This post originally started with “while the banks are always happy to lure us into their credit spiderwebs…” but hey, banks only give us money when we can prove that we don’t need it, right? So putting some money aside is kind of an imperative these days, be it a credit card or your own jar, if you are still into making plans or hoping for a future. Money saving is a good basic practice, so here are some tips and tricks to save money fast or make a habit out of it in the long run.
Money saving is not fun for many people – “it can feel like a loss,” as Professor Eesha Sharma, who studies financial behaviour around consumer wellbeing and marketing, observed. In many minds, budgeting comes with the hashtag #nofun and an idea of life totally restricted to basics. All this is often against volatile or unpredictable earnings – already back in 2015, in no-Covid times, over one-third of respondents told Pew Research their year-to-year income fluctuated more than 25%.
While there are pretty easy ways to save your money, the process is also hindered by our human nature. Money saving is about thinking long-term and at times too abstract, but when it comes down to practice we have to give up something very real. A cup of coffee or an avocado toast can make you happy now – and giving up on those will not buy you a house in the end. So why bother? Most ideas to save money sound detached from reality anyway.
So how do we wire our brains into saving money and also saving money fast if that vacation is just half a year ahead?
Be realistic & pragmatic
The easiest way to save your money, and also the most reliable one, is to be realistic. If you only can put aside no more than 50 dollars a month then the best strategy is to still save them and move your goal further in time or scale it down. Even if the goal becomes irrelevant, $600 a year later is six hundred bucks better than nothing.
Another reality check should be applied to – yes, you guessed it right: gym memberships, online courses and subscriptions. You can sign up for the gym to kick-start your new healthy life on Monday. But if you’ve shown up only a couple of times in a year, these two visits become ridiculously expensive.
Beware of Instant Gratification
Have you heard of the Instant Gratification Monkey? This metaphor actually explains why we procrastinate. Basically it’s the part of our brain that takes care of the present and short-term future. Its behaviour is mostly wired by habits and regulated by the immediate signals coming from our bodies or the world. Hungry? Eat. Tired? Sleep. Hate this job? Here’re wonderful blogs by Profee on 10 eco-friendly products for travel or 7 really awesome gadgets for your grandma.
If you went to check out those blogs, then welcome back to our money saving tips! The same Instant Gratification mechanism makes us compulsive when we are tired or stressed out. And this leads to unnecessary purchases: comfort food, wierd stuff from Amazon, books that you will totally read later, etc.
This is a really hard battle and you can’t win it if you show up unprepared. To take care of your future tired and stressed-out self, you could make online and compulsive purchases harder to execute. Unlink your card from your Amazon account. Take a day to think over if you really need these 20 things in your cart. Make a habit of consulting with your spouse or mom before swiping – they’ll love to annoy you, but hey we are here for ideas to save your money.
The hardest and one of the fastest ways to save money is giving up on online shopping for a year, or at least a few months.
Review your consumption habits
“Constant vigilance!” is not just a boomer slogan from Harry Potter, but actually is a very profound tip and one of the best ways to save money fast.
It’s always good to remember that brands are overhyped, fast fashion is bad for the environment and eating out is much cheaper at home.
Learn to distinguish between your basic needs and marketing-induced neuroticism. You don’t need a new iPhone every year if you are really looking into how to save money quickly. If your washing machine works, then you don’t need a new one. Cutting out things you don’t really need is the fastest way to save money.
Do you really need to rent in this very area? Do you really need this car or these shoes? Maybe it’s time for a little ‘no’ in your life. This strategy can bring its first results in less than a month, so I’d call it one of the really quick ways to save money.
Review your relations with money
Figure out what money is to you and why you actually spend it. Answers to that are not always rational, and that’s okay.
Little unnecessary and unwanted expenses can build up to big sums, if considered in the long run, and are not the best ways to save money fast. A monthly quota of coffees you buy out of habit) translates into a really good T-shirt, while six T-shirts can pay for a vet visit for your pet.
So what is money to you? To answer this question, you adhere to Tip #1 in all the other stories on how to save money from salary – you could try budgeting. Not for self-restricting purposes, but just to accumulate data to see where all this money goes.
And when you see it, you could ask yourself another question: is this or that shiny thing (or practice) worth 6 (10, 20, 40) hours of my day-to-day grinding at work?
These were our tips and tricks to save money. I’d like to finish it with two checklists, which are by no means definitive, but could give you a scope of ideas on how to wire your life and brain and – ultimately – how to save money fast.
Lifestyle that can be reconsidered
| Rent | Are there cheaper areas or can you co-rent? This is a profound part of anyone’s budget so improving on it could be the best way to start saving money |
| Car | In many areas, there are dozens of opportunities to go by without it |
| New phone or other gadgets | As long as the current one is alright you can really save your money |
| Online shopping | Make it harder for yourself. This is actually one of the really easy ways to save money |
| Comfort food | It’s okay but don’t overdo it |
| Fast fashion | One-off clothes also waste your time and ruin your living space |
| Subscriptions | Review your apps, online TV and other self-renewing services: maybe you do not need some of them |
| Stocks and equity for non-professionals | Again, start small and beware of bad advice. Sometimes ideas to save money are better than risky investments |
| Find someone to keep your money for you | We can help you transfer money to over 50 countries. It will be instant and cost effective! |
Mental hacks to save money
Transfer costs to your working hours. Would you work an entire week to pay for this very fancy dinner?
Consider options. If you are now ready to give up $6 or $600 on this or that, are there any better things to spend them on?
Reframe discounts. Don’t buy just because the shop tells you it is “cheaper” now, consider whether you are really eager to spend this exact sum on this exact thing
Little money is better than no money. And your own savings are better than a credit card. Paying zero percent to banks is the best answer on how to save money quickly
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