Rund's Halloween Makeup TutorialOct.27.2020
We all wish we could save more! However, be it the cost of rent, or eating out, or buying new clothes, or travelling, there seems to be absolutely no end to the things that ebb away at the possibility. I recently wrote an article about how you could make savings when you plan on travelling abroad but I left out one small thing; what to do the rest of the time! I can’t promise to make you rich overnight, but if you follow these few easy tricks, you’ll be able to start saving in no time at all!
The first simple step to saving is to make sure you actually have some money left over every week or month to put away. When starting off setting budgets, it’s all too easy to say: “I’ll never eat out!”, “I’ll hardly ever go out and spend money with my friends!”, “I’ll never buy any new clothes!”. These are all a recipe for disaster. If you set budgets which don’t allow you to treat yourself now and then or that don’t account for socialising, you’ll become demotivated to save and give up fairly quickly. Instead, calculate how much you can save while still having enough left to go out and do things or even buy that new outfit you’ve been looking at.
Whether you eat out a lot or just treat yourself at home, there are always huugggeeee cutbacks to be made in food expenses. For some, savings here are easy if you already eat out too much. For others, it may be a slightly tougher process of switching out certain brands for others at the supermarket to find a balance that works for you. Make sure you calculate each week how much you have spent on food and ask yourself if it’s too much and, if it is, where you can continue to make changes. Make sure to compare prices of brands in the supermarket as well as how much particular places are costing you to eat out; set a food budget and stick to it. Another easy rule to live by is to never shop when you’re hungry, as this will dramatically increase the amount of (usually unhealthy) food that you buy. To be clear, if your aim is simply to save, to don’t have to eat less, just eat smarter!
If, like me, you love nothing more than sitting at home and browsing your favourite stores online then you might also know just how easy it is to overspend when you do. Physical stores provide a less effortless experience which require you to actually pay for something there and then (instead of simply clicking a button). By shopping in person first, you give yourself the time to change your mind about purchases and be faced with the prospect of actually having to hand over cash (eugh). However, after you’ve browsed your favourite stores and tried everything on that you like, go home, search it online, and find the best price! Only buy online what you have seen (or something similar) instore. This two-stage process means you can have the best of both worlds; time to abandon impulse purchases instore and the best prices online!
The month rule (or 30-day rule) says that you should always avoid the instant gratification of buying things by forcing yourself to wait a month before buying, because often the impulsive urge to buy has passed by then. Now, of course, as a reasonable human who can’t wait a whole month before making every purchase, I instead limit this rule to larger purchases such as a phone, any other tech, or even holidays. I have found with smaller purchases – such as clothes – the shop instore buy online method works well enough whilst not restricting me too much. On the note of quelling impulse purchases, if you are going to buy instore, always write a list of what you want purchase before leaving the house and the stick to that when you’re out.
