Just like trickling drops of water accumulate into oceans, your saved money over time can become a fortune if you have the temperament to save and the know-how to do so using clever little tricks and hacks. This article is intended to introduce the reader to that information by focussing on the major money drains of our lives.
Don’t let the seemingly easy nature of these tricks deceive you into believing that they will do little to make your savings robust. They have worked for large numbers of people and done wonders to their budgeting and expenditure allocations and helped in saving tons of extra bucks which often slip by unnoticed.
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Minimizing Maintenance Expenses On Housing
Housing is one aspect of living that cannot be undermined: we all need a shelter over our heads to live a decent life. But the size of that overhead shelter and the amenities it comes with must be according to the necessities one has chalked out for him or herself. Necessities, if you notice are always minimum- it is the undue weight attached to a lot of factors that barely add any value to your lives.
[pullquote]The first pointer to save money is to have a perspective on the kind of house that you can afford, accounting your income and needs.[/pullquote] When that right house has been chosen and moved into, costs may be minimized further by tracking down loopholes which increase your spending and filling them. Plumbing leaks, problematic airflow and temperature control, unnecessarily heavy electricity consuming lighting fixtures, for instance, are a few examples.
Energy audits provided by some companies at very affordable prices or sometimes for free must be taken advantage of. No extra (read callous or unnecessary) unit of energy consumption must be allowed. This can be achieved by replacing high wattage electrical appliances by the more efficient ones (think of LED TVs and bulbs).
Technologies like programmable thermostats that fix the temperature indoors to a value that compliments your energy budget should be exploited and installed. Energy wastage can also be eliminated by being careful: not leaving your laptops, TVs, stereo sets, microwaves, etc. switched on (when not in use) by connecting all of them to a single power switch. A host of other simple yet effective ideas like renting out a garage, using dishwasher and mending taps with leaks to save extra liters of water can be implemented to keep maintenance and repair costs and regular wastage-linked costs at a minimum.
Preventing, Controlling, And Mitigating Healthcare Costs
The best way to cut healthcare costs comes from good old conventional wisdom: staying fit and healthy. This might sound too much work but little efforts on your part can improve health (which is an accomplishment to cherish anyways) and reduce costs in a major way.
There are innovative ways to keep one agile and healthy. Make brisk walking a part of your routine. It keeps blood circulation in good shape and takes care of joint pains.
Here are some ways which will prove beneficial to become healthier and/or curtail healthcare costs and boost your savings in no small measure.
- Cycling to office or gardening likewise is a wonderful exercise
- Quitting ugly habits like smoking and drinking (which have driven countless individuals to bankruptcy and irrevocably bad health)
- Switching to the right generic medicines (contrary to popular and unsubstantiated opinion, some generic drugs work as well as the original ones) which are cheaper
- Looking out for rebate and discount coupons for medication and timely tests
- Opting for health benefit plans and insurance schemes which would be advantageous in the long run
- Adopting home remedies which your grandmother specialized in and did successfully cure many a people without the hassle of ‘side effects’
Tracking, Monitoring, Studying And Eliminating Unnecessary Expenses
You must have noticed by now that your regular expenses are like air. You breathe it, it is all around and you know that it is there but you don’t notice it because it is invisible to the naked eye. Master the art of controlling your regular expenses to a preferred optimum and you will realize how much can be saved in how little time.
[pullquote]Begin by taking a thorough note of all of your expenses. Use a spreadsheet to jot down every small and big thing you have spent money on.[/pullquote] Some things on that itinerary might seem too minor to take note of or too major to forget, but that’s the catch: note every damn thing irrespective of its apparent magnitude on expenditure terms. The step that follows this is to have a clear-cut budget allocation in mind taking into consideration your immediate and long-term ambitions that rely solely on money.
This will help you to develop constraints that your expenditure should abide by. Make this adherence of budget constraints as strict as possible and nurture the discipline and particularity to achieve it. Note that this idea is far from being spendthrift – it is about spending responsibly. Listing out your priorities, setting saving goals over an allotted time frame (say 3 months) and achieving them is the drill that you need to learn.
However, don’t hesitate to adjust your plans or constraints whenever you deem necessary. This process can be augmented positively by investing in schemes with good payback options in terms of reward points, cashback, discounts, dining or matinee coupons, etc.
The Importance Of Persistence When Saving Money
The above pointers are by no means the only aspects that savings can be extracted from. But they are the most crucial ones and backed by market research on consumer habits – check this page. Therefore, it is important to consider the above carefully and act on these suggestions. It might take a little while for these prescriptions to sink into your daily (and consequently monthly) routine but be assured that you will find yourself a happier individual and will save a lot of money if you can implement them properly. These hacks work because they are aimed at harvesting those dimensions of your spending habits that have developed unconsciously over time and therefore are hard to notice unless somebody else points at them with a wise finger.
Conclusion
To end this discussion let’s mention a couple of areas that have not been covered here but you might want to reflect upon in case you have already tried the above and want to save more (which is a rare occurrence). Transportations costs and food expenditures, for instance, should be managed in the manner that compliments your health and savings just like has been advised for the other areas like Housing, Healthcare and regular expenses above.
Let’s hope that you will incorporate these ideas into your scheme of things and enjoy the rich harvests that they will offer in the months and years to come. A gentle reminder would be to not try these for months and grow complacent because the point of saving money is not in tomorrow but aimed toward eternity. You must practise these ideas hard enough to cultivate habits out of them. Spending wisely is an attribute of the sensible human being. You better not forget that bit.
If you are interested in even more money-saving stories and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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