The cost of everything is rising quickly, and all of the basics, such as food, housing, and energy, are all becoming harder to manage, which is why people are looking for saving opportunities wherever they can. In this article, we dive into some smart ways to save money and boost your bank balance. The ideas are simple and can be used right away to save and reduce spending.
No Spending Days
Money is hard to earn and easy to spend, which is why smart people use a budget and stick to it rigidly, but this can be a challenging thing to do as well. The trouble with spending is the mindset that goes with it because we have worked hard to earn money, and we have a right to spend it; additionally, spending also releases endorphins giving us a positive association with spending.
If you don’t follow a budget, embrace no-spending days. These are days when you maintain the discipline not to spend anything all day. Of course, it can be inconvenient at times, but that’s the point. Swap the endorphin hit of spending for the positive feeling that goes with maintaining discipline all day and win both ways. No spending days start to add up and help your savings.
Save Before Spending
Chances are you have a spending account; this is an account you pay money into every month when you get paid to allow you to spend freely without worrying about your basic expenses. The trouble with a spending account is that it tempts you to spend if you have some money left over in it at the end of the month; you might choose to buy a takeaway when you don’t need one.
On the one hand, a spending account is a sensible idea; it helps you to stick to a budget and control your finances; on the other hand, it can affect your savings. One effective trick is to save before you spend; again, this requires a change in your mindset; instead of buying a £30 dress, you save the money and allow it to contribute to your financial freedom aspirations long-term.
Use a VPN to Save
If you love to watch TV on streaming services or play online games, you coils save lots of money using a VPN service. A VPN is a service that scrambles your internet protocol address (IP) and sends your search query through a variety of servers at home and abroad. VPNs are used for maintaining domestic services when you travel abroad, but they can also save money.
Often, TV streaming services and gaming websites such as Steam offer discounts in different regions and different parts of the world; unfortunately, not everyone can benefit from these discounts unless they have a VPN. Learn how to change region on steam using a VPN, and you could benefit from cheaper online games and other services. It is the small money that adds up!
Discounts and Bargains
On the subject of small money, paying attention to everyday bargains and discounts helps to support your savings and financial freedom goals. While it might not seem like a significant sum of money, focusing on smaller amounts and regular savings helps to change your mindset from a spending attitude to a saving one. Try to identify the patterns of spending in your everyday life.
When you look at your bank statement for the month, do you recognize all of the amounts and places where you spent money? Hopefully, you can identify the supermarket, the gas station, your subscriptions, and various restaurants and takeouts that you frequent. Look for ways to save money in unlikely places, such as oddly-shaped vegetables on supermarket shelves.
Change Providers
Loyalty is not rewarded like it once was; in the past, if you stayed with an energy provider, a gas provider, or a digital media provider, they would reward your loyalty with reduced prices based on the length of time you stayed with them. That is no longer the case. Nowadays, new customers are rewarded instead of loyal ones, so make sure you play them at the same game.
What’s the point in remaining loyal to a company that offers new customers a better deal than existing ones; it works the opposite way; what happens is existing customers are incentivized to search for better deals as new customers somewhere else. This is the best way to save money. Don’t wait around; change your provider regularly to save on basic expenses year after year.
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