How to Save More Money

i used to spend all my money without knowing where it went. then i started keeping a spending journal. i note down every single expenditure i made for two years. i go through my expenses every month and take note of those unnecessary ones. this also help me make up a budget. this way, i am able to know how much i need to survive in a month. when i receive my salary, i'll put aside a fixed amount into a savings account and just spend the rest. i don't have an ATM card to the savings account so i won't feel tempted to spend that money. cheers ;p

I've tried this money saving tip I heard from a seminar I attended last year. The speaker suggested that every time I receive my paycheck, I should set aside a certain amount (e.g. 10% of my income) and keep it in another bank account and as much as I can I should never touch it. In that way, you adjust your spending to what's left after you deducted an X amount. That really worked for me. Somehow, it 'forced' me to spend less and be wiser when it comes to managing my finances. You would also want to get a notebook and list down every single expense you acquire everyday. At first, it's a little troublesome but through time when it becomes a part of your system it greatly help you in managing your money. If you write everything down, you would be able to assess on which areas do you tend to overspend. Happy mylotting and saving! Good luck!

I think many people would be amazed at how they spend their money if they were to spend a couple of weeks documenting each and every purchase they make! The first thing we have to do when wanting to improve our finances is understand where we are spending and then determine what is actually necessary or not. Many small purchases for example may seem insignificant and not be noticed at the time at all; yet they do add up very quickly. The key is to understand spending habits and then plan budgets accordingly. Then the major challenge comes in STICKING to the plan! There is nothing more gratifying than seeing a small effort on discipline translate into positive balances in a short period of time. Personally I account for each and every dollar I get paid each month so I know exactly what amount is available for what area etc. It has made a tremendous difference to my finances by doing this and it has not been difficult at all. For example, set yourself an amount for treats and STICK to this amount no matter what. If you use it all up before the next paycheck then silly you! lol. You will soon start to learn to space out your purchases this way for fear of running out! Good luck with it all and believe me, small and disciplined changes WILL make a solid difference very quickly. Many people believe that having more money fixes money issues; but it doesn't! A change in financial behaviours fixes money problems.

Hello Syd! Nice discussion and very informative. I confess that I am also bad in terms of saving way back when I was still single. :) Now, that I have a family, I make sure that I jot down all the expenses that we have in a monthly basis and all the income that we get in a monthly basis as well, I find it easier to budget when I have a list to follow... have a geat day!

My husband and I just came to a similar realization and have started to use the envelope system, meaning that you take out in cash certain amounts of money for certain things. For example you put $200 cash in the food envelope and when it is empty you have spent all of the money. You don't go get more out of the atm. It causes you to think carefully about what you are purchasing and it helps you to keep much better track of where your money is going. I also have cash envelopes for doctor/prescriptions, household items (shampoo, dogfood, tooth paste, etc.), clothes, entertainment, and gas. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is so refreshing to know exactly how much money you have to spend in these aspects of your life. We pay our utilities and mortgage and everything out of the account, but we pay everything we can with cash. It is fabulous!

I have a tips for you to save money. 1. Know your WANTS and NEEDS. WANTS means, those thing that you want but not really necessary, for example an IPOD? can u live without it? As for NEEDS means thing that u really need, like things u cant live without like car (it can be NEED or WANTS) depends where u lived, energy, fuels, food , insurances etc. Instead buying for what u want, why not save the money and keep it or put in the bank. 2. Have Force Saving. Always remember everytime you receive ur salary, always set aside atleast 10% of it, dont spend it. It will be your payment for yourself. Before you pay everything, Pay yourself first! 3. Say NO to Credit Cards. If you have credit cards use it wisely. Use it if you have the money. If you dont have the money, dont use it.

well, for me it is really simple... i don't buy things that i don't need... i differentiate between needs and wants and i don't buy things simply because i want it... and i try to do budgeting as well to cut down my expenses... that really helps me a lot... good luck... take care and have a nice day...

[i]Hi Sydney, I guess you need to list down the breakdown of your expenses every payday like every 15 and 30 what are the bills and necessary things you need to pay and buy and also from each payday, allocate amount for recreation and savings and you have to track it down to monitor if you were able to follow it! In our case, we need to minimize our eat out so that we can save and also from simple things around the house like soap, tissue etc, we are very conscious about it![/i]

Hello,hazelton! I always cut short my expenditures and save as much as 30% of my income arbitrarily to meet expenditure during emergencies and to make some assets like purchase of home or purchasing a bike or a car.Unless you save money how can you meet expenditure on these items.thanx.

If you're really determined to save more money, there are alot of ways to be able to do that. Cut back on your spending. Only buy the things that you need or are necessary. Dont shop for things that you dont really need. Every pay day, try to save at least 10% of your salary and put it in your savings account. Dont use your credit card too much. Better yet, dont use your credit card anymore. The interest is just way too much. You can also save on electricity by turning off light and appliances which you dont need.

