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5 Strategies to Save Money

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Jade Anderson
5 Strategies to Save Money

While money may be vital for every aspect of life, making sure you have enough of it can be frustrating and difficult. Between major bills and the day-to-day costs of living, we all have to do our best to manage our finances every single day.

Trying to save money is a great way to get on top of things and if you can save money, then you have control of where you are spending it too. That makes it much easier to do things like pay off student loans while keeping on top of everyday costs. The first question is, "How?".

 

  1. Track Everything you Spend

Before you can start saving money, you need to know where it is going. You can use an online budgeting tool or even a simple spreadsheet to track where it is all going and this lets you identify possible problem areas.

This way, you will gain a true understanding of what you can and cannot afford which allows you to make better decisions on your spending later. Take parking, for example, if your planner reveals you are spending too much on it then you need an alternative solution. Try an online booking service like Parkhound so you know exactly what you are spending and can budget more effectively.

 

  1. Pay-Off Smaller Debts First

This one is a little counterintuitive. Going by pure mathematics, we should pay off our larger, high-interest debts first. However, the reality is that paying off small debts is a more effective method.

If you pay off small debts while making minimum payments on larger ones, you will clear them faster. The money that went into them can then be applied to the next smallest debt and so on. This gives you a wonderful motivated feeling which is invaluable for continuing until everything has been cleared.

 

  1. Pay Yourself Every Month

Each and every time you get paid you need to pay yourself before you do anything else. All that is required is that you set aside about $20 from each paycheque which can be done totally automatically.

The key lies in choosing a small amount so that it does not prevent you from paying off your other bills. It may not sound like enough but you will be pleasantly surprised later when you check how much you have set aside and it turns out to be more than you thought.

 

  1. Try to Save 10%

If you do not know how much you are supposed to be saving then try aiming for 10%. This is a reasonable amount to set aside and it should mean that you are still living within your means.

There is no need to worry if that is too much. This works well alongside the idea of paying yourself at the beginning of each month. Set aside what you can and try and work your way up to 10%. Once you get there, you know that you are doing a good job saving and you can always adjust it as the need arises.

 

 

  1. Try Money Challenges

The idea here is to take desirable financial habits and turn them into a kind of game. One of the more popular is to attempt a no-spend month. For a whole month try and only purchase things that absolutely necessary.

After the month is over, you will be surprised to find out just how much you have saved. What may surprise you more, is the number of things that you would normally purchase that you did not even miss. This is a great way to reassess what is really important and find new ways of saving money.

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Jade Anderson
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