we would all be rich because it all sounds like not much work to do to be a rich person... Some economist, PJWSTK professor Bernacki said that the best investment is to invest in arts but it takes alot of time to know all about it to know which investment would be lucrative.
ReplyDeleteSavings are very important but it is not to be easy. I personally still do not save the money for something I run away, there will always be some expenditure or some thing that is necessary and saving recedes into the background, so hard for me anything to say about it. But as I start to try to save it out of curiosity to comply with the principles contained in the presentation that I hope will be successful :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not really enterprising person, and money just dont stick to me for long. My lack of expenditures control, used to make me completly broke by the end of every month, so I had to figure out some way to cut spendings.
ReplyDeleteOnce I've quited the cigarettes, My financisl situation got better. That good omen, has pushed me to start saving money, and I have opend savings account. I put there sone sume of money every time I earn some. Unfortunetly, it doesnt work me very good, I'still taking money from that account every time I need it, but it is still better than nothing.
Thats my way to cut sprndings, I think maybe I will use your advice about saving money for short term goal, I thing it might help me conserve money on my savings account.
First of all, I hate talking about the money. Unfortunately, we live in the era where money rules our lives and us!
ReplyDeleteSo far I do not have any permanent job and the only money I get it is from my parents. I do not get much money from them and usually I spend them to pay my bills and to eat, so I do not have much left to save. The money that I sometimes earn at my work, I always spend on equipment and materials that I need for my work or for my trips. Honestly, I cannot remember when was the last time when I bought something only for myself, for instance clothes. Before, the biggest ‘eater’ of my money were cigarettes, however, 3 months ago I switched to an electronic cigarette, also known as an e-cigarette, and actually now I spend less on my smoking addiction. Nevertheless, I miss smoking normal cigarettes a lot :)
I put all of my coins in jar every day. I do it for a few years and I bring them to the bank once a year. First time it was suprising, because I have 10kg of coins and it was about 600 zł. Recently I choose mSaver which is the same like putting all of coins into jar.
ReplyDeleteDo I save money? probably not ... I just do not spend on unnecessary things and manage them wisely. As I listen and read about the savings I get the impression that people are morons who do not know how to count. It kinda sad but maybe this is the case. For me, it's obvious how the finances, and clear it with small amounts grow a lot of money. But it is a bit like a soap bubble saving indefinitely because it is sick, so the money is to be spent. For me, saving the ancestor of investing.
ReplyDelete