10 sure ways to save money

10 sure ways to save money

10 sure ways to save money is a systematic approach to build up a relationship with money. Most of the time we have no clue how to save money. In my last blog on saving money efforts put on to clear ‘Why’ & now efforts put on ‘How’. When ‘How’ is cleared in our mindset, then its a turn to take action. So let’s discuss the 10 steps systematic approach to saving money.

#1 Don’t Impress Others:

This the one of the major sure-shot way save money.

Many of us just do buying for the sake to impress others. They buy big 75 inches LED tv because his neighbour has 50 inches LED tv.

They buy a big SUV because his neighbour has a hatchback car & this list is endless.

Most of the money & time just wasted because people want to impress others.

In reality, no one acknowledges your efforts and people starts to resent to you.

To impress others also one of the basic reason to get in a debt trap.

If you stop to try impressing other people you will save thousands of rupees.

If you must, impress people then impress with how much money you saved with your wise efforts.

#2 Don’t Go Shopping

If you don’t go shopping, you won’t spend money.

Of course, if you really need something from the shop, go and buy it. But don’t just go shopping.

If you didn’t make the effort to physically go to the shop, you couldn’t buy anything.

Now with a tap on your phone, anything can be delivered to your doorstep within days or even hours.

With the increasing usage of digital marketing tools, you are always exposed to the forced advertisement.

Digital marketing tools always track your needs & wants, moreover these advertisements are targeted to specific demography, age group, culture etc.

So be cautious about these types of strategies.

Most the people do the impulse buy – the spur-of-the-moment purchases you didn’t intend to make when you entered the showroom.

Excitement is the biggest stimulus overall.

Why people do more shopping?

Shopping is nothing more than a simple act of acquiring needed goods and services, but some do to for esteem boosting, status, antidepressant, for a reward.

What to do?

Don’t use shopping as a reward, a relief or entertainment. Reduce your exposure to tempting offers.

Be savvy enough about the media to know who’s paying for the content you are consuming, so you can recognize hidden advertising when you see it.

As Warren Buffett said, “If you buy things you don’t need, then soon you will have to sell things you need”

#3 Live Within Your Means:

To live within your means is to buy only what you can prudently afford, to able to pay it promptly, and to always have something put away for rainy days.

You have two options in your hands, either increase your means of income so that you can have everything you want right now or live as your existing means allows you.

Living within means suggests that you will wait until you have the money before you buy something.

It’s also called to avoid instant gratification.

Credit cards are a great thing for those who really don’t need credit.

To acquire things on a credit card makes your habit of instant gratification.

Once you become habitual of instant gratification, then one day you would find yourself in a debt trap.

The bright side of to live within your means is that you will use and enjoy what you have and harvest a full measure of fulfilment from it., whether it’s your ten-year-old, but still a great car, your favourite coat, or your old house.

It also means that you can weather the economic bad times when they come -which they will.

#4 Take Care What You Have:

There are two types of deterioration. The first one is natural deterioration and the second one is forced deterioration.

The natural deterioration is inevitable.

Suppose a healthy person of 25 years old will become an old man after 50 years. This is a natural process if he lives a balanced life.

But some people look like 75 years old at age of 50 due to their bad habit of taking drugs, not exercising, not even walking, not taking proper sleep etc which is called forced deterioration.

Now if a person would become old too soon, then the health issues & their treatment cost associated with it, will have to bear.

The same principle is true for our possessions.

Mend the ripped clothes; resole the worn shoes, regular oil changes are known to extend the life of your car.

Dusting your refrigerator coils to conserve energy & could save your refrigerator from overheating.

One big difference between living beings & machines is that machines are not self-healing.

If you ignore any abnormal sound of the machine then it will cost you heavy in other breakdowns.

We need to rewire our brain to think repair rather than replace.

A stitch on time saves nine.

#5 Wear It Out:

We could all enjoy the same basic wardrobe for many years.

Inspect your possessions.

Are you simply upgrading or duplicating last year’s phone, furniture, kitchenware etc?

Simply think how much money would save if you simply decided to use the things even 20 per cent longer.

If you tend to upgrade your phone every year, try replacing them every two years.

If you trade-in your car every four years, try extending that to five years. When you are about to buy something, ask yourself, “Do I already have one of these that is in perfectly usable condition?”

Another way to save money is to ask, before trashing something, whether there might be another way to use part or all of it. Old worn-out clothing becomes cleaning rags.

The web is full of creative DIY (Do it yourself) life hacks that can help you reuse everyday items.

Here is the point to use the things to its optimum level before discarding.

#6 Do It Yourself:

Can you replace a bulb or other simple part in your car?

Fix a plumbing leak?

Can you do the service of your motorcycle? Make a pizza at the home? Refinish furniture? Design your own website?

Ask a question to yourself when you hire an expert:

“Can I do this myself?”

What would it take to learn how? Would it be a useful skill to know? There are a lot of skills which can be learned which can save our lot of money.

Basic living and survival skills can be learned through websites, books, online courses etc.

Every breakdown can be used as an opportunity for learning and empowerment.

