13 Easy Tips To Save A Large Chunk Of Money

By the mid of the month, most people are astonished to find their salary accounts reaching zero. Then even after scratching their heads, they are unable to find out where the money was spent. It would be stupid to ask if you want to save money or not. Of course! Everyone wants to have a reasonable amount of savings by the end of each month and an impressive amount annually.

Many of us actually prepare the so called ‘Savings Plan’ but when it comes to implementing, we find ourselves in a dilemma. There is a famous English proverb, ‘Many a little makes a mickle’. It suggests that many small amounts accumulate to make a large amount.

So here are 13 easy tips to save a large chunk of money by accumulating small savings and this can be achieved by improving your habits of handling your finances:

 1. Purchase Your Grocery At The Beginning Of The Month

Don’t search for the deceiving deal advertisements on the newspapers. Just have a look at your home on the first day of month and list out what all things you need to purchase. If you have a family of four people, list the quantities as per requirement for the whole month. Without spending much time, walk in to the most economical grocery store and pick up all items listed. Don’t waste time in peeking into the products you don’t need. This will enable you to avoid purchasing unwanted items, which can put your planning at stake.

 2. List All Expenses And Cut Down The Unnecessary Ones

Generally we have numerous financial transactions in a day that goes unrecorded. Spend time in thinking and noting down all your expenses, whether major or petty at once. Customise your subscriptions like a television satellite connection offering you 100 channels when you actually watch 20 channels along with newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Try walking for short distance destinations rather than burning the expensive fuel. By planning your fuel consumption in advance, you will surely grab a good saving on an annual basis.

3. Save Coupons And Use Them Wisely

Everyone loves to dine out twice or thrice a month and for dining out with family, you will need to shell out a lot of money. Even here, you can save money just by cutting out and saving the coupons attached in flyers or newspapers, which you were neglecting till now! Many sites such as Groupon offers you exciting deals and discount coupons on meals, parlour services, etc that you can still enjoy the premium meals and services on a concessional rate. That’s what is a real deal!

4. Automate Your Savings Account And Budgeting

While transferring money to the savings account, you will generally find yourself with many excuses to deposit less than the planned amount. So freeing you from this responsibility is the automatic fund transfer facility available through your online banking that transfers the agreed amount each month to your savings.

Moreover, if you are not tech savvy enough to make your budget spreadsheet, then there are free services such as Mint, which will keep a constant track on your budget by linking it to your bank accounts.

5. Keep A Good Track Of Your Credit Card Statements

Credit card statements are bit difficult to be tracked. But make it a habit to track and analyse your statements properly as chances are high that any illegitimate charge or higher interest rate is imposed. Keep a seamless review on the statements to know your financial status better.

6. Keep Your Appliances Well Maintained

Any big purchase or expense can dwindle your complete budget planning for the month. Any appliance repair, painting or plumbing work, etc. should be done at home if possible. Also, proper maintenance and care should be taken so that no major spending pops in.

7. Try To Compromise On Luxuries

Habits are the main cause for failure to save the desired amount. You find your habits reasonable but if you try to understand that you can do well without these habits too then you can save a good amount of money. Try to smoke less, limit alcohol consumption, depend less branded clothes, avoid purchasing out of emotion or excitement, eat less outside, etc.

8. Use Electricity Economically

Not only this is your social responsibility but proper utilisation of electricity will also help you in saving the extra money you paid just by keeping the lights on while you were not at home. Remember to switch off the lights and fans before going out of home, don’t keep the lights on in rooms unnecessarily, depend less on heaters, coolers and A.Cs, etc.

9. Maintain Small Piggy Bank For Emergency

In case of emergency, you mostly need hard cash with you and you don’t really have the time to use your debit or credit cards. Apart from your savings account, try to maintain a piggy bank at home and make a practice to put small amounts in it on regular basis. Gradually, this amount will become huge and augment your total saving amount.

10. Try To Grab A Second Job

Evenings or early mornings can be effectively utilised to generate additional income. As you know that time is money then you should try to find an alternative source of income to complement your job. Try to utilise your free time by doing a side business or picking up a part time job at any hotel, ice-cream stores, music library or you can try any work from home job too. This will be an addition to your emergency fund and you don’t need to worry about your savings.

11. Make A Schedule For Paying Off Your Creditors

List down your creditors with the amounts to be paid in ascending order and start paying off from smaller amounts to larger amounts from the accumulated savings. But the payments should not been made in a jiffy. Rather it should planned in a way that there is sufficient gap between each payment.

12. Set A Budget For Outdoor Meals And Avoid Purchasing Beverages

Outdoor meals with friends and colleagues often goes unplanned. Try to limit the number of meals and when the choice of restaurant is yours, go for the economical ones. Additionally, if you really want to save a decent amount, then you will have to try to replace your caffeine drinks, sodas, colas and other beverages with water. This will not only be beneficial for your health, but will also save your money, which you lavishly spent everyday when you felt bit thirsty.

13. Ask For Best Offers On Your Credit Card

With proper planning, credit card can be a good source to attain savings as well. It just takes a call to your credit card company to know the best available interest rates that can be suited as per your repayment capacity. Also you can get paid to spend from your credit card with the credit card points and rebates on gas and groceries. Make sure to gain full information about the benefits of collecting those precious credit card points.