Building a financial future – whether it’s your family future needs, your retirement or meeting up with your personal goals and achieving things you need all begins with saving. Saving is the ideal and most important way to secure your future financially. Saving money doesn’t only mean getting discounts on your purchases. It also means setting aside money for a rainy day and pretending you never saw it.
By figuring out ways to reduce your everyday costs, you’ll build habits that help you minimize your spending and teach you how to save some money. Below are ways you can reduce your daily costs and save some money.
1 Negotiate rates with your credit card company or complete a balance transfer.
If you are paying huge interest on your credit cards, it’s very important to know that you also have some rights provided you’ve been making your payments. Not only do you have right to negotiate your current interest rate with your credit card issuer, but you also have the right to transfer your balance to a different card as well. You can start by calling your card issuer via the number on the back of your card and explaining your request.
2 Buy quality appliance that will last
It’s very important to do a lot of research whenever you want to acquire a new appliance. A reliable, energy – efficient washer and dryer might cost you a lot of money now, but if it saves you a lot of energy and lasts for 17years instead of five, you will save significant amount of money in the long run. When you want to go shop for a new appliance, take your time to do research; begin with back issues of consumer reports. An hour worth of research can save you hundreds of dollars.
3 Remove your credit card numbers from your online accounts.
It’s easy for you to spend online when your credit card information is stored in an account – just click and shop. The best way to curb this habit is to simply delete your credit card information from the account. So whenever you’re tempted to spend, you’ll be forced to go extra mile to dig out your credit card – and really think about why you want to spend the money. Most times, being forced to go extra mile to dig out your card is all it takes to convince yourself you don’t really need to purchase the item after all.
4 Do holiday shopping right after the holidays
Most people use this method during Christmas alone, but it applies to every holiday. Hold on until about two days after a holiday, then you can go out shopping for items you need: Get a mother’s day card or next year the day after Mother’s day, Halloween decorations on Nov. 1. Get Easter egg decorating kits the day after Easter. Buy cards, wrapping paper, bows, and gift bags after Christmas. The discounts are tremendous, and you can just keep these stuffs in the closet until next year.
5 Prepare some meals at home
Buy an accessible and easy to use cook book and attempt to cook some of the dishes inside. You will discover that cooking at home is much easier than what you think – and way less expensive and healthier than take – out or dining out. This helps you save some money as you can also prepare meals in advance and keep in the freezer.
6 Sign up for every free customer rewards program you can.
Irrespective of where you live, you’ll still find a lot of retailers who are willing to reward you for shopping at their store. Here is the technique for maximizing these programs; create a Yahoo or Gmail account just for these mailings, collect every card as much as you can, and then check the account for extra coupons when you’re going to shop. You can add to those rewards and discounts using reward credits cards to earn you more purchases at a wide range of stores that can be redeemed for cash back or other benefits.
7 Do a price comparison – and find a less expensive grocery store.
Most of us are used to shopping at the same grocery store every time, and we may not even get to know that we are not getting the best deal. Luckily, there’s a simple way to locate the cheapest grocery store around. Just keep track of the 10 things you often buy, then shop for these items at different stores. Eventually, one of these stores will come out on top for your purchases – you just make that one of your regular shopping store and that will automatically help you save some money.
8 Take Public Transportation
If you have the city transit system close to you, it will be good if you take it to work instead of driving your personal car. This is far less expensive and you won’t need to worry about the extra expense or hassle of parking your car either.
9 Stop impulse buying
Whenever you feel the impulse to by in item, hold on for a few seconds and ask yourself if you really want or need that particular item. After asking yourself this question, and you’re convinced you need it, then, that’s fine. The point is for you to start building awareness about when you notice the impulse to buy an item and how you feel when the impulse arises. What is it the item will add to your life and how do you think it will make you feel once you purchase it? A lot of people live their lives on autopilot. Bringing awareness to the decisions you make can help you make more conscious choices and expend your money in a more conscious way.
10 Utilize free resources
These could be things you’re indirectly paying for via your taxes, like borrowing books or taking free courses or workshop through the library. It could also be minimizing your phone data plan and using more free WiFi which is mostly available at restaurants, coffee shops e.t.c. There are a lot of free resources available at your disposal if you look around and take advantage these free resources.
Once you start thinking more about how and where you spend your money, you will realize that there are many ways to be creative and resourceful to help you save money. You perhaps might figure out that you don’t need much money as you previously thought to live comfortably.
