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?
