What strikes you as saving? Keeping something immediately aside for future use? If that’s your understanding, then the aim of this article is half achieved.
Wasteful spending is now excessively prevalent, and as such, there is a need for you to exercise some financial restraint and master the fine art of saving. However, in this article, we would be adopting a different saving approach, an unusual one.
While cutting expenditures and living on a budget are sure conventional saving habits, there are other ways you can save and grow your finances unusually.
Just before we forge ahead, it is necessary to state that the journey to save begins with a firm decision.
A wise man makes his own decisions while an ignorant man follows public opinion. – Grantland Rice
Decision-making is central to saving, and only good decision-makers make good savers.
You can’t save unless and until you decide to save. You need to realize that saving is fundamentally vital to your financial growth. Saving is easier when it is borne out of a personal decision and understanding to save as opposed to coercion or cajoling.
Here are a Few Not-so-conventional Saving Habits of Frugal People:
They Use Coupons
There’s absolutely no shame in carrying your product coupons around. Some people have a negative mindset that coupons symbolize one’s inability to afford a product.
Conversely, coupons are widely accepted and a means to help you get a discount on some purchases. There are many coupon sources, try the papers or the internet. Get yourself some grocery coupons and get a discount on groceries.
There’s sure no better way to save than to realize that you can purchase things your account is not responsible for.
They Deprive Themselves of Cost Demanding Addictions
A study shows that 37.8 million Americans are tobacco consumers. Other individuals are so addicted to alcohol that their life consists mostly of living from bottle to bottle.
Narcotic drugs, on the other hand, are another money sucker. Learning to redeem yourself from the tenacious grip of chronic addiction, would help you keep more of your earnings.
You can do the math – if you saved every penny you’d rather spend on tobacco, drugs, alcohol and other addictions, you would be on a more solid financial footing.
It doesn’t even have to be a toxic addiction, cutting junk addictions and many others can help you save.
They Set a Meal Schedule
Rather than eating now and then, perhaps spontaneously, a planned meal course can help you save a lot. If you’re intent on saving, you can’t afford the luxury of eating just anywhere and at anytime.
Here’s, what to do instead.
Set a schedule for eating breakfasts, lunch, and dinner. Purchase the food items necessary to see it through and ensure you adhere to it.
The fact is, by cooking your food at home you can save a lot more than you can imagine. Plus, you also get to eat healthier. Money, which would have otherwise been spent on low-quality meals at eateries, would be saved.
They Develop Relevant Skills
Think about it, why do you have to spend on shampoos if you can make shampoos? Why do you have to pay a web developer if you know how to design websites? Why do you have to purchase artworks if you can paint captivating art? Why do you need a room painter if you can paint your room? Do you need a barber if you can cut your hair?
You see, developing money demanding skills is one of the ways you can save money more. This may not sound as productive as it is until you try it out. Also, this way, you can do things just the way you want them and save just how you want to.
Thrift Shops are Not a Bad Idea for Them
Yes! Thrifting for trends is entirely not a bad idea. Used items are not always unattractive and less fabulous. You can find a lot of items in excellent condition in thrift shops at very subsidized prices.
Looking for unusual ways to help you save more? Make the thrift shop your friend. You can spend a comfortable fraction of what you’d have to spend at expensive stores and online marketplaces.
They Engage More Frequently in Money Making Activities
How do you spend your time all day long? The truth is we are either engaging our time in things that take money away from us or in things that help us save and create money.
Can you build a life around desisting from liability activities? Why is it necessary to spend a fraction of your money at the club when you could use that time creating wealth from forex and stock markets. This is one of the most important habits you should build to save unusually.
They Regulate Their Subscription to Services
Subscribed services can be a pain in the ass when the bills are due. Another essential habit that would help you save unusually is to discern the subscription services you can’t do without and regulating usage if you must use, and stopping the rest.
- Are electricity bills a problem? How about you learn to control your power usage, so you’d get to pay less at the end of the day? Switch off the lights in the room when it’s not in use. Switch off any power consuming devices when it’s not in use. Enable power savings devices. This way you get to save unusually.
- Coach yourself to avoid excessive internet usage especially if you have to use the internet for things that don’t get you any money.
- Do you have to host a website? You can find and use a cheaper host.
- Do you have a cable subscription? Do you realize that you don’t watch all the stations on your bouquet? Why not cut it? If you’re not going to watch TV at all, you don’t need a subscription.
- Consider your health club membership. Do you need to take on a high-cost gym when there are low-cost gyms available? Alternatively, you might try keeping fit using your body weights and aerobics. Think about it.
In summary, sustainable money saving habits are not built overnight – it takes discipline and a firm decision to follow it through. Including these seemingly insignificant money saving habits into your lifestyle won’t make you a millionaire overnight. However, that shouldn’t discourage you.
With time, you’ll discover that all those dollars and cents saved here and there add up to something substantial that will help shore up your finances.
