Are you looking for savings tips to start a different year, with finances up to date, debts paid off, and zero budget tightness? Know that you are not the only one who has this goal! Many other peoples also seek inspiration to change their own financial reality and leave this scenario of complications behind.
That’s why we’ve brought you some tips that will help you stay focused and save money in this new period of your life. Read on to find out what they are and how to put them into practice!
1. Don’t get carried away with early-year sales
You can see: from January to March, it is common to see physical and virtual stores selling the most different products. This is an attempt to keep consumption high after Christmas and New Year. A period of great sales for the trade and to take advantage of the boost that the 13th salary of workers causes in the economy.
For this reason, it is important to maintain self-control so as not to get carried away with promotions and offers. That is beyond tempting at that time. Otherwise, you could end up defaulting on your debts, increasing the number of monthly bills, or worse, buying unnecessary things just because they were too cheap.
“And how to avoid this consumerist impulse in the first months of the year?” you must be asking yourself. There are some tips that help reduce temptations, such as:
- Disable in-app purchase and cashback notifications (such as those informing you about discounts, offers, and bonuses);
- avoid frequent walks in malls and commercial areas, especially when these places have stores with external actions, to attract customers inside them;
- do not register your email or mobile number in lists of promotional campaigns on websites, so as not to receive alerts about their news;
- Mute posts and stories from stores you follow on social media — so they don’t show up in your feed.
2. Make a shopping list before going to the supermarket
One of the main savings tips is to adopt the habit of making a shopping list before going to the supermarket — which also goes for grocery stores, vegetables, wholesale, and the like. The reason is simple: when you write down what you need or lack at home, it becomes easier to control this type of expense.
The list serves as a reminder of why you are at the establishment and allows you to get an idea of how many items you should put in your cart (or basket) and how much you should spend.
Using the list, which can be on paper or on your cell phone, you can avoid those episodes of, for example, going out to buy rice and washing powder and coming back not only with them but with a soda, candy, and a pot of ice cream.
3. Use credit cards only for essentials and/or emergencies
In addition to the savings tips that have already been passed on so far, it is worth avoiding the use of a credit card in your daily life this goes for physical and online purchases, ordering in delivery apps, rides with a private driver app, subscriptions to services streaming, eating out, etc.
Keep in mind that this way you easily compromise your available limit — and you may eventually max it out. Not to mention the case of people who, when one card runs out of credit, start using another card, then a third one, and so on.
Worst of all, these people may not realize that this is not extra money they have for personal expenses, but an amount that, when used, must be paid within 30 days. Otherwise, there will be no shortage of charges on your debts.
To avoid this kind of headache, limit the use of the card only to emergency or essential cases, such as buying medicine or paying for dental plans.
4. Start planning your week’s expenses
Our penultimate tip is to plan your week’s expenses, as a 7-day period is easier to monitor and organize financially. Define, for example, how much you will spend on transportation, food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner/snack), cell phone recharge, and so on.
This is important to put a limit on expenses and prevent sporadic spending, especially when you spend the day away from home, from becoming the main destination of your income. These compulsive purchases damage your budget and can interfere with the amount you have to pay household bills, invest and make a financial reserve.
5. Use the value of the 13th saved wisely
Did you get your 13th salary? Well, it’s time to use it very strategically. To do this, make a survey of the debts you have and their respective values. From there, select as many as possible to try interest rebates with the creditor on cash payments. Thus, you can pay them off and, in addition, clear your name.
If you don’t have debts, a good solution is to use this money to pay for those expenses typical of the first months of the year, such as IPTU, IPVA, children’s registration, uniform renewal, and school supplies.
In both the first and second alternatives, it is not necessary to resort to your monthly budget, leaving this amount free to pay for regular bills.
Did you like the savings tips listed here? Make them present in your daily life, to get used to these new consumption habits more quickly, control your money, and plan your expenses. It is worth remembering that nothing prevents you from extending the suggestions throughout the year, thus keeping your budget up to date.
Thanks for reading this article by ExtNext, hope you will learn something about financial saving tips.
