Saving money is a task that may seem difficult, but it is essential to ensure good financial health. With a little planning and effort, you can save a good amount of money every month.
However, many people get lost when it comes to starting to save. They don't know where to start, or they think it's impossible to save money with the budget they have.
In this article, I will share some tips that can help you save more money. These tips are simple and effective, and can be followed by anyone, regardless of their income.
Over time, you will be able to achieve your financial goals and ensure good financial health in the future.
Set your goals
The first step to saving money is to set your goals. What do you want to achieve with your savings? Do you want to buy a house, a car, travel? Having a clear goal will help you stay motivated and focused.
To develop your goals you must follow some guidelines, which you will see below, however, understand this concept, for each objective you have, establish a separate goal and a source of income to achieve your objective.
Be specific. Don't just say you want to save money. Be specific about how much you want to save and when you want to save. For example, you can say that you want to save R$10,000 in one year to buy a car, but you must evaluate whether you can save this amount through your income.
Each goal you have must have a different fund, each with an income earmarked for this purpose. For example, I have some types of funds that I use: I reserve 1% of my income for financial investments, I divide it into three types of investments (Treasury, Shares and Real Estate Funds), I invest around a long-term quota in the IPCA Treasury with Interest Semiannual for 15 years; and I have three bills that I divide the rest of what I can save: house maintenance, family travel and studies.
Be realistic. Don't set goals that are impossible to achieve. If you have a low income, don't try to save $10,000 in one month. Start with a smaller goal and gradually increase it.
Make a schedule. Set a deadline for reaching your goal. This will help you stay on track.
Create a system in your home where you and your wife can have control over every penny that comes in and goes out of your account each month. If you live alone, have this control to track your expenses.
Write down your goals. When you write down your goals, you make them more real and concrete.
Review your goals regularly. As your circumstances change, you may need to adjust your goals.
Setting goals is an essential step to saving money. When you have a clear goal, you are more likely to achieve your financial goals.
Make a budget
A budget is an essential tool for tracking your income and expenses. With a budget, you can see where your money is going and identify areas where you can cut spending.
Track your income and expenses for a month. This will give you an idea of how much money you earn and spend. To do this, you can use the Google spreadsheet and share it with your family so that everyone can add receipts and expenses. Or you can use an application for this.
Sort your expenses into categories. This will help you see where your money is going.
Set a spending limit for each category. This will help you stay within budget.
Review your budget regularly. As your circumstances change, you may need to adjust your budget.
There are many apps and online tools that can help you budget. You can also create your own budget in a spreadsheet or notebook.
Be realistic when setting your spending limits. Don't try to cut too many expenses at once. Start with small adjustments and gradually increase them.
Be flexible. Sometimes you will have to spend more than planned. Don't worry, just get back to your budget as quickly as possible.
Reward yourself. When you reach a budget goal, reward yourself with something you enjoy. This will help you stay motivated.
Budgeting can be a challenging task, but it's one of the best ways to save money. When you know where your money is going, you can make more informed decisions about how to spend it.
For example, you should keep in mind how much you spend on fixed expenses.
This type of expense is one that recurs every month or year, such as: IPTU, IPVA, Licensing, Rent, Financing, Water, Electricity, internet...
Another type of expenses are variables. In general, when I need to cut expenses I go for this type of expense. They are the other expenses we have in the month, but they are not part of a fixed month-to-month forecast, such as: eating out, leisure, sporadic shopping, grocery expenses, gasoline.
Write all this down in some form and monitor your financial situation, as it will help you create your budget.
Cut unnecessary expenses
Once you've made a budget, you can start to identify unnecessary expenses. This can include things like:
Subscriptions to services you don't use: Many people subscribe to services they don't use, such as streaming services, membership clubs, or gyms. For example, if you have Netflix, it is not necessary to have HBO and vice versa. Instead of having multiple subscriptions, look for alternatives such as reading a little more instead of watching television. Swap going out to eat for spending an afternoon in the park. Instead of walking around the mall, choose to do physical activity on the street, in the open air.
Meals out: Meals out can be expensive. If you want to save money, try cooking more at home. To do this, make a weekly menu and follow it strictly. You can opt for easy, cheap and delicious foods such as pasta carbonara, grilled chicken or fish, a variety of vegetables and salads.
Impulsive purchases: can be a huge waste of money. Before buying something, think about whether you really need it. My technique is to put it in the cart for two weeks, if I still need it after that I buy it, but if I see that it is superfluous I give up.
Analyze your budget. See where you are spending the most money.
Make a list of your expenses. This will help you visualize where your money is going.
Review your consumption habits. Think about how you can reduce your expenses without losing comfort or quality of life.
Make a shopping list before going to the supermarket. This will help you avoid buying unnecessary things.
Buy sale items. Keep an eye out for promotions and offers to save money on your purchases.
Buy used items. You can find quality items for much lower prices at secondhand stores or online.
Cutting out unnecessary expenses is a great way to save money quickly. When you reduce your spending, you have more money to save or spend on things you truly value. But to do this you will need to talk to the whole family and draw up a plan that involves all of them so that you can police yourself.
Increase your income, have multiple sources of income
If you can't cut enough expenses to meet your goals, you can try to increase your income. This can be done by looking for an extra job, reselling items you no longer use, or investing your money.
Here are some tips to increase your revenue:
Look for an extra job. If you have time available, you can look for an extra job to increase your income. You can work as a freelancer in buffets or cafeterias; other options are to open a MEI and register with Ifood to sell simple foods via delivery when you have time; you can also provide services or look for websites that hire people for small projects.
Resell items you no longer use. You can make money by reselling items you no longer use, such as clothes, electronics or furniture.
Look for a part-time or temporary job.
Offer your services as a freelancer.
Give private lessons or tutoring.
Sell items online or at a thrift store.
Invest in shares, investment funds or real estate (this will not give an immediate return, but may be interesting for retirement).
Increasing your income can be a great way to save money quickly. When you have more money available, you can save more or spend it on things you truly value.
Be patient
Saving money takes time and effort. Don't give up if you don't see immediate results. Keep following your goals and over time you will achieve your goals.
Saving money can be a challenging task, but it is also one of the most rewarding. When you save money, you are investing in your future. You are preparing yourself for unforeseen events, to achieve your financial goals and to live a more comfortable life.
With patience and effort, you can reach your savings goals.
How I do it at home:
I talked to the whole family, created a form of real-time control in which each member enters expenses at the time of purchase and knows exactly how much is in the couple's account. This prevents one from spending more money than is available for the month;
Every end and beginning of the month we sit down and plan the month, if there are any extraordinary expenses we check the best way to make the payment. If the discount is good, we pay in cash, if it is not so advantageous, we choose to pay in installments via card.
We avoid using the card for purchases in installments as much as possible, the rule is to pay in cash, this prevents our income from being consumed by card expenses.
I try to have more income options in addition to the main service, this helps to save money.
Our priority was to create the family's emergency fund, initially it is equivalent to six months of our main income together, from then on we expand aiming to reach one year's salary as an emergency fund.
We force an investment of 1% per month calculated on our income. These investments go into a tripod: Treasury, Shares and Real Estate Funds. This is our rule: Received, first I pay myself, then I pay off the obligations and make the investments.
We avoid ordering food or going out to eat, instead, we prefer to make the menu for the week and shop using a shopping list. We planned our leisure activities in terms of going out to eat during the month.
Bills that will make a difference in our budget we communicate with each other and establish a payment method, we plan together.
We hold a family meeting to close the balance sheet for the month and to define the expenses and income for the following month.
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