The hardest thing about saving money is to actually start doing it. One has to be quite determined when planning on to save money as it would require them to cut down on the unnecessary expenses and stop splurging on those weekly or monthly shopping trips! It might sound difficult but it is really important to start saving in your early 20s as it would help you learn the tricks well in advance.
Know Your Expenses
The first step, to begin with, is to learn about how much you spend. Make a note of all your expenses. Divide all the items on the list into different categories such as grocery, electricity etc. to help you track how much you are spending on each item so that you can plan on what can be cut down.
Plan A Budget
Having a budget is very essential. You need to make a budget for a week or for a month. Once you have your budget ready, it will be easier for you to decide what you should spend on and how is to be spent on each item. You need to plan your budget strictly according to your earnings. After planning the budget, keep out a small portion of your savings. If you find out that your expenses are too high and keeping aside some amount of savings is tough, then you need to cross out few items on your list. Distinguish between “wants” and “needs”.
More Chilling Indoors
It is hard to say “no” to friends for plans but that is an important thing to do when you are in your saving mode! Do more of in-house chilling than going out and spending on movies, dinners, brunches etc. Doing less of fancy dinners, day brunches, coffee dates and movie nights will actually help you save a lot as these are the major areas where you spend more than required at times! A lot of movies these days are available online soon after their release. Also, food ordering sites like Foodpanda, Swiggy etc. get you your favorite cuisines at home with a minimal delivery charge which saves you from paying the extra taxes at restaurants. Also, hosting a potluck can be beneficial and fun as well!
Expensive With Less Expensive
One way to stop splurging is by spending less on expensive clothing and accessories. It is not necessary to wear everything expensive or branded. It is completely OKAY to pair up a 3k Top with an 800 bucks jegging! You don’t always have to pair up expensive clothes with equally expensive accessories!
Less Of “YOLO”/”FOMO”
Do less of “you only live once” (YOLO) and “fear of missing out” (FOMO) purchasing. Sometimes people tend to purchase things just so that they can keep up with the ongoing trends or so that they can grab the limited period stuff. Trying to satisfy these wants is costing you a lot! Understand what you need and what you don’t instead to trying to compete with people. Surely, you live only once but you’ll need money to survive this one life as well. Spend wisely!
Be The Seller
Surely you have large cabinets filled with stuff that either you never wore or you wore it once for some summer party last year. Get rid of all the unused stuff! Stop piling up things in your closet unnecessarily. Sites like OLX help you sell your used stuff, just upload the ad, find a buyer nearby and sell it off! This way you can earn some money and also get rid of the piled up junk!
Have A Goal
It’s always good to be goal oriented in life. Do the same when you are saving. Have a goal, say you want to buy a new phone, set this as your goal and save for it. Having a goal always helps as it keeps you motivated. You need not always start with setting up big goals. Start with setting up small goals and then go ahead towards the bigger ones. Once you achieve the smaller ones, it will be easier for you work for the bigger ones!
Track How Far You’ve Come
Track your progress every month. See how much you have saved and what are the shortcomings and how can they be fixed. The first month might be difficult for you but if you stay persistent, the results will amaze you soon. By tracking your progress you will also get an idea of what all unnecessary expenses you’ve been doing and what are the things that you ACTUALLY need.
Opting for the Bill Pay Services offered by the bank means that your bills’ on-time payment is taken care by your bank and hence, you get saved from paying the penalties which can be from Rs.40-100, depending on the utility company.
You can save Rs.100 by opting for receiving duplicate statements via email as duplicate physical statements or passbooks are chargeable.
Banks offer 3-4 free transactions to its customers in a month. Any transaction beyond this limit calls for a charge per transaction. For instance, HDFC bank charges a minimum amount of Rs.150 per transaction that’s done after the 4 free transactions offered by it in a month. Limiting cash transactions at branches can help you save up to Rs.150 per transaction.
The banks require its customers to maintain a minimum balance amount in their accounts so as to avoid non-maintenance charges. For instance, HDFC requires you to maintain a minimum balance amount of Rs.25,000 in its Savings Account. The minimum balance amount in SBI banks is mandatory too but varies with regions. Maintenance of minimum balance saves you from paying non-maintenance charges that can be from Rs.10-600 per month.
Though it is quite convenient to withdraw from credit card it can make you pay an extra fee for doing so. Some banks charge its customers for withdrawing cash from credit cards. Cash withdrawal from credit cards is referred to as Cash Advance by some banks. Cash advance alternatives such as, use of balance transfer or convenience checks, pay your friend’s bills and get the amount back in cash from them, use credit card for payments at places where it is acceptable instead of cash payments etc could be helpful in saving you from paying an extra fee of minimum Rs.300-500 or 2.5% of the amount withdrawn.
Credit card limit is the maximum amount of money a cardholder can spend on his credit card. Spending within this limit can help you save from paying an extra charge of 2.5% of the exceeded amount or Rs.500
Cheques should be issued as per the balance amount available in the account as if the cheque amount exceeds the account balance amount, the cheque gets dishonoured and the payer is liable to pay a penalty depending upon the amount for which the cheque is issued or can be imprisoned if the case tends to be a serious one or involves large amount as dishonouring of cheques is also a criminal offence. Issuing cheque with the amount which is within the bank account balance can save the payer from paying the penalties.
