Consumptive behavior risks draining your income and financial condition. As a result, this impulsive attitude has the potential to erode savings. For that, proper saving tips need to be a concern.
The development of the world economy continues to experience growth. However, the Covid-19 pandemic that has occurred in the last 2 years has triggered a recession or decline in the country’s economy, including in several other countries.
Saving tips can be a solution for people who have consumptive behavior . Moreover, the Indonesian people are also known to be consumptive, as can be seen from their active shopping interest in retail and online stores.
Not infrequently, online shopping is also triggered by impulsivity, which is a condition when someone gets the urge to take action without thinking about the consequences first. This attitude makes people often shop just because they want and like the goods, not because they need or know the benefits.
In addition, a consumptive lifestyle is also a factor that makes a person wasteful. Although the income is not equivalent to a lifestyle, most people remain loyal to the products of their choice, such as gadgets and care. Such a lifestyle makes many people no longer have funds to save.
Meanwhile, saving is an important activity to do to set aside reserves in case something unexpected happens. Savings can also be used to buy certain necessities or saved as an emergency fund. Conversely, if you don’t save, you have the potential to have wasteful habits and get into debt.
Simple Ways to Save Money
Here are saving tips that you can try to avoid a wasteful and impulsive lifestyle.
Set a Saving Goal
The first saving tip is to determine your savings goals. Do you want to use your savings to set aside reserve funds or do you want to buy certain items that can’t be bought right away?
Make sure your goals are clear and don’t overlap with other goals. If necessary, you can make several savings at once.
Determine the Time Limit and the Amount of Savings Funds
The next saving tip is to determine the time limit and the amount you want to save. For example, you want to buy a new book for $35, then set a time limit for saving according to your ability. Don’t forget to balance it with your daily needs.
Create a Budget and Manage Finances
The third saving tip is to make a budget. A budget is an allocation of funds based on your needs. For example, in one month you need to set aside funds for transportation, food, and saving. From a month’s income of $100, separate your funds as follows:
Transportation fee: $30
Meal fund: IDR $50
Savings fund: $20
So, the principle is to calculate primary and daily needs first, then set aside funds for saving. This is also included in simple financial management that you can apply yourself at home.
Take Advantage of Financial Recording Applications
The fourth saving tip is to record financial transactions. If you are a forgetful person, record every transaction and don’t miss anything. This can be used for evaluation, as well as tracking your financial track record.
You can record transactions using conventional accounting books. However, if you find it too complicated, there are many financial recording applications that can be downloaded on the Play Store and App Store.
Use a Separate Account
The fifth quick saving tip is to use a different account. You can separate between a special savings account and an account for daily needs. That way, you don’t have to worry about calculating how much remaining funds you can use outside of savings funds.
Reverse Saving Date
The next quick saving tip is to save on the reverse date. The concept is to save for a whole month with a nominal that is reversed every day.
For example, there are 30 days in a month. You can practice this method by saving $30 on the 1st. Then, you save another $29 on the 2nd, and so on until you reach the 30th and only need to save $1.
By using these saving tips, you can get $465 in a month.
Limiting and Reducing Secondary and Tertiary Expenses
The next saving tip is to limit spending. Apart from budgeting, you also need to limit unnecessary or impulsive expenses. For example, if you still have mineral water at home, you don’t have to buy coffee every day.
Decide How to Shop
The eighth quick saving tip is how to shop. Frugality is the key. Determine how you shop, such as finding and comparing the cheapest items to meet your needs, not over-shopping, and using discounts or voucher codes that can usually be used at certain stores.
Don’t Go Into Debt
Debt is a smart way to bury your financial health. Therefore, save so that you have spare funds that can be used at any time. Choose the debt option if it is really urgent. Also make sure to be able to repay the debt in the future.
Prioritize Paying Off Debt
Debt can mess up your finances, it can even destroy plans for the future. Therefore, prioritize some of your income to pay off debt.
In fact, paying off debt should be a top priority over buying even a promising asset. Paying off debt aims to keep future financial plans from being disrupted.
If you have debt, from now on identify what debt you have, then make a repayment plan.
For example, if you have more than one debt installment, you can pay off the debt with the highest interest first. In order to pay off debt faster, you can look for a side job or sell assets.
It’s important to remember, don’t forget to set a reminder so you can pay on time and avoid fines.
Limit Money in Digital Wallet
The next saving tip is to limit the amount of money stored in digital wallets. Because, with the ease of transacting in digital wallets, you risk making yourself forget yourself and potentially wasteful.
Bring Enough Cash and Avoid Credit Cards
Someone often overspends their money because they see a lot of cash in their wallet. Not only cash, debit cards and credit cards also make it easy for someone to be tempted to spend existing funds.
Moreover, credit cards often offer 0% installment promos so that the card owner does not hesitate to swipe it. Unfortunately, this attitude actually risks making you bite your finger, because the money runs out and credit card bills explode.
For that, make it a habit to carry enough money in your wallet and leave your debit or credit card at home.
This will help you avoid the temptation to buy things you don’t need. Moreover, if you go to places that risk making you crazy, such as shopping centers.
Join Social Gathering
Joining an arisan is one of the most effective saving tips. Through social gathering, you will be ‘forced’ to set aside money every month, as if you were saving.
Apart from being a means of saving, you can also take advantage of the social gathering to learn how to manage your finances. Moreover, if there is an arisan friend who is an entrepreneur, you can also learn business.
Buy Asset Items
If you have enough money in your savings, consider buying items of high selling value. You can buy houses or land in strategic locations, gold, or other jewelry.
Not only that, you can also buy collectibles, such as lego, comic books, diecast or antiques that are still in good condition.
Make no mistake, the resale value of these items is also high. There are those whose selling prices soar up to 3 times or even 10 times in 2-3 years.
Take Advantage of Term Savings
So that you are not tempted to withdraw money from your savings, try to open a term savings account. This savings product will make you save regularly until the time you specify.
Before opening a term savings account, think about the maturity date that suits your financial condition. Generally, these savings have a minimum maturity of 6 months and a maximum of 300 months, depending on the bank you choose.
However, it should also be noted that if you withdraw your term savings funds before the targeted period, you may be subject to a penalty.
Save Internet Data Plan and Take Advantage of WiFi
The next saving tip is to save your internet quota, by buying less data packages than usual. Buy a reasonable quota, and take advantage of the existing WIFI. For example, to update or download applications to upload photos on social media. It’s trivial, but this method can save you more money every month.
Bring Food
Another surefire way to save is to reduce expenses, including stomach problems. It’s not that you can’t eat, but that you can eat less outside, which tends to cost you a lot more.
The cost you may spend for lunch ranges from $3 to $8 for one meal. Especially if you work overtime, you have to spend extra money to buy food in the afternoon.
Suppose, in a day you spend $5 to buy food. This means that in one month you will spend around $5 x 22 working days, which is $110. The solution, you can bring lunch to the office for lunch and also a snack in the afternoon. That way, expenses for eating can be reduced and they are not tempted to snack.