Ways to Save Money

Recently I have asked Securing money during corona pandemic and listed down 2 main things which I am currently doing, i.e.

1 - Reviewing my expenditure and planning a budget - I am looking at all the money I have on my savings account, Fixed Deposit and Debt Mutual Fund, and keeping it secure for the uncertain future. I am also looking into my expenses and trying to cut down on it as much as possible. Since I am at home, I don't need a mobile internet connection since I have Wifi at home. I have one big expense that is Home Loan which I cannot defer, so I am budgeting. My Savings - Home loan amount = Total Cash in Hand

2 - Look for Alternative Income Source - Since we have Hive and Steem, I will try to be more active on the platform just to get the money flowing as a passive income, using that I can sustain my self for some time. Also, I try to create a portfolio for any part-time work in the future.

Now, this is the ways to secure money during Corona Pandemic, but what after that. After everything is normal, we should not spend money which we saved now. Then what should we do then, I am going to list down some of the things which I thought would be better to save some money.

PC : Pexels.com

1. I Will not keep all my money in a single asset: Though this is not a way to save money this is definitely a way to secure your money. If you are investing in crypto, good but don't invest everything here. Might be you want to diversify it, keep some in the bank, some as FD, some as a retirement surplus, some in equities, some in Mutual Funds. This is because if you have any emergencies then you can use some liquid funds instead of taking money from your retirement corpus. Same goes with the bank, if you have a savings account please don't put all your funds into a single bank. Have at least 2-3 bank accounts so even if one of your banks goes bankrupt you have other banks where your money is safe.

2. I will calculate my salary after deducting my savings: Say for instance I get $1000 per month, so I will calculate my salary as $800 only and I have to be strict to use only $800 for the whole month, and $200 goes directly to my savings. This way you don't go over your budget and still, you have money left with you. And this is very necessary for times like this.

3. I will not buy an expensive car or home: This pandemic has shown us that nothing is permanent so why waste your money on show off. You should buy a good car with basic features and with very good security features instead of buying Lamborgini :p. Similarly for home, I am good to stay at rented apartments rather than buying a home. I can see the fear on the people's faces who pay a huge Home loan EMI in this pandemic because they fear losing jobs as well as not able to pay those EMI's.

4. Buying groceries a month: Yes this sounds a little cliche, but I will try to stick with it. Say you go for groceries once a month, then you will only buy which is necessary for the month instead of on wasting money on impulse purchases every time you visit the supermarket. Whenever I go to the supermarket, I do buy a packet of chips, so if I am going once a month that means only one packet of chips I will be buying but if I am going regularly then I will be wasting money on buying chips and chips is not good for health too.

5. Buying a quality product: Now you can say how you are saving money here because quality product usually costs more. Yes, that's true quality products do costs more but they stay with you for years whereas cheap one stays with you for months. I used to buy new shoes every 6 months to 1 year, but instead, I have bought Woodland shoes which is roughly 4 times the money I pay for normal shoes. The woodland shoe is still in working condition after year an half and I guess it will be like this until 2 more years. An increase in the cost of 20% will save you 200% in the future.

6. Live a peaceful and stressful life- Now you may ask how come leaving a peaceful and stressful life will help you save money, yes these can help you big time if you sincerely want to save money because firstly you don't have to waste money on doctors as well as you will not spend money on show-off, you are at peace with whatever you have.

Do you think I have missed any point, do let me know.