Vanessa
Since the first month of 2021 is coming to a close in a heartbeat, it’s time for us to share five more tips on how to easily save money in 2021. In Part 1 of this series, which you can find here, we focused on options that help you to save money in a pretty short span of time. To conclude our Top 10 tips, here are our Top 5 options on how to save money in the long term:
#1 Use a Coin Jar
Maybe it’s old- fashioned but you can trust your Fuzz team. The moment your purse is heavy from all the coins you carry around, do two things:
Sort through it and put aside all the coins which are under 1£. It might take a while, but you will see progress.
However, if you need a goal to save towards, try it this way: every time you want to head to Starbucks or Costa Coffee, you put the amount you’d spend on your drink into the coin jar. If you think of buying some nicknacks which you’d buy just because you saw it and thought ‘I want this’, put the money into the jar. Whatever ‘it’ is, you’ll still be able to buy it later on.
After about 3 months: Count the money, pack it up and deposit it in your bank account.
#2 The 50-30-20 method
The 50-30-20 method might sound complicated, but it’s very easy to get into it.
Step1: Know how much you earn per month. Depending on your kind of job, you might or might not always earn the same exact amount of money on monthly basis. So, your 50-30-20 method might need to be adjusted from time to time. As you may have guessed, you split it into three parts:
Your needs – 50 %
Rent, Insurance, monthly spendings which must be paid.
Your wants – 30 %
The money you ‘allow’ yourself to spend on yourself – shopping, new books to add to your TBR-pile, small or larger things you really want.
Savings – 20 %
The 20 % you have ‘left’ you should set aside for the things you might want or need to pay for in the future. The financial cushion you can fall back onto in case of emergencies or the moment you decide to invest money in your dream flat or house one day.
#3 Write down your spending
Nothing helps you more to keep an eye on your money and where it goes than writing down your spendings by hand. You might already be using an accounting app, but making a list of things also gives you the chance to judge if you are spending your money wisely, or if you might have to cut down some of the spendings because they are just not needed as often as you do them.
#4 Open a separate bank account
Another suggestion to save money is: Open a separate bank account. If you have the financial stability of earning a set monthly income and you would like to set aside a certain amount of money for your spare time spendings, this might be an option to consider. Every time you want to go shopping, use your credit card if you need to get some cash.
Losing focus on how much you spend is very easy so limit yourself: set up a monthly standing order. Like that, you will immediately set aside a bit of money for your spare time activities and as we don’t always shop around just the same, you will also have some money, in case bigger plans are coming up.
#5 Follow a yearly saving plan
Now, this one is a bit of a challenge. You’ll find different kinds of saving plans on Pinterest, which give you examples on how to easily save a certain amount of money over a month or year. If a yearly saving plan is not the right thing for you, choose a vacation or an event you want to save money for and check to see, if you find the right plan online, or set one up yourself. To give you an idea, here are some examples:
Which are your top tips on how to save money in the long term? Please get in touch @Fuzzable and share them with us, as we are always excited to add new suggestions and ideas to our list.
