The Best Tried and True Ways to Save Money

Everyone who has tried knows; saving money is hard. The popularity of payday loans in Saskatchewan is because saving is really hard for some. However, putting money away is a challenge you will have to face, this is because saving money translates to financial freedom.

Long term, it’s being able to purchase a new car when your engine dies, it’s becoming a homeowner—and one day, being able to retire without worries. But even short-term, saving money pays off. There are many reasons why you need to save. As an individual, you may need to plan for an upcoming trip with your friends. As a parent, you may need money to build a college fund for your child.

The question is, how do you start saving? People have different financial orientations, which determine their approach to money. Besides, the pandemic has also caused a significant rise in the cost of living, making many people wonder if the BC's minimum wage is useful. This simply means that there are currently many people with poor saving culture. However, saving can be easier. You don’t need to be a financial genius or have a lot of money in the bank to learn how to save!

There are many tried and true ways to start saving money without making huge, stressful sacrifices. In the sections below, we’ll walk you through the best ways to start saving money:

Prep for Success: Start Using A Budget

Budgeting is a time-honoured tradition in the world of saving. While this may be a conventional strategy, creating a budget is effective. Detailing your spending and mapping a little bit of structure around it helps you understand how much money is coming in and how much is going out.

The trick is to set up a budget system that balances your financial situation and your preferences. Here are some of the most popular budgeting methods:

The 50/20/30 Rule

The 50/20/30 rule is straightforward enough for budgeting newbies to dive right into. As long as you can split your income into percentages, you’ll be able to tackle this one. Here’s how it works:

• Fifty percent of your paycheck goes to the things you need to survive. This includes your mortgage, rent, groceries, and electricity. This also includes smaller expenses like internet and your phone bill.
• Twenty percent goes to debt and savings. You can split this further into credit card payments, loan payments and savings money.
• Thirty percent is considered as personal expenses. This includes going out to a restaurant, seeing movies and spending nights out with friends.

People subscribe to the 50/20/30 rule because it’s easy, straightforward and customizable.

Pro tip: Suppose you have a lot of debt, or want to fast-track your savings, you can consider allocating 10-20 percent to your personal expense. You can then change your debt and savings to 30-40 percent instead.

Download Budgeting Apps

Budgeting apps are everywhere, and there are plenty of paid and free options to choose from. For example, Mint is free and offers syncing to bank accounts, credit cards, and savings accounts so that you can get a real-time look at all of your accounts in one place.

Apps like Mint also provide graphs, reports, and push notifications to keep you in the loop. If you like to have a complete view of your finances in the palm of your hand, a budgeting app is a great idea.

Trim Excess Fat: Cut Down on Extra Spending

Learning how to save money often means finding opportunities to spend less. It isn’t always easy to see where you can be saving money, especially if you are living from paycheque to paycheque.

Don’t feel intimidated. There are tons of changes that you can make to your spending habits to start making it easier to save money. Many of them are simple and can be incorporated immediately. Here are 15 great ones:

1. Choose generic brands instead of popular brands for cleaning products, paper products, and basic grocery staples.
2. Try out a secondhand shop the next time you buy clothes instead of paying full price. This is also good financial advice for small business owners who are only just starting out. You can greatly cut costs by purchasing second-hand equipment for your start-up business.
3. Cut back on dining out and cook meals at home instead. A $100 restaurant tab could easily buy a week’s worth of dinners.
4. Save on your heating bill by layering up. Think of it as a great excuse to spend cozy nights in
5. Bike or walk to work instead of driving or taking public transportation.
6. Minimize your streaming subscriptions. Netflix, HBO, Spotify, Pandora and more could be sitting on tons of money that should go into your savings.
7. Temporarily downgrade your mobile data plan or your internet speed to free up some extra cash.
8. Shop around for another car insurance plan, home internet plan or phone plan to see if you can get a better deal.
9. Turn off your lights when you aren’t using them. Not only will you preserve your lightbulbs, but you’ll also see reduced charges in your monthly electric bill.
10. Challenge yourself to have one “no spend” day each week, where you don’t spend any money.
11. Save on your energy bill by opening your windows in the warmer weather instead of using the air conditioning.
12. Opt for free events in your community for your next weekend outing with friends.
13. Make coffee at home instead of splurging for that $5 latte for your morning commute.
14. Trade your gym membership for good old-fashioned walking, running, hiking, or biking outside.
15. Consolidate your loans to save on high-interest rates. You can also take out a short-term loan to pay off multiple debts in one shot.

While many of these tips revolve around cutting down on your spending dollars, you can’t avoid spending altogether. However, you can make sure you are always getting the best deal.

Make Saving Easy: Use An Automated Savings Account

Saving money is hard, so you need to make it easier. One way to do this is to save using an automated process. Automated saving helps you grow your money with minimal effort on your part.

A popular method of automating your savings is to set up your bank account to automatically transfer a fixed sum of money each week from your checking account into your savings account. $5 each week is a good start. You can increase this amount over time. Some banks even offer savings programs that set aside $1 each time you swipe your card. This can add up to a substantial amount at the end of the month. You can take your money out at any time. For instance, if you suddenly have to prepare for someone's funeral, you will need all the money you can get. However, there may be a small fixed breaking fee for this.

There are also apps like Acorns, which round up every debit card purchase and use the spare change to make small investments. If you wish to save even more, you can adjust this feature. It’s a great way to start saving. Each debit is so unsubstantial that you won’t even realize that it’s missing from your checking account.

Another way to automate your savings is by using an account designed to grow your money over the long term. For example, making contributions to a 401(k) will help you prepare for retirement. Employers can also make contributions to this fund.

Conclusion

Saving can be quite daunting for anyone who’s just starting out. However, they are very useful. While you may choose to take cash advances in cases of emergency, nothing beats having your own money. Besides, interest rates can be competitive, despite the Alberta Legislation. The tips above are very practical ways of imbibing the saving culture. However, it is a good idea to know the importance of investment as this can help you double your savings over time.

If you’re struggling to save due to overdue bills, you might want to consider taking out an online payday loan to level the playing field on your debt. Find out what makes My Canada Payday one of the top payday lenders in the country by calling (604-630-4783) or emailing (getpaid@mycanadapayday.com) our industry-leading support team!