Struggling to put a little money aside? The truth is, most of us have trouble saving our hard-earned money. Small buys may seem harmless, but over time they can really add up. Saving money only starts when you develop healthy money habits.
Here are seven simple steps that you can take to save money every month!
The best way save is to understand your spending habits. To track your spending, get a receipt for everything you purchase throughout the month. Then, put the receipts into categories such as restaurants, groceries, and personal care. At the end of the month, you will be able to see what you spend (or overspend) in total on food, entertainment, shopping, etc. Take a good look at what you spend, then give yourself a budget that you can live with.
By ensuring bills are automatically paid on time, you’ll avoid late charges. If you do this through your bank, your bills can be organized and viewed in one place. As a bonus, you don’t have to worry about taking care of it because it’s done for you!
Don’t be tempted to buy more things online than you need. Unsubscribe from marketing emails and texts from the stores where you spend the most money. It’s easy to do. Marketing emails are required to have an unsubscribe link, usually at the bottom of the email or you can reply to any text with STOP, and that will opt you out of their list.
Why pay interest on things you purchase? Depending on your credit score, you can expect to pay an extra 9% to 25%+ on a balance that you keep for a year. So save your money and pay off your credit cards in full every month.
Setting up automatic savings is the easiest ways to save money, and it puts extra cash out of sight. With automatic savings, you have a process in place to save at regular intervals – such as monthly, weekly, or daily. How do you do it? Simply transfer a certain amount from your paycheck each pay period to a savings account.
People who shop for groceries with a list spend much less money than those who decide what to buy when they get to the food market because they don’t purchase on impulse. Over the year, the savings could easily be hundreds of dollars.
If you have trouble holding onto your money, try the envelope budget system. An “old school” method, it’s as simple and easy as it sounds. You put specific amounts of cash to meet separate categories of household expenses in separate envelopes. Once you run out of cash in an envelope, you’ve met your budget for that pay period and don’t spend any more in that category until the next pay period.
Money-saving apps can make the process of saving money easier too. Clarity Money is a free app that helps you see, organize and take control of your finances. If you have trouble determining just how much money you can afford to put away each month, turn to Digit mobile app. And, My Budget Book offers personal financial budgeting and tracking as its primary feature that helps consumers keep tabs on everyday spending.
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