Every bit of your energy invested in solving these breakdowns not only teaches you something you need to know for the next time but helps to prevent mistakes and reduces the bill.

#7 Anticipate Your Needs:

Forethought in purchasing can bring significant savings.

With enough lead time, you will likely find the items you need at a cheaper price.

Keep a list of things you anticipate needing in the coming year.

Get to know the brands, features, and typical price ranges for those items.

Many good deals come near to festivals.

For expensive items like cars, computers, or phones, waiting until the next year’s model is about to come out can get you a big discount on this year’s model.

In the shorter term, shopping at the corner convenience store can be expensive. Anticipating your needs- that you’ll be wanting evening snacks, that you’ll run out of ration, that you’ll run out the vegetables – can eliminate running out to the corner store to pick up these items.

Instead, you can purchase during your supermarket shopping, vegetable market. This can result in significant saving over the long term.

Anticipating your needs also eliminate one of the biggest threats to your frugality: impulse buying. Impulse buying can put you in trouble anytime.

#8 Research Value, Quality, Durability, Multiple Use, and Price

Research your purchases.

Read reviews, comments, and crowdsourced ratings from trusted sites and online marketplaces.

Decide what features are most important to you.

Don’t just bargain junkie and automatically buy the cheapest item available.

Durability might be critical for something you plan to use daily for twenty years.

One obvious way of saving money is to spend less on each item you buy.

But it’s equally true that spending a high amount on home appliances products that lasts ten years instead of buying 10% cheaper home appliances product which will last five years.

Spend a high amount on the products which have multi-purpose use. But if you will use the item only occasionally, you may not want to spend extra money on high-quality products.

Knowing what your needs are and knowing the whole range of what is available will allow you to choose the right item.

#9 Buy It for Less:

There are numerous ways to get what you need for less.

Comparison of products at online/offline gives us an extra edge to get the product at a fair price.

So do the comparison with different online/offline stores based on the convenience, selection, customer support after purchase.

You may be willing to pay more for an item from the local, independent shop than you would for an item ordered online, but how much more?

To decide, you need to be able to compare prices.

Use the search engines for comparing the price, compare the price of the same product at different sites simultaneously.

Especially for expensive items, being a skilled comparison shopper could save you thousands of rupees.

Bargaining is another skill which must be learned to save thousands of rupees.

You can ask for discounts when paying cash.

You can ask for a discount for less-than-perfect items.

You can ask for further discounts on items already marked down. You can ask for discounts if you buy a number of items at the same time.

You can ask for discounts anywhere, anytime.

Bargaining is the skill which can save a lot of money without compromising on the quality of the product.

You can also buy it used.

Re-examine your attitude towards buying used items. It may be used house, car, furniture, home appliances, etc.

The biggest cost for a new car in its first year of ownership is the depreciation, which averages almost 20 per cent of the purchase price.

Buy a car that’s a few years or even just a few months old and you can save thousands of rupees.

But what about everything else?

There are a lot of online/offline markets from where all types of used but in good condition products can be purchase at a reasonable price.

The old saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Buying used items have a good impact on our environment & economy.

If we buying used items, its indirect meaning we are saving resources of Mother Nature.

The saving from buying used items can be invested some other wealth creator products.

#10 Meet Your Needs Differently:

The principle of substitution says that there are hundreds if not thousands of way to meet a need.

Traditional economics would have you believe that more, better, or different stuff can satisfy almost any need and is just a credit card swipe away.

Freedom is a basic need, but if “freedom” means “travel” to me, what am I really looking for?

What values or desires lie behind that core need?

But do I need to travel to faraway places to find novel experiences? Remember, substitution as a frugality strategy isn’t about downgrading pleasure.

It’s about ensuring that I get precisely what I am seeking for less- or nothing at all.

Substitution isn’t deprivation; it’s about getting creative.

When it’s creative, also reminds us that what we seek when we buy something new is to change a feeling state e.g. if we feel hungry, so we eat to have a feeling of satisfaction.

Substitution says, “When you feel a desire to shop, take a time to trace it back to the need and ask it creativity rather than consumption might best fill it”

People don’t need enormous cars; they need respect. They don’t need closets full of clothes; they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty. People don’t need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives. People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgement, love, joy.

To try to fill these needs with material things is to set up an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real and never satisfied problems.

The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth.

Substitution isn’t a limitation. It’s liberation. It’s letting go of assumptions and habits, looking at the richness of reality, and picking from the smorgasbord of pleasures available right under your nose.

Conclusion

Follow the above mentioned nine steps which will transform the experience of money and the material world.

It’s the transformation, not the tips.

Mild shopping addictions evaporate.

Self-denial and self-indulgence both yield to self-awareness, which ends up being a much bigger pleasure.

You can let it work its approach to money and stuff that changes your habits by changing your way of seeing.

All the steps matter. They synergize to spur you on.

In the darkness, every direction is right in which you want to walk. But if we will walk in the light of these ten steps & follow it religiously, then we’ll see the magic of these steps.

It’s the transformational journey about your relationship to money.