Have you ever thought of leaving the place you used to work, stay, and survive in for the time being and go to a place for a short getaway or a relatively long vacation? Let's face it.... You did! But the first thing that came to our mind is MONEY! (Since we are so-called money minded)
please do not put yourself off from the nice vacation that you really deserve... Because everyone of us deserve a short break from work!
Well... When the income isn't going up while the economic is really bad.... there are still several ways to save up money. Online blogs and articles they provide with tons of solutions for you to save your money in a easy way, hard way, fun way etc... So I actually pin point out those I feel that is relevant and effective to share it here... and these advice can also apply to the people who simply wants to save more money for future plans!
1. Open up a separate account
Open up an account with no ATM card access so your savings will be so called "able to go in and unable to come out" until you really need it... Put all of your savings here and see it grow as you deposit the money in :) When you really need it, just pop by the bank and withdraw one lump sum that you needed!
2. Save your changes
I know... Most people hate to carry their coins around as they are very heavy... Well... since you hate to carry them around, one of the most suitable way to get rid of these coins is to throw them into a saving jar! Then you wonder, what can I do with these change??? You can exchange them into notes with coffee shop drink stalls (trust me, they need it all the time), mini marts, 7-Elevens and some supermarkets during non-peak hours.... I am sure you won't wanna get cursed and swear at when you are exchanging coin with the cashier at the front of the queue right? THEN, put them in bank, slowly build up your vacation funds... It may be small... but can at least cover up part of your vacation :) To speed up your process... you may choose to put in some notes occasionally!!
P.S. Do not deposit coins straight away as they will have some charges depends on which bank you deposit in... why waste the money while you can change the coins to notes at the shops?
3. Take up saving plans!
I personally taken up Prudential Prucash plan.... Every month they will deduct some amount from your bank account... By right, this plan is to help you save up for retirement funds... But! Every year you can take out part of your "savings" and use it for your own vacation etc... this is one of the solution for people who got no discipline to save.. If you need a agent, do drop me a comment :)
4. Making use of your last year bonuses!
If you working as a employee of a company, you will have bonuses every year... now that's the extra money you can utilised as a travel fund! Or you can combine it with your savings and go for a good holiday that you deserve after working hard on saving money :)
5. Limit your daily budget!
Limit your daily budget is also a way to save up more money.
Say, $10 per day, at the end of the day, throw in the extra balances into your saving jar, so when you have the urge to buy something not necessarily important, you will think twice before buying it, thus saves up the remaining balances at the end of the way.
6. Keep your cards at home!
Have you ever encounter this situation? When you were in the malls without intention to do any shopping for clothes, and you saw something nice in a shop, say... a beautiful dress that is on the racks... You were so attracted by it but you have no cash on hand.... You grabbed it to the cashier... and pay it with the invisible wallet (ATM card)... at the end of the day... you wonder where your money go to..
That's the problem with ATM card... you are spending your hard earned money without really knowing how much you spent.... same goes to the credit cards where you are spending future money... When the bill comes, it feels like the bomb just exploded in front of your eyes if you are unable to control your spending thru credit cards effectively...
Keep your all your cards at home and bring only cash! Like that you can control the urge to withdraw money out from your ATM or over spending thru credit cards more effectively.
7. Get your friends to join you!
To get your friends involve will also decrease the chances of you spending too much money as both of you will work hard together and will find a way to go for budget friendly gathering.
You know it's really hard to say "NO" when your friend came to invite you to go to a café and restaurants for lunch, so by making your friends involved helps to prevent that from happening... more over... you and your friends can make use of the money saved to travel together!
Set a target together, track each other's progress and point out what your friend can do better by reduce this and that... it's really fun and can improve your friendships with your friends!
8. Stop Smoking!
Let's face it smokers, what is the benefit of lighting up a cigarette?
I quote from someone I know (no offence) : "Smokers are very stupid, they spend money to buy cancer, but at the same time they are also very generous, they buy cancer and share it with everybody!!"
It is not a healthy habit, it might not necessarily make you get cancer, but it can depletes your health bit by bit and also affecting the people around you by taking in your second-hand smoke and have higher chances of getting cancer compared to you.... At the same time, you are also burning your money away!!! Especially when the tobacco and alcohol taxes are increasing... so why burn your money and health away by letting the government consume your hard earn money?? Instead, use your money saved from quitting smoking and use it to pamper yourself more :)
Hope you enjoyed reading my blog post... see you again!
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