Many salary earners consider a good job an opportunity to save more of their salary and, in the end, come to an improved lifestyle but this is not the same for everyone. How can you control your desire to waste all your money in one day. Here are tips to help you cut down on your spending.
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Draw out your goals The beginning of the month is high time to air what your saving goals are for the foreseeable future. In other words, what you intend to do with your salary is just as important as the salary itself. Ask yourself realistic questions. What are you saving for? Is it achievable? To motivate yourself all the more, put timelines to the set targets.
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Track your expenses An easy way to do that is to devise a rating system. For instance, if you earn N100,000 monthly and plan to save 60% of your salary monthly, draw up a rating system. Say, at the end of the month, you end up saving only 10% of your income, be honest with your score even if it’s F9.
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Create a budget Document everything you usually got used to spending money on monthly. Try to be detailed as much as possible. Include average expenditures for commuting, coffee, or any other stuff that at the end of the month turns out to be a considerable sum and a separate point in the budget.
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Side hustle Not a lot of people would say ‘no’ to an opportunity to make extra money. Multiple streams of income help you plan better as this translates into income and, as you might have guessed, more money to save.
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Caution ATM card usage Your debit card or ATM card could prove to be a lifesaver in more than a few situations. However, without caution and discipline, it can contribute to you staying poor. Why? You keep spending the money you have saved or even worse ― taking credit money.
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Eat homemade meals Dining out is one of the biggest pitfalls for people trying to save. You can start by buying affordable foodstuff at home. Prepare something that is easy to cook but what you would be glad to eat at work. In a month, you’ll be shocked and thrilled how much money you managed to put aside by just eating homemade food.
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Own a piggy bank The idea of having a piggy bank, which Nigerians understand as ‘kolo’, is as old as the hills. However, this method has helped a lot of people save more than they could imagine. A wooden box-shaped container with a tiny horizontal hole at the top stores your money securely and for a long time. Just don’t tell each and every that you have it and where it’s placed.