This year has been a weird year for all of us, trips have been cancelled, many jobs are on the line, and we’ve spent weeks or even months socially isolating. Now we’ve hit July, we’re more than half way through the year, and you might be wondering how you can make some changes in order to make the second half of the year better than the first. My suggestion? Get saving. Saving is one of the most important steps in order to be able to reach your goals, whether that means something large like buying your first home, or something more modest like having enough cash to visit your loved ones. Here are my top 4 tips for saving more money:
1. Make it Automatic
The first step you should do to improve your savings is to make it automatic. The less you have to think about it, the better. If you get paid regularly, such as weekly or monthly payments, set up a regular transfer that goes from your main account directly to a savings account. It doesn’t matter how much you’re transferring, the important thing is to make it something that happens automatically. Even if you can only set up a transfer of $10 or $20 a month, over the course of a few months or years it begins to add up.
2. Increase Your Free Money
The more money you have spare, the more you’re going to be able to save. Once you’ve set up your automatic transfer into your savings, you’re going to want to look for ways you can make a little extra money in order to boost up your savings even more. Perhaps you could pick up a few hours extra at your job, some overtime, to have extra money to save. Maybe you would prefer to explore ways to earn money online, such as learning how to play games for real money. You may even know so people who need help with odd jobs such as lawn mowing or babysitting. Increasing your income will allow you to dramatically increase the amount you’re saving each month.
3. Reduce Your Food Bill
This might be one of the things Covid-19 has already done for you by closing down all the restaurants near you! Where I live things are still pretty bad, so alongside not going out to restaurants to eat, I’m ordering my groceries online. You might not think that it shaves much off the bill, but because I’m not browsing the aisles I’m only buying the essentials I truly need, which results in a reduced food bill. This can be a great way to save money without impacting your lifestyle too much.
4. Understand the Power of Momentum
I think saving is always harder when you’re first starting out and there’s barely anything in your account. Once you start getting a bit sitting in there, then you’ll hopefully get interest added in there too. Each month you’ll see your balance grow, and it will encourage you to save even more. I also really enjoy having a money jar in my house, and every time I walk by I empty the coins from my wallet and fill it up. The last time I cleared out my money box I had a few hundred dollars in there, so it quickly adds up.
While 2020 might not be the year any of us were expecting, we can transform it into something great by getting on top of our finances. Hopefully these four tips to save more money help you get closer towards your goals this year.