In this mercantile age, we have not learned how to spend money correctly and save it. How to get your finances in order and have extra money?
1. Live within your means! I believe that this is the most basic and most important principle that must be followed. Your requests must match your income! There was a time when our family income was much less than now and we drank cheap coffee and tea, and in many products the emphasis was on cheaper ones. Although if the question arose about a slightly more expensive but high-quality product, or cheaper, then the decision was made in favor of a better one. When our family income began to increase, we began to buy better goods, again we began to drink better and more expensive coffee … Income should determine your desires! For if you go on about desires, then no income will be enough. Quite often, I see a feast like a mountain after the salary, and “great fast” when there are only a few days left before it.
2. Use bulk purchases. This is a very important point. For example, in the area where I live, the prices are much higher than in the capital, so we set aside a certain amount of money to stock up, as they say in full, and about once every 2 months we go to the market and load in full. We calculated that such a voyage saves about 20-30% of the money spent on purchases. That is, by spending, for example, $ 300 in this way, savings for the family budget of $ 60-100 are obtained. Agree that this is not a small percentage of savings.
4. Analysis of income and planning of expenses. This is a very important point. Write on a piece of paper the amount you receive, that is, what you are going to spend, and next to it, start drawing up a plan for monthly expenses. From important obligatory expenses to insignificant ones. Subtract from income expenses for rent, telephone, electricity, gas, kindergarten, etc. - knock out the remainder and start dividing it further, observing the principle from the essential and important to the less important.
5. Analyze your expenses. Can you tell me how much money you spent last month on groceries? There was a time when I could say not only how much I spent on food in general, but also by group, how much for bread, how much for dairy products, etc. I stopped doing this only when there was no longer a need for it and I was too lazy to load data on purchases into a computer. Observing this advice will help you find out how much you spend on such little things as seeds, nuts, chocolates and other "usefulness" - you yourself will be surprised how much money runs up for such purchases in a month. Enter your purchases in a notebook or computer every day and at the end of the month you will know how much and where it went.
7. Carry only a fraction of the money with you. I would say only the necessary part. Compliance with this point will help you if you are afraid of unforeseen expenses and it is difficult to resist the temptation to buy something “tasty” on the way home from work. This should be done for security reasons, because anything can happen, and the loss of a wallet with all the money will really be a blow, although it can be avoided.
8. Remember, cheaper doesn't always mean better! There is such a very good expression “a miser pays twice! Try not to forget about it. Sometimes it is better to buy a little more expensive, which will last much longer than is constantly spent on the cheapest things. This is not a big way to tweak the family budget.
9. Create yourself an airbag. Dedicate a portion of your income each month to create a safety cushion - some call this “postponing for a rainy day.” But I like the first name much more, and I don’t want to live in anticipation of a "rainy day", but having a small amount in reserve, so, just in case, it will be very useful. Now, in case of unforeseen circumstances, you do not have to take money from the planned high-priority purchases, and this will not have a big impact on the budget.
11. Keep your finger on the pulse. What do I mean by the meaning of this phrase? Try to look for new opportunities to save money, learn about new services, stores. In one word, calculate all the options. It is often cheaper to buy a public transport ticket than to spend every day on transport. For example, the other day I dropped by the Internet operator, change the modem for a better one, and found out that a new line of tariffs had been released. I immediately switched to another tariff, and now I received 3 times more traffic for the same money. Although such pleasant surprises do not happen often, let it be, as they say, "rarely but aptly."
