Unusual And Yet Effective Ways To Save Money

Posted by Emily Rhodes on November 23rd, 2024

Many people struggle with building an emergency cushion and are forced to turn to a 15-minute loan from direct lenders to hold up. Loans are recommended for funding a gap in your savings, but they are not meant to replace your rainy-day fund. Savings are paramount; not having them might throw you in at the deep end, and by the time you realise it, it would have been too late.

It must be in your knowledge that an ideal size of an emergency fund is worth three months of living expenses. The larger, the better. Of course, if your income is good, you are supposed to have built a larger nest egg.

Overspending is the bane to a lack of savings, according to a report. But there are various tricks to follow to ensure that you manage to stash away enough money to get by while being caught off guard by unforeseen expenditures.

Saving tricks to grow your emergency cushion

Here are the saving tricks that you should use:

Saving on food shopping

Food makesup a large proportion of your spending. Here are some techniques to retain money in your pocket:

  • Draw up a weekly meal plan. Buy stuff that you need to cook dishes. Before going to the supermarket, make sure to check shelves and cellars to ensure that you do not buy more than you have already.
  • It is not necessary to have meat and fish every other day. Vegetarian and vegan diets may also taste scrumptious. A lot of recipes are flooding the internet. Learn from them and spruce up the flavours in boring dishes.
  • Do not throw leftovers. You should instead use them to prepare breakfast and soups.
  • Switch from premium products to generic ones. They cost less money without compromising on the quality.

Postpone buying things

Impulsive purchase is a threat to your savings. When you want to buy anything, ask yourself if it is urgent. For instance, if your laptop is acting up and you have decided to buy a new one, be sure if it is to be used for office work. Can you make do with the current laptop? If so, there is no need to buy another laptop.

  • Just uninstall shopping apps. As you will receive no notification, you will not feel tempted to buy stuff. Unsubscribe from their mailing list so as not to be heard from them.
  • Avoid window shopping. In the end, you will find yourself putting an item into the trolley otherwise. If you are to genuinely buy stuff, do it alone without kids or friends.
  • Are you looking to upgrade your car or a smartphone? Try to keep it for another year or two.
  • Can you repair it instead of buying a brand-new item? Repairing will fall in your budget.

Buy it at lower prices

It makes sense not to buy stuff that you do not need at all or you can make do with what is available to you, but sometimes it is urgent to buy stuff. Even so, you can use a few tricks to save money:

  • Compare the store prices with online prices and then buy stuff online if it can be bought there at a lower price.
  • Wait for the sales. The prices of electronic products such as laptops and washer-dryers are taken off during the festive season.
  • Give a second thought to an item that you rarely use. You can borrow it from your friends or neighbours.

Whittle down on fun costs

Entertainment is a must, but it should burst your pocket. It is not surprising that some people take out an unsecured loan from a direct lender to fund a vacation. You can avoid borrowing money to fund your entertainment with the help of these tricks:

  • Do not spend money on expensive hobbies.
  • Cancel any gym membership or a magazine subscription. Use free digital newspapers and magazines.
  • If you want to travel, look for options in your country. Foreign trips are way too expensive, especially during the peak season.
  • If you entertain yourself through OTT platforms, do you need to pay TV licence fees? If you are not a binge viewer of any OTT channel, you should unsubscribe it when you are not using it.
  • Picnics, visits to museums and libraries, and national parks are a few of the best places for kids’ entertainment.

To sum up

Savings are crucial to ensure that you will not run out of money when caught unawares by emergencies. You should try to cut back on your spending. The aforementioned tricks are extremely helpful in letting you retain extra cash in your pocket.

However, you will still need to keep an eye on where your money goes. Use a budgeting app to assess the incomings and outgoings. When everything will be in one place, you will have a clear picture of your expenses.

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Emily Rhodes

About the Author

Emily Rhodes
Joined: May 2nd, 2020
Articles Posted: 36

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