It can be difficult to convince yourself to cut back on items you enjoy, so sometimes the answer is to simply trick yourself into saving money, keeping it under your mind’s radar. Making your money work for you isn’t difficult, but it can be a challenge in these times of exorbitant inflation. These days, cutting back isn’t just a means toward saving for a new car or a much-needed vacation, it can be necessary for survival.
1.Eliminate Credit Card Confusion
Using credit cards can make an individual feel richer than they truly are. With a sizable amount of credit available to them, it might shine like money but it isn’t really money. There are a couple of ways to get a handle on credit card spending and even make it work for you. Choose a card that gets you cash back, and write down each credit card transaction in your check account register so there are no surprises at the end of the month.
2.Collect Your Spare Change
At the end of the day, toss the change in your pocket into a glass jar or some other creative vessel. At the end of the year, you could very well have saved up enough money to pay for holiday gifts or at least fund a few nice dinners out!
3.Review Your Insurance Policies
Research cheap car insurance quotes to make sure that you are getting the best insurance available to you with the coverage you desire. Life is changing all of the time, which often means your insurance coverage will need to change, too. You may be surprised to find that you are eligible for some new discounts.
4.Reward Yourself Immediately
It can be monotonous to bring a bagged lunch to work every day or stop your cappuccino indulgences, so when you do, take the money that you have saved and toss it into the spare change jar. This gives you an immediate reward and gratification in seeing your change jar fund growing more rapidly.
5.Practice Patience when Shopping
Marketers have made it supremely easy to purchase items you don’t necessarily need. Before buying anything, force yourself to sleep on the purchase so the rational side of you can kick in. If you’re still convinced you need the item the next day, then feel confident in making the purchase.
6.Put All Gifts & Bonuses into Savings
Birthday? Holiday? End of year bonus check? Every time you receive some type of cash recognition, sock it away into your savings account. If you don’t have a savings account separate from your checking, now is the time to get one. They are more difficult to access making the savings harder to spend.
7.Personalize Your Accounts
Renaming a savings account to reflect what you’re saving for is a cool mental trick that has been proven to get you to your goal more quickly. Replace ‘savings’ with ‘Corvette’ or ‘Bahamas’ and you’ll be more inclined to divert finances to that one particular account. Plus, you’ll be less likely to withdraw funds from it, too.
8.Get More Comfortable
It’s safe to say that a one or two degree adjustment in the air conditioner or furnace is not going to make a huge difference in how comfortable you are in your home. It will, however, be a great start to cutting down on your utility bills. If you start at 68 degrees, change it to 66 until you feel comfortable with it and then move to 65. There’s a limit to this, of course, but between those 3 degrees is sizable savings.
8.Be Honest with Yourself about Purchases
As a consumable society, it’s easy to fall prey to purchases you don’t need. Before buying anything, ask yourself if you really want it. One way to put it to yourself is: Would you rather have a friend or stranger gift you that (sweet leather jacket or whatever it is) or $125 in cash? If you’d rather have the cash, put down the jacket.
9.Delete those Shopping Apps
A tip that is not Amazon-approved, deleting shopping apps from your phone (and social media apps, too, if you’re likely to make purchases on them) will help you cut back on spending. Retailers are clever about reminding you what you left in your cart, ‘threatening’ that there are only two of your item left in the warehouse, and other such manipulations to make you feel obligated to make the purchase.
Saving money is a lot like going on a diet. When you set your mind to it and are consistent, you will see the fruits of your labor. And yes, just like dieting, it’s okay to have a (reasonable) cheat day every now and again!