Best Money Saving Tips You Can Start Right Now

Being wise and calculative with money allows you to create a strong foundation to build wealth. It is small and simple to start with but secures your future or any unexpected expenses. All you need to do is find the right approach that suits your need, is comfortable to you and can stick to it. People tend to complicate money matters and end up saving little. We even tend to spend at places we don’t realize - such as a yearly subscription you don’t really need, too much Zomato, popcorns at the theater, buying another pair of black jeans, staying beyond your means, etc. It is always advisable to analyze your spending habits and identify avenues to cut costs.

Some of the simple but proven ways to save small amounts today that can lead up to big savings tomorrow. And no, we will not talk about being thrift about money and need to change lifestyle habits drastically to save more.

1. Pay all bills on time

Be consistent with Credit card bills and always pay it in full. Even the monthly bills that you need to pay – electricity bill, maintenance charges etc. Repeatedly paying late fees can hurt. Best way to do this by fixing a date (say 5th of every month or 1st Saturday of every month) and placing a reminder for the same so that you don’t miss it. You can make a list of all the bills and EMIs that needs to be paid for that month, pay it, analyze it and close it.

2. Automate bill payments but check their amount & status

Like in the previous case, you can automate all the bills for a particular date so that you do not tend to miss the date. However, you need to ensure that you keep looking at the bills and analyzing the spends. It is easy to get carried away not look at your spending habits when the bill gets paid automatically.

You should also automate money transfers to other accounts. An account that stores cash for a purpose. Be it investment or buying a house, once you automate that transfer you will limit money to spend.

3. Evaluate monthly/ yearly subscriptions

You may not need a service/ a subscription as you had intended to use it couple of years back. Say you had opted for Amazon Prime for their 1-day delivery promise, but you seldom use their video streaming app and you do not order as much throughout the entire year, you can rethink this decision. Afterall, their delivery time has slowed down drastically even with Prime. You may have subscribed to Hotstar to watch a particular series or cricket, but it may not be the case now. You can think of either pausing it or not renewing it. Check for all automatic renewal you have signed up for. Most of them may not be the ones you really need. There is a good possibility that you save over and above 5k.

4. Create your own Thumb rule – Necessity/Wants/ Invest

There are a lot of talks about 50/30/20 rule all around. 50% of your monthly income should go towards necessities, 30% towards your desires and 20% towards investment. This may or may not really work in your case. The best thing to do in this case is to create your own thumb rule. Mine for a long time the rule had been 65/20/15. List down your mandatory expenses, keep a small buffer and that amount falls into necessity bucket. Over time this bucket should reduce. If most of your income goes into repaying debts, you would want to move money from other buckets into this and close all loans as early as possible.

5. Have a personal cap on Credit card

You may be proud of your credit card limit. Your banker might keep calling you for a free credit card limit upgrade. Let that limit be just a virtual number. Having a good limit is crucial. It will give access to money at distress or emergency. But the limit should not be exploited for our daily usage. You need to have a much small upper cap for you to control your spending. I had a limit of 3L on my credit card, but I always ensured that my monthly credit card spends did not exceed 25-30k. This ensures you can pay back in full, and you do not fall into the salary-credit card cycle trap.

6. Find a side gig

Another best way to increase your savings is by increasing your income. It is not always about reduce bottom line (expenditures) but also increasing your top line (income). You can do anything you wish. Freelancing, be a Master of Ceremony at sangeet functions, teach at a nearby coaching center, anything that will put a little more bucks in your pocket. You do not need to save it but that can take care of those one or two parties you like to have, or your club membership costs.

7. Make groceries list and stick to it (as much as possible)

We have all entered a hypermarket thinking of buying a few items, but we come out with lot more. And all of them are something that’s necessary. Right? It is best to stick to your grocery needs, having a list that you want to buy and sticking to it. Having a thought of self-control will ensure that you buy only a few extra items.

8. Start investing early & small

I have always felt that the more we try to save, the more we end up spending. The best alternative that I found to tackle this is by putting that money into some investment forum. All the amount that I invested would actually end up saving rather than the money I would try to actually save. You can start small but start early so that part of your salary would be invested and hence saved.

9. Check credit score reports regularly (check for unauthorized loans in your name)

In recent times, we have had cases where a loan would be taken in our name without even us knowing about it. Cybercrimes are at its peak. It is best to review your credit report every now and then so that you can track your loans. You might be surprised to see your Paytm Postpaid or Ola Money there. It is because these apps actually give you a loan from third party when you sign up without you knowing it. You miss it once and your credit score is gone for a toss.

10. Avoid easy credit lines – BNPL, Ola money, Paytm Postpaid, slice etc.

Always try to stay vary from these apps or offers however lucrative it seems to be. It will only lure you to spend more. And the way it works in the background isn’t really good for your financials as well. They live with a hope that you will miss your payment and pay them the fees. That’s their major source of income if not only.