"We eat well!"
We spend 10% more on food than Europeans!
The unemotional statistics show that Ukrainians eat 51% of their budget. In 2009, the food basket went up by 25.5%, and prices continue to rise. So what, save on food ?! In no case. Just think about where and what we eat and start saving family budget and money.
Black hole! In the article, spending on food is snacks outside the home. For example, a cup of coffee with a cake and a sandwich, drunk during an intermission, can cost more than a ticket for the show itself (unless, of course, you sit not in the stalls). Did everyone get an appetite for a family walk in the park? Insidious chocolate bars, chips and Coca-Cola can "pull" out of your wallet to hundreds of hryvnia. If it is prudent to stock up sandwiches and thermos with coffee, these expenses can be avoided. At lunch time, you used to go to a cafe? But practical Europeans do not hesitate to hire lunch boxes with home-made food - cheap and useful. Do you buy packages every time to add products to them? Get ready: your total annual check for food will be higher by 150-180 hryvnia. Maybe it's time to switch to fashionable canvas bags for shopping? Take care not only about your wallet, but also about the environment! After all, extra saving of the family budget and money will not hurt anyone.
"To be pulled back to full height?" In fact, you can relax and do not spend too much.
Tourist trips deduct from our budget at least 10-12% of earnings. Nobody says that rest is what you need to save on. However, on vacation, you can be more thrifty, because the tourism industry is for that and is aimed to pump money out of relaxed vacationers. Spending money on a trip to a good sanatorium is reasonable, but squandering leave for some nonsense is a shame.
Black hole! Knickknacks "for memory" - a stupid and wasteful. Like banal souvenirs for friends, they will not cause them any emotion and will dust anywhere in the closet. A thing worthwhile? Bargain: in hot countries it is quite acceptable, and as a result, the price of the souvenir you like can fall from $ 5 to $ 2. Gifts, bought in shops, located away from tourist routes, will cost you 15-20% less. "Little babies - small expenses?" We open the wallet 1.7 times more often when the children are with us. Thanks to a deliberate economy of the family budget and money, you will forget for a long time what debts are.
Having children is an expensive pleasure. How much do we spend on our offspring? Pardon, it's even somehow awkward to count. And it would be worthwhile: these expenses make up at least 30% of earned income, according to statistics.
It is one thing - to buy the necessary and quite another - to go on about the children's whims. Infinite "I want a ball!" (10-15 UAH.), "Give the Chocolate!" (10 UAH in the entertainment center instead of UAH 5 in the supermarket) and desperate "Buy anything!" - this, of course, is a severe test for the parental nerves. Going to the circus or the zoo can break a tangible gap in the family budget and spoil the mood for everyone if you do not stop children's whims. How to do it? For example, if you know that a child will ask for a chocolate bar, buy it near the house, where it will cost less, and put it in your bag. And, of course, switch attention, distract by talking. However, this is already the sphere of education, and not the financial savings of the family budget and money.
5 economical tips
Lead home accounting. Collect checks and write down expenses and the budget in a notebook or use computer programs. For example, "Home Accounting", "Home Finance."
Do not keep a lot of money in your wallet. Calculate how much you need per day, and take with you just this amount, plus a little margin.
Paying with a cash card, do not forget: "plastic" money "fly away" faster and easier. Regularly check the status of the account through Internet banking, save the family budget and money.
Do not cut down a few items of expenses at once. Cut first, for example, spending on entertainment, and in a month or two - on snacks outside the house. The habit of saving will be formed gradually and reliably fixed.
Permit yourself from time to time a pleasant waste! This will help to relieve negative emotions from forced self-restraint and show a significant degree of savings in the family budget and money.
"Throw a cigarette!" Have you ever tried to calculate how much money you literally take to the wind?
Even when salaries are declining, and some are left without work and stable income, many are not able to give up the addiction to tobacco. They are ready to save on everything, just to be able to smoke a cigarette! And this despite the fact that the regular purchase of cigarettes consumes an average of 0.7% of the smoker's salary. By the way, economists argue that the tobacco industry is steadily increasing profits during crises! Someone makes a good profit on the fact that we are nervous and smoking-smoking-smoking ... But another interesting fact: when an inveterate smoker has an extra income, the first thing he lets him with - starts to buy more expensive cigarettes. At the same time saving the family budget and money freezes for a long time in the air, waiting for its time.
"Well, what can I save here if the price of a pack is 5-10 UAH?" Smokers try to justify themselves. But if you buy cigarettes in blocks, then fix expenses for a bad habit, for example, a month will be more convenient, and the budget amount will be impressive. For the acuteness of the sensations, take the calculator and estimate how much you spend a year to voluntarily etch yourself - the figure can be staggering. For example, an avid lover of cigarettes, whose dose is two packs a day, blows about 7300 hryvnia per year. This figure is quite comparable with the cost of recreation somewhere in a cozy boarding house on the Dnieper. However, your health and money, too ...
Why are we ready to give up?
Sociologists have determined that in an unstable crisis time Ukrainians are ready to sacrifice ...
1. Alcohol. True, only strong drinks: in 2009, the share of spending on vodka and cognac slightly decreased. But we began to drink beer and low-alcohol drinks, even a little more (by 0.1%) ... But in general we spend 1.6% of our incomes on drinking - the reserve for saving is obvious.
2. Fruit. The cost of fruit in the average family declined over the past year from 2 to 1.5%. But we began to eat more potatoes and bakery products: their share in our budget increased from 2.6 to 4.2%. Economical, but unhealthy.
3. Health. On medicines, 14.7% of Ukrainians saved, on medical services (dentistry, etc.) - 8.3%.
And more than 70% of compatriots refused from classes in fitness clubs.
"Call me!" But in fact the mobile communication was originally invented for emergency cases - to report something urgent, important.
However, today many of us like to just chat with friends to pass the time, gossip with a friend, discuss a new recipe with my mother, or once again hear the voice of a loved one. And then we are surprised to find round sums in the accounts for mobile communication or balance with a permanent minus sign. In this respect, a reasonable saving of the family budget and money also does not interfere.
Most of us replenish the account by 15-25 hryvnia, - think, a trifle. But as a result, spending on mobile communication becomes uncontrollable! In addition, laziness and ignorance force us to sit on unprofitable tariffs for years. But the change of the tariff plan is almost always free, and the phone number is preserved! If you study the proposals on operators' websites, you can choose the most advantageous option. Or take a printout of your calls for the last about months and analyze them.
Does the child often call you? It is more economical to choose unlimited calls to mom and dad. Grandpa and grandmother usually call only two or three of the closest people? Many operators give 50% discount on their favorite numbers. Do you want to know exactly how much money goes to "talk"? Choose an unlimited tariff with a fixed monthly fee: replenishing the account once a month, you will know exactly how much money was "blabbed". Are you worried that the cost of the phone is growing? Stop on the pre-paid form of settlements with the operator (with credit we tend to say more). Since in any tariff plan cheapness of one type of calls is achieved due to a slightly overpriced price for another type, you can create savings by acquiring a phone with two SIM cards. Do not ignore the various actions of operators: they usually last from three to six months, so the benefits are obvious. And forget about paid downloading of any pictures-song-games!