Well I myself don't really know how so save more money because I spend to much and I know that it is now really a good thing but one thing that I know how to save more money is to minimize buyings things that you really don't need.Budgeting is another one too.It will help you earn more money if you have a proper plan on how to budget your money.:-0 I hope this helps a little..:-0 God bless and have a nice day..:-0

Hi there,I made a post on my blog entitled 100+ Effective Ways for Family Members to Save Money, but I think it is not appropriate if I put all of them here. But anyway, here are some of them that you can do quickly and easily. 1.0 Make a strict budget and stick with it. Discipline your self. 2.0 Save time in everything you do. The time you save can be spend to earn more money. 3.0 Coins are heavy on the pocket, so keep them at home and let them grow. 4.0 Identify your NEEDS and separate them from WANTS. They are the two kinds of things inside your house. 5.0 Unsubscribe to your favorite magazine. Not all issues are useful. 6.0 Don't buy discounted good items that you really don't need. 7.0 Shop on line. Prices are usually lower since managing a warehouse is more costly than an on line store. 8.0 Don't join membership with fees that you cannot maximize, like gym membership. Walking is free exercise. 9.0 Don't shop clothes during their peak season. Jackets are cheaper during summer. 10.0 Buy wash and wear clothes, and ironing will be lesser. Again, these are only among the 100+ money saving tips that you can find on my blog, on my profile. Please feel free to check the sidebar - My Favorite Family Tips where you can find the link to the said post. Hope that helps. Good luck!

hey dear, well, the only thing i do is to never bring lots of money while doing shopping, coz i know myself; if i bring lots of money with me, i'll end up buying for un-necessary stuff which unwanted for the time being... these days i'm staying at home for a while coz i just graduated from a university last month.. so, i'm planning to do some writings before starting with my master within 2 months from now...although i'm still struggling in finding great sites that pay for writing and stuff...it would be very helpful Hazelton if you know any great sites that pay! Smiley,

There are several ways to try an beat the current recession. I know at the moment I try and put by a comfortable amount of money every month in a savings account...it's not alot but it does add up and the oppotunity of earning interest on this also helps. With the current banking crisis you may also find some banks or financial services will be offering very good rates of interest in order to help enitce new savers/customers with them. I only save £50 a month into a high interest rate account of about 7.5% which soon adds up every year. Cutting back on the amount of shopping you do or switching services providers could also be beneficial. I know that in our household instead of buying brand names we tend to buy a lot more shops own brand products now...many of which are just as good as the main brands. Of course some aren't and in certain circumstances we do slip and purchase the better quality items. If your really serious about helping yourself during the recession and cutting back I suggest you take a look at the moneysavingexpert website as this provides oodles of really helpful information. It also ahs a forum which although I am not registered I regularly use to find new ways of boosting my income. People on there seem very friendly and eager to help anyone. In addition to this you can sign up for a newsletter which I think is sent our fortnightly to your email address and is jam packed with extra information and very oftend includes ways to eat out cheaply with two for one offers etc.

You need to cut down the amount on personal spending. 500$ seems a lot on money for personal needs. By personal items, I guess money for your own needs. Make a spending plan at the begining of the month and stick to it. It will help to limit the spending. As you are not working that amount is being cut from you already saved amount in bank. You can cook food at home, reduce spending on cosmetics and creams if you spend too much. Try some cheaper brands than the costly ones. You can wait for the festive season to buy clothing than to buy whenever you are in need. You can use public transport instead of driving own car and carry your own water bottle from home when you go outdoors. So you save on drinks! Use a saving box for home. Put every 5 dollar note you get in your wallet. If you get 2 such notes a week, you save about 40 dollars a month. Not much but any amount helps in recession.

Hello SydneyHazelton, Saving is really hard especially if you have a lot of wants. I believe you should set your goal which is your priority - to save or to spend. As for my experience, I used to do your style also but I realize that I should change my style so I can have a better future with my family. So I did this formula: Income less Savings = Expenses. It's really effective for me. Everytime I have an increase to my salary, my savings will increase too. I'm not bringing my credit card always to control my expenses. I'm only bringing it if it's time to buy groceries, gasoline and the likes. Try it, it might work for you too. Good luck.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! That's one long list of things. I have a pit of a can't save problem myself but not as much as $700.00 a month. I have rent, kids, myself, food etc.... So i have to try my utmost best to save as much as I can Take it one step at a time and you will get there. Best of Luck

the best way ii see to save your money is to first have a budget and try a little discipline to keep it at least reasonably

I think it is very good of you to check on your spending. All and all, it displays a certain ability to self-review and self-correct, if needed. It is hard, however, to cut back on personal spending if you get used to being able to have a certain degree of freedom with your checkbook. I know of a friend who is going from $300 a month living expense to well over $1000 as he finally buys a house, actually a condo, and moves out on his own. He will have to look over his personal spending and make cuts. However, there is also a nice side effect to spending a bit on personal expenses each month. It is built-in 'fudge factor' in your finances. Much like a tithe, if you give up a certain amount of your money each month, then you have 'fat' to trim when times are tight. Of course, saving money for when times are tight seems like a good idea, too. Even the built in days off on the Weekend can be helpful in a similar vein by giving you spare "time" to employ when needed. I don't think living life to the Spartan edge of frugality is necessarily a wise choice for most people. Too stressful, I think.

I find that if I can control impulse buying, you know that bargan you just can't pass up, I can keep to the budget. And keeping to the written budget is very important now. Keep trying.