There is a lot of talk about cash, jobs and the economy right now, all over the world. People are worried that they could have to take a pay cut, or worse, could lose their jobs. People are also worried that they may not be earning enough money to maintain their current lifestyle. With that in mind, I chose to write this article on how to save money, the right attitude to have towards money, and how to make the most of the money you have available to you.
The first tip is very simple. If you’re unsure of how much you’re spending, always over estimate. That way, you will generally find out that you aren’t spending as much as you though, and you’ll suddenly have some spare cash that you didn’t know that you had. If you under estimate your expenses, you may find that you run into debt when you spend the extra cash you thought you had on luxury items.
Secondly, make sure you always have a limit on the amount of cash that you are willing to spend on hobbies. This can be very tough. Be it gaming, scuba diving, model airplane building or anything else, hobbies generally are very expensive. As hard as it is to accept, food, shelter and security all come before your hobbies. If you have to choose between food and hobbies, you’ve already gone wrong. It should never be a choice you have to make; you should know to put the essentials before the items you want.
If you’re the type of person that likes to go window shopping, make sure you bring very little cash when you do. You can easily be tempted by items in the window if you’re carrying enough cash, particularly if they are on sale or reduced. If you don’t have enough cash, but you feel you want it, you’ll either realise on the way home that it would purely have been an impulse buy, or you’ll feel you need it because it is genuinely necessary.
Always make sure that you save money from your paycheck before you go spending it. If you receive paychecks of $500, and you’ve decided you want to save $50 per paycheck, save that once you get your paycheck. Don’t try to only spend $450 of the paycheck and then have the rest left over. That won’t work, as you’ll be too tempted to spend the extra $50 on something you really do not require.
This is a great way to make some extra cash, without having to further dent your paycheck. Instead of lodging your savings into a normal checking account, open a proper account for savings. You’ll see very shortly that you’re getting a lot more money in interest in your savings account than you would in a checking account. This spare cash could really come in handy in the future.
That’s all for now, but look out for a Part 2 in the future. Remember, a penny saved is a penny earned.