9 Easy Ways to Save Money – Start Now

There are tons of easy ways to save money. However, our lack of discipline and continuous exposure to consumerism makes saving money is easier said than done.

Every New Year’s Eve, we all promise ourselves that we are going to save money the following year and we all end up breaking that promise to ourselves.

We all told ourselves that “I’m going to save money when I get a job” and we did get that job and the first thing we did was to buy that new smartphone.

We all told ourselves that “I’m going to save my 13th-month pay” and our 13th-month pay disappeared as quickly as it appeared in our respective bank accounts.

It is really fun to splurge every now and then, however, we must all bear in mind that working is not that easy thus earning money is not that easy too so we should respect our income and save a portion of it.

Here is our list of Top 9 Easy Ways to Save Money:

Automate your Savings

The easiest way to take out that money from your paycheque is to automate your savings.

Let us say that your net income per month is P10K.

If you’re planning to save 10% of your monthly salary then open a savings account in the same bank as your payroll account and talk to your bank on how to automate the transfer of a specific amount from your payroll account to your personal account.

This will make saving money a breeze and it will also save you a lot of time.

You could easily monitor both accounts by having online access to your bank accounts. Most banks have this facility already so be sure to check it out on their website or talk to the bank representative about it.

Use a Piggy Bank

I use two piggy banks, one for P5 coins and one for P10 coins. You will be surprised at how fast they fill up. I only open them once they are full and I immediately deposit everything to my savings account. Rinse and repeat.

Track and Analyse your Spending Habits

One of the reasons why we always bust our budget is because we do not understand our spending habits or because we do not take some time to understand them.

There are many free IOS and Android apps available that could help you track your expenses and from there, you could analyze your spending habits.

Identify the biggest chunk of your expense and find ways on how to minimize or eliminate it.

Try to categorize your expenses depending on their importance to you. Let’s say you are spending P180 per day on a large cup of Starbucks coffee. That would cost you around P3600 per month if you buy every workday (approximately 20 days a month) or P43,200 annually.

If you are like me who loves coffee very much then find cheaper alternatives. What I usually do is just avail of the existing free brewed coffee at the office. I also bought myself a coffee maker at home and brew my own coffee. I find it very cost-efficient.

Set a Budget (and Follow It)

Another main reason why we do not have any money left at the end of the month is that we spend everything like there’s no tomorrow.

A lot of us have this ‘One day Millionaire’ attitude which does not really help us improve our financial lives. When you set a budget I highly suggest that you factor in short-term emergencies.

Build an Emergency Fund

I cannot emphasize enough how important an emergency fund is. It will save you from a lot of unnecessary troubles and worries if you have one.

It will also help you keep your savings intact because you have an ample amount of money kept for small or big emergencies that will happen in your life.

Set Up an “I Love Myself” Fund

One of the reasons we splurge is because we always feel tired and unappreciated. We feel that we work very long hours and go through a long commute from home to work and back.

Most of us including myself, always buy into this idea and that as soon as we receive our paychecks, we spend it mindlessly.

This behavior often leaves us broke again in just a few days after receiving our paychecks. And this is a vicious cycle that has to end if we want to secure our future.

We all have needs and wants and it’s hard to balance them all together. That’s why I suggest that you set up this fund.

The money that you can save from this fund will be used however you want to use it.

You can put it in your savings account if you want to or you can use it to treat your friends and family to a nice dinner or buy something that you want (within a reasonable budget of course)

This fund will help you keep your savings account intact.

Join your Company Co-op

A lot of companies are now helping their employees save money. One of the easiest ways to save a small portion of your salary is by joining the company co-op.

It will not only help you save money, but you might also earn a little more through interest and dividends. One company co-op that I know uses the pooled money to loan it to member employees. They have to pay interest for the loaned amount and this interest then gets distributed to all members.

Earn More Money

Sometimes, even if you follow the strictest budget plan there is, it’s still impossible to save some. I’ve been through this and I know that a lot of us have been (and still going through) in this situation.

If you are earning the minimum wage and if you are supporting your family then it is really hard to make both ends meet.

The only thing that could help you still save money is by earning more. You have to do this strategically to avoid yourself from being exhausted and to avoid jeopardizing your current source of money which is your employment.

One of the easiest ways would be to sell online. There are a lot of things that you could sell online without creating your own products. Do not be afraid to start small.

Another is to take a job that is results-oriented and will not require you to time in. An example of this is becoming a ‘Content Writer’.

You do not need to specifically report to your employer at a specific time, instead, you have to submit the articles needed on a certain deadline.

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I’ll leave number 9 to you guys.

Do you have additional tips or suggestions? Feel free to share them in the comment section below.