How to Save When Funds are low!

It’s easy to save when you have a steady income but how do you save when there is nothing in the bank?  A lot of persons are self employed and so they don’t receive the same amount of money every month.

Then there are those persons whose salary is just enough to pay their bills.  If that describes your situation you might be unsure of what to do next.

Get Organized

I think the very best and simplest piece of advice to follow is to take a bit of time to organize your finances. Establishing where each and every one of outgoings falls into one of three categories will enable you to recognize where there are savings to be had.

So here we have the three categories. They are the essentials, the everyday costs and the luxuries.

These are the things you have to pay for with no negotiation. This would include your rent/mortgage/utilities, any loan repayments and groceries. You should immediately deduct these costs from your monthly income and then you’ll have a crystal clear idea of exactly what kind of expenses you have to cover.

The everyday costs

These are the things we spend on everyday. This includes transport costs, cable and internet access.

The luxuries

Now here is where it gets a bit hard.  For some people luxuries are cable and internet access. They do without these services as they simply can’t afford it.  There are others who see luxuries as buying items such as new clothes or going to the hair salon.

Whatever your personal feelings on what makes a luxury, remember the true definition of a luxury is something that we don’t need but want.

Set Priorities

In my own experience of saving I’ve found the best way to enforce any strict saving rules was to transfer any money I aimed to save that month straight into another account on payday.

This way I knew what I was allowing myself to spend that month and once it was across in my savings I didn’t allow myself to touch it. Out of sight is out of mind!

Organisation and determination is key to saving money. Try writing down your monthly targets so you know how much you want to  save.

You will then be far less likely to want to touch your savings once it starts adding up and you see a nice round number!

So how do you save? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: budget, saving