Saving Money Tips that will Increase your Savings in Two Months

We all want to save money so we can invest, to have something in the bank or especially to have that financial freedom everybody desires. Like most people out there, that is truly easier said than done.

One of the best saving strategies is to pay yourself first.

Here are some easy tips on how to save money

• Use LED bulbs. They are way expensive than the other kind of bulbs but you’ll save more in the long run. Our electric bill used to be around four thousand pesos but after changing two of our bulbs (those that we usually use and often forget to turn off) to LED, our electric bill significantly went down.
  
• Unplug appliances and turn off lights if you’re not using them.
  
• Save one hundred to two hundred pesos every week and deposit them to your savings account.
  
• Open an account in banks that gives higher interest rates.
  
• Minimize eating out. The money you spend on one dinner at a decent restaurant could easily be used for a whole week’s worth of homemade meals.
  
  Get easy money! Place a jar at home and whenever you have spare change you earn from public transport put it there and you will be surprised on how much you will be saving. Let’s put in numbers. Let’s say you save P10 a day. Let’s put it in numbers.
  
  70.00 pesos a week.
  280.00 pesos a month.
  3,650.00 pesos in one year.
  
  Just imagine the easy money you would get on your spare change right? Where would you get P3,650.00 nowadays?
  
• Use Public Transportation better yet, walk. Not only it will make you fit and relax, you will also save money.
  
  
• Cook/bring your own lunch. Aside from saving money, you’ll also save time and effort going to the nearest fast food or restaurant.
  
  
• Make your own coffee. We always see “yuppies” wasting money on P200 lattes! Stop going to Starbucks and start only drinking coffee if you made it yourself at home, or you got it for free at work.
  
  
• Always drink water instead of soda if you will dine out.
  
  
• Use free software. Search the internet for free alternatives softwares you need. For example, instead of buying Microsoft Office (which is expensive), try OpenOffice instead, or Google Docs. Instead of shelling out for Photoshop for minor editing, get GIMP.
  
  
• Subscribe to sites like Free-eBooks.net for free ebooks.
  
  
• Make reading a habit, not watching T.V.
  
  
• Sell your old or unused items. Go through your stuff, check your garage for things you don’t use anymore, and sell them online or have a yard sale.
  
  
• Buy generic or store brands. Grocery stores and drugstores offer cheap generic brands of almost anything.
  
  
• Before buying something, see if you can borrow first. Tools, video camera or anything you will just need for a day, ask friends first to see if they have one you can borrow.
  
  
• Start paying for things with Cash only. Always use cash when buying anything less than P1,000. Those little purchases are the ones that usually pile up in your credit card statement.
  
  
• Buy things in bulk. Save on your groceries by splitting a warehouse club membership with a few friends and buying things like toilet paper, toothpaste, or soap in bulk.
  
  
• Never go to the mall, especially to the grocery, when you're hungry or feeling sad.
  
  
• Never go to the grocery without a shopping list and don’t buy anything not on the list. This will discipline you into planning your lists better at home.
  
  
• Consider buying second hand items or shopping in Ukay-ukay. Never buy new books! Visit used book sales, thrift shops or ukay-ukay and you’ll be surprised for great finds. Prices are really low and you can still haggle.
  
  
• Cut down on entertainment costs by looking for free or cheaper alternatives.
  There are free, available movies on the internet, or borrow cd’s from friends instead of spending P250 on movie flicks at the mall.
  
  

Last and most importantly, know the difference between want and need and stick to your needs.
Reward yourself also by spending a little bit of money and get yourself something nice for the hard work you put into saving money. Being frugally can also be difficult.

If you find these tasks hard and stumble along the way, don’t be discouraged. As I also stumbled, I persisted and afterwards achieved my objective. So can you! Just try harder next time and persevere!

So, are you ready to kick start saving now?

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