When it comes to saving money, you are probably either good or bad at it. Most people struggle to save unless they consistently have a high salary and low outgoing costs. You can make some small lifestyle changes to start budgeting, and you will start to feel like your money isn’t slipping away. Whether you’re saving for something big or you just want a bit of money behind you, budgeting will become easier if you follow these simple budget tips.
Meal plan and create a food budget
Food is something we need to buy, and it can start getting expensive if we don’t plan meals and just grab odd bits and bobs in the closest supermarket. Plan your shopping trips to cheaper supermarkets and buy a week’s worth of food with which you can make some decent meals. If you go to the supermarket the same day of the week, it will be easier to track your eating and spending, for example, schedule in your diary a food shop every Sunday.
Riding a bike instead of driving or using public transport
Riding a bike is a great way to stay fit, let alone save money. You will feel better for exercising and if you can manage to use a bike instead of public transport you will definitely save money in the long run. Investing in the bike will be expensive, so it might be worth using a payday loan from a direct lender if you’re out of money before payday. Investing will be worth it in the long run as from month to month you will be saving on transport costs. However, if you live very far away, you won’t be able to use a bike for the whole journey, but you could still use it for half or a quarter of the way. Your decision on getting a bike will also come down to the seasons and weather.
If you can’t use a bike and need to drive or use public transport, you can look for deals that knock off money. There are options for monthly discounted bus or train passes, and if you are a loyal traveler, you might be eligible for some other offers. It’s always worth checking. Some people need a car as they have children and a long distance to travel to work, but there are ways to make driving and petrol cheaper, you can look into getting a gas tank fitted, this is expensive at first, but in the long run you will save lots of money on petrol.
Use a bank card that has a money management function
If you can manage to swap to a bank that has a money manager function or set up an extra account with this feature, you will be winning. Budgeting will become easier as you can set out amounts for each sector of your life, for example, entertainment, travel, food, and other basic needs. Having an application on your phone that’s connected to your bank card can be useful as you will get pinged every time you spend money.
There are different ways to start saving money by following these budget tips. Once you have started, you will start to get the hang of it. Controlling your spending is a positive change to make, and it will feel worth it when you see how much you have in the bank at the end of the month by following our budget tips.
Featured Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
