3 Effective and Practical Ways of Saving Money

I'm fond of reading 101 Lists of Doing Things, but I am in no way a fan of making them so here's an attempt to give my practical tips on how to save your money -- in 3 simple steps!

101 Lists of Doing Things or Self-Help Tips are usually quite too long that I'm afraid my readers would get bored before they'd reach the last item in the list so I'd stick to 3 Effective Ways of Saving Money as they're quite easier to remember than the 101 Things. Just like how it was easy to identify the 3 Sure Ways to Make Money with Your Blog.

1. Identify and Categorize

Identify the commodities that you need to spend your money on. I won't preach about budgeting but similar set of laws apply. Only fresher and much easier to implement.
I would need you to name the basic things that you need to pay monthly. The list would include but not limited to the following:

a. House Rental (if you have your own house then proceed to the next item)

b. Utility Bills (Electricity, Water, Internet, Telephone)

c. Food (I prefer buying weekly stock of our food because I feel it is much easier to budget that way)

(You might have noticed that I didn't include other things like payment for your loans because I expect you to have clean accounts upon your choice to save some money. I didn't want you to take away your money from your necessities just to save though. I would definitely discourage you doing so. If you want to save some money, do not compromise it with paying your outstanding accounts. Take away extra money only. 

Also, it should encourage you to earn more and spend lesser. As you can see, I identified the basic needs and forget about the unlimited wants)

Once you identified what your basic needs are, categorize them and get envelopes of the same number. If you have 5 basic needs then corresponding 5 envelopes should be made. This is where the magic of saving will work, only if you will hold on to it.

Label each envelope with the identified needs. For example, label the envelope 1 with Utility Bills. The next envelope with Tuition Fees, the next for Food and so on. After labeling each envelope, place the amount of money that you are willing. No, cut that. Place the amount of money that you SHOULD spend for the said need. Once you've done that, proceed to the next envelope and place the amount of money that you SHOULD spend until all the envelopes are properly filled with the amount of money. Make sure you have an envelope for "Savings".

Now, use only the specific amount of money filled in the specific envelope and do not. I mean NEVER. And I meant NEVER to open the other just to fill the needs of the other. Practice discipline as it can always be tempting to open the other once the "need" arises. 

2. Belt Up

It's a British English expression for "Shut up!".

I couldn't think of better way to express the Tagalog expression of "maghigpit ng sinturon" but to simply put it belt up. Let me explain its various other meaning for the sake of this discussion.

a. Shut Up.

When a person has a lot of friends, he would tend to impress them and treat them or "make libre". I would discourage you doing this if you want to save money. Of course it is alright to treat them from time to time, but please, not ALL THE TIME. I didn't encourage you to un-friend or disassociate yourself from them because after all, money is just commodity while true friends are much harder to earn and find. So don't brag too much. Live simply and prudently. Don't be the "takbuhan ng lahat" or the financer of  the gang. Always being one will get you nowhere near your goal of saving money.

b. Get a Belt

Establish a budget. (Oh how I hate to do it but it's something that we must all do in order to place allocate specific amount of your earnings to your needs). 

Let me tell you a practical application of this principle.

Last Saturday me and my mom went to SM Delgado together with my friend, Carol Ann Constantino, after arriving from our ward activity in Oton, Iloilo. I never knew there was a 3-Day Sale then so we were quite excited to see the prices went down to up to 50% off the original price. 

Don't get too excited during these times though as you might end up opening the other envelopes just for the shopping spree. 

Think about the basic needs that you can buy on lower or sale prices instead. Use this as an opportunity to purchase fire shot priced items but don't overspend on a specific product just because it's on sale.

I purchased a bra girdle/body shaper/corset (I gave up on figuring what it's really called but you get the point), it controls the waist and gives volume to the breast then gives a woman a much more confident feeling but the bottom line is, it controls.

It's originally priced, P527.00 but I got it on sale and they slashed the price for up to 50%.

When I was on the fitting room, I thought I was crazy for even trying to fit it. Look, I have an average body and I felt like an idiot trying to wear or fit in an undergarment that would normally fit in kids!

I persevered and just when I was about ti give up, voila! It zipped and I definitely look, oh well, better.

The lesson?

Sometimes saving may be physically excruciating. You have to fit in a budget or a size which you normally don't. But as you keep trying, keep to the budget you've just set, just like the undergarment body shaper (yeah! I actually made it up by combining all the terms that comes to mind), you will fill better as you fit in and will have a much sexier figure (yes as your savings account doubles up instead of your expenditures). It sure feels better to be physically fit (in this case financially sound, as you try to save and get lean).

3. Get a Job, or a Second Job

I couldn't imagine anyone reading this right now to be able to implement all the tips unless he has an income. Well maybe if you are like Paris Hilton that has  bazillion of inheritance then you could. But oh well let's be realistic. Everybody needs a job and in order to save some money, you need to have an ample source of it. 

If you don't have one, get one. 

If you already have one, get another one.

I'm serious, in order to save, you need to double up your income. How can one try to save when all of his money could be completely eaten up by all his expenses or like most people I know, their salaries would be automatically allocated or expected to pay for their Avon, Natasha, Sophie or any other "sa-sweldo-lang-bayad-utang".

The most uncomfortable place to live is beyond your means.

Until you decide to cut down your expenses and earn more, you will have lesser chances of saving some money.

It may be difficult to decide now but it would be much more difficult to decide tomorrow (when all your money will be allocated in paying all your loans). Start with getting a job, identifying your needs and prioritizing it over your wants and belt up.

I'm sure anyone can do that because I was able to do so considering that my monthly salary wouldn't even net in Php10,000 (oh blame it to the taxes!). I opened an account with a thrift bank starting at Php100 and faithfully and constantly filled it with my extra cash very week or every month.

Trust me, I was able to save enough money to pay for the down payment for our rent-to-own house in Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo. 

Saving may be a little difficult at first but there's nothing too extreme in a willing mind and heart.

Condition yourself to live prudently and you will see that you can save some money.

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