We do not know how to save money. It is a fact. Life on credit proved to be a rather convenient form of existence, however, the financial crisis made its adjustments to our habitual way of life. So, what to do if the only thing that you expect is your salary. Here really useful advice how to save money will be clearly to the point ...
Where do the funds go?
Answering this question, you can understand what exactly makes you spend so much money. For convenience, we break our expenses into sections and find some alternative options.
FOOD
✓Purchase of products (once a week on the list / daily purchases on trifles)
✓ Dinner and dinner outside the house (restaurant / dining room)
Alternative: at least sometimes we should remember the old good tradition of unloading days. Set yourself a rule: two times a week not to go with everyone to the cafeteria or the nearest cafe, but, for example, bring food from home or sit on kefir.
ACCOMMODATION, COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT
✓Payment of bills for the apartment and others
✓Taxes (for an apartment, for a car, etc.)
✓ Public transport (purchase of tickets / purchase of a ticket for a month)
✓Service of the car
✓Mobile phone and internet
Alternative: follow the utility tariffs (choose the most economical), as well as the services of Internet providers and mobile companies. Some of us, because of laziness and ignorance, have been sitting on tariffs for years, which already formally do not exist, and their users are quietly, without noise, translated into modern ones, and not the most profitable ones. Do not use accidental gas stations: find one for it and the gasoline was good, and the price is acceptable. In addition, often walk.
HEALTH AND APPEARANCE
✓ Medicines and paid treatment
✓ Purchase of basic set of clothes and accessories
✓Update your wardrobe
✓Cosmetologist
✓Fitness Center
✓ Sports studios (dance, yoga, etc.)
✓Salons of beauty
Alternative: many salon procedures can be quite effectively replaced by household equivalents. If you are afraid to do peeling or staining yourself, at least change your beauty salon to a more budgetary one. In addition, in many salons, there are days when it is completely free to cut your hair or make a styling (though, the master's pupil). The same goes for sports studios. If you are not ready to go to the home training mode for video tapes, try to find a cheaper club.
ENTERTAINMENT
✓Clubs and restaurants
✓Theatre and cinema
✓Concerts and exhibitions
✓Traveling
Alternative: replace the hikes in restaurants and clubs with home gatherings. By the way, this is now a fashion trend in the whole world. And, of course, we should not forget about cheaper morning sessions in the cinema, free exhibitions and budget three-star hotels, bus tours and burning tours.
EDUCATION
✓Payment institutions and courses
✓Education of children
✓Courses and tutors
✓ Books (fiction / textbooks / magazines)
Alternative: if you get an education in order to expand your knowledge, and not put another "crust" on the shelf, you can quite easily learn on your own. Today, on the Internet, you can find materials on any subject and practice without any teachers. As for books, magazines and newspapers, as well as films and music, they can either be downloaded on the Internet or rented from libraries, video libraries and friends. Popular during the crisis should be the movement "bookcrossing" (plying books): its participants, after reading the book, leave it in a conspicuous place, and anyone can take it.
We are looking for "free" money
Some of us do not want to follow these helpful tips how to save money. Of course, no one wants to give up the "beautiful life". Therefore, it is better to revise the very concept. Now we will have to make some efforts to ensure that the quality of our life has not changed too much.
PRODUCTS: BETTER LESS, BETTER
What will be bad if chocolate, candy, cakes, cookies, chips, crackers, canned food, salads from cooking disappear from your standard list of products? In addition, you can reduce the number of purchased products. Most of us eat much more than the body requires, if we compare the amount of food with the amount of calories consumed.
READY FOR THEM
Perhaps buying semi-finished products saves you time, but in all these plastic "baths" so many preservatives are stuffed that it is not known how this will affect the health of your family. Buy the cheapest products (potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc.) and cook the food yourself. And for dessert you can bake fast pies-charlottes from frozen berries and the cheapest fruits of the season.
BUYER'S RULES
In order not to buy a lot of unnecessary things in the store, it is enough to remember several commandments.
• Do not go to shops just because of curiosity.
• Choose an economical department store (hypermarket), in which almost everything is sold.
• Purchase wholesale long-stored products.
• Potatoes, carrots, beets, pickles and jams should also be purchased in bulk at the best price (you can store vegetables in the cellar at the cottage or in a specially organized place on the balcony, etc.).
• Visit the store, having preliminarily made a list of what you are going to buy: for this, within a week, write down everything on a special sheet.
• Do not make major purchases without preparation - on the basis of advertising or on the principle of "turned up on the arm". Before you buy an expensive item (vacuum cleaner, camera, sofa, etc.), do a survey on the Internet - find out and compare prices, check the forums about the quality of different models, go for the electronics market.
Total control
As you know, money, if spending is not controlled, has the property of "creeping away." Often this happens simply because of our connivance and inattention.
MAKE A PERSONAL "INSURANCE"
Have you always laughed at grandmothers who put money in a "box"? Now there is a chance that they will laugh at you! Unless, of course, you get a useful habit of saving 10% of your salary.
MYSELF ACCOUNTANT
To become a good financier in your own family, you need to analyze the income and expenses, as well as their planning (just as accountants do at work). You can, of course, take a piece of paper (or a granary book) in the old manner and begin to write down the columns of numbers in it, but today there is a better option: the long-developed and proven computer programs from the "Home Accounting" series. Most often they are designed for an ordinary user: just enter all the required data, and the program gives you all the information itself. Convenience is that all goods and prices are entered in the database (in the currency you need): in the future, if you are brewing in the same places, you will only need to enter the quantity of the goods. There it is very convenient to compose and print a list of products and household trivia. Do not forget: money should be treated carefully!
Minor tweaks that help save money
✓Create a bank of discount cards with colleagues and friends - so you will significantly increase the places where you can receive discounts and benefits.
✓Use the free software. Linux instead of Windows, Open office instead of Microsoft office, etc. Almost all programs have free analogs, practically not inferior in functionality.
✓ Always keep checks and warranty cards - they can serve you well.
✓Set the counters on water, use energy-saving lamps and constantly make
minor repairs in the apartment (otherwise you have to spend a large amount).
✓Set a free Skipe program to your computer and save on long distance and international calls.