From childhood they teach us the importance of saving, in case unforeseen events arise, we want to buy a house, or simply to lead a more comfortable and carefree life. Sometimes saving seems complicated, due to day-to-day expenses, salaries, or bills, but if we manage to organize ourselves we will be able to save and accommodate our domestic economy.
These are some tips to save on the family economy:
1.) Review invoices. Sometimes for convenience, or because we have had the same contracts for many years, we do not review the invoices of the companies that we have contracted and that provide us with basic supplies. Today there are a large number of companies that adapt the rates to the needs of each household. If, for example, we are away from home all day, we can hire a cheaper electricity rate at night, when we take the opportunity to put the washing machine or cook. The same thing happens with telephone companies. Have we contracted the rate that suits us best? Adjusting the type of contract to the real needs can save us a lot of money. We can go to price comparators, design a table with the available offer and compare it with what we have contracted, in this way we will obtain an estimate of what is best for us to contract for each supply.
2.) Weekly shopping. The fewer times we go to make the purchase, the more we will save. It is proven that every time we go to the supermarket we buy more things than we need. We can make a weekly planning with the lunches and dinners that we are going to make and buy accordingly. Eating homemade dishes, whether at home or at the office, is always healthier, especially cheaper. If we organize ourselves well, we can do a weekly shopping, and avoid having lunch or dinner out, unless it is a social event. Good eating habits, in addition to being healthy, can save us a lot of money. Eating healthy is cheaper than we think and will provide us with better numbers at the end of the month.
3.) Savings plan. We have to ask ourselves some questions, do I have a savings plan? Do I really know what I’m spending the money on? There are many people who have trouble saving and do not know where they are spending their money. To avoid this, we can make a savings plan that involves quantifying our fixed expenses: mortgage, rent, electricity, water, telephone, car, etc., and our income. Once we have made that calculation, we will know how much money we have and how much we can save. Times have changed and habits have changed, that is why it is important to set a goal and have a reason not to spend money, since saving is complicated in these times.
4.) Find discount checks. Many times we buy on impulse. We like something, we think we need it and we buy it with almost no price comparison or discounting. Today there are many ways to save. Since the sales periods were completely liberalized in 2012, businesses launch discounts every two or three months, to promote some of their products, or simply to activate sales. We can look for these discounts when buying, and we will save a percentage of the final price of the article. We can also look for discount vouchers for restaurants, trips or even to do the weekly shopping. Most businesses use their right to promote their products to attract the public. Let’s take advantage of that circumstance and look for the best price, we can save up to 30% of the usual outlay.
5.) Invest. If it costs us to save, because we always find ways to spend it, we can invest it. To do this, we must be well advised and know what we are doing. We can check with our bank and compare the different possibilities. A good investment can multiply our savings. Of course, you have to do it with your head.
6.) Avoid superfluous and unnecessary expenses. It is not about living in the most absolute austerity, or analyzing our expenses penny by penny, but we can control what we spend, and even more so when they are unnecessary expenses. For example: if we like movies and series, we can hire the services of a streaming platform, but it is not necessary to associate with all of them, we do not have real time to cover all the content they offer us and we will save a fixed money per month. We can apply this formula to the rest of our expenses and avoid those that are suppressible.
Saving is complicated when we do not have an established habit and when our day to day is full of stimuli to consume and to spend money. For this reason, good customs and eating habits, account control and price comparison are some of the keys to cleaning up our family economy tuition and achieving savings once and for all.