Most of us stick to a budget to make ends meet. Even if we only spend our money on our own expenses, bills, grocery, and other expenses can get overwhelming if you don’t set aside enough money. Therefore, it’s important to be cautious about spending money. This includes building good spending and saving habits.
But saving is often easier said and done. Temptations are everywhere. You go to the mall; you see your favorite clothing brand on sale. You turn away and immediately come face to face with your favorite boba place. Even at home, online shopping apps taunt you with “free delivery”.
However, saving isn’t entirely impossible. With a few tweaks to our lifestyle and a few clever life hacks, you’ll be able to save money in no time. So before splurging on custom hot tubs, try these tips and see how much you save.
Get A Spending Tracker
If you’ve never tried tracking your savings, then you should give it a shot. There are loads of trackers online where you’re given categories to file your expenses under, or you can opt to create your own tracker in your journal. This way, you’ll be able to see how much you spent in a day and eventually be able to find out what you spent most of your money on.
Seeing how much you spend will motivate you to get your priorities straight and figure out which spending habits you need to change for the better.
Don’t Wing Grocery Shopping
We’re all guilty of putting off grocery shopping until we only have a rotting head of cabbage and mayonnaise left in our fridge. Once that happens, we rush to the grocery store and buy all the things we need off the top of our heads and come home to realize that we probably bought more than we needed. This is a huge waste of money and resources.
To avoid this, plan your grocery lists. Planning your meals for the week can help you narrow down a list of food items that you will use. Another helpful tip is to avoid grocery shopping when you’re hungry, as this can lead to impulse buying.
Uninstall That Online Shopping Application
Now, you’re probably thinking: “What about the deals?” Online shopping applications deceive their users into thinking they’re getting the bang out of their buck on spending money on something they don’t need. See the contradiction there? Nothing compares to receiving a package you ordered online, but we don’t feel the weight of these transactions because we don’t make these purchases face to face.
If you really can’t skip the online shopping splurge, limit it to once or twice a month. You’ll be surprised at how much you save once you ignore the siren calls of those shopping applications.
Buy Things You Really, Really Love
We’re compelled to buy things, thinking we don’t have that item, or because the one we have doesn’t tickle our fancy anymore. Although it’s perfectly okay to buy things for ourselves, one way to maximize the money we spend is by investing in something we want and will use. Thinking of buying new shoes? Attempt to look for a pair you’ll know you’ll wear and not a pair that’s just for one occasion.
Doing the right research and weighing our options in deciding what we spend our money on will benefit us and our bank accounts in the long run.
Saving doesn’t have to be about depriving ourselves of things that make us happy. It’s making little sacrifices to make sure that we have the means and the savings to do or buy the things that bring us joy.
