The coronavirus pandemic caused many households to be economically affected due to the lockdown measures, the labour restrictions, the loss of employment and the reduction in businesses sales.
For this reason, many families are looking for ways to save money daily to start this new year on the right foot. Remember that small changes count and you can start at home.
1. Limit unnecessary expenses
You should set a shopping limit to avoid buying things on impulse. You should carefully think about what you need and if it is really necessary to buy it right away or if it can wait for a little longer.
All of these extra expenses may include leisure activities like online subscriptions, expensive clothes and accessories, video games and objects with entertainment purpose.
This does not mean that you will never buy those things, but you should prioritize what is important at the moment. Also, you should know that monthly memberships are some sort of unnecessary, it is always better to pay for something at the moment you will use it.
2. Prepare your food
Eating out all the time may result expensive and that is why you should learn to cook and eat meals prepared at home. You will not only save money but you will eat healthier.
Also, if you are going to cook at home you should carefully think about the things that you will use to cook and eat. It is a terrible waste of money if you buy food for it to end up in the garbage.
This goes hand in hand with the shopping limit and with the monthly budget you need to set. If you do a list of the groceries you need to buy is less probable to spend money on food you won’t eat.
3. Reduce energy consumption
This could be difficult to comply due to teleworking but it is always possible to find ways to reduce energy consumption at least a little bit.
Decrease the use of light
What you can do is take advantage of the natural light, for example, in the morning you can open your curtains and let the sun illuminate your day. In this way, you can avoid turning on the lights during the majority of the day.
On the other hand, you need to turn off the lights when you are not home or you are not using them. Also, you can buy LED lights for your home because they are low consumption and they can make a difference when it comes to saving energy.
Acquire energy-efficient appliances
Buy energy-efficient appliances that will make you save money in the long run. To do this, it is ideal to know how to choose an energy-efficient air conditioner, refrigerator, kitchen, washing and drying machine and in general all the appliances that you use at home.
On the other hand, if you are not ready to change your appliances and they are not energy-efficient there are several things that you can do.
Unplug your appliances when you are not using them because they will still use energy, also try to perform regular maintenance for them to work properly and do not use more energy than usual.
4. Enjoy free activities
If you think about it there must be several recreational and educational free activities in your town.
If you feel exhausted from a hard week and you want to go out you need to keep in mind those events like free tours in historical places, trails, recreational activities in the park, among others.
Also, if you don’t feel like going out you can do something fun at home. For example, watch a movie at home or playing board games.
5. Avoid acquiring new debts
If you already have debts don’t use your credit card. You should try to pay your debts first so the interest does not accumulate. Also, to avoid acquiring new debts think about the things that you want to buy, if you can’t afford them without a credit card then don’t buy them.
Furthermore, you should limit the number of cards you have if you can’t use them responsibly.
Remember that everything is better with a budget. With a monthly budget, you can track where your money goes and you will know exactly what expenses to cut down if you need to do so. Also, you can calculate how much you can save to put some money into your savings account.
6. Set saving goals
One of the best ways to save money is to set a goal. You should start thinking about your future and what are you going to save for. For example, if you want to go on vacations or if you want to buy your own house.
In this way, you should establish short-term and long-term goals.
For short-term goals, there are some things you could think about like an emergency fund, vacations or specific payment you have to make shortly. Those savings are planned for 1 to 3 years.
On the other hand, long-term goals are, for example, payments to buy a house or a remodelling project, education or even retirement.
