Continuous hustling and working hard for money puts us in a place where we tend to buy things at the spur of the moment or for vanity’s sake or even to sate our primordial excitement of utilizing a sale to the fullest. After having experienced more than a few “lesson-learned,” comprehensive introspection and conscious practice enabled us to put forth 3 golden rules that will ensure your wallet is not deflated when you need it the most. These simple rules can create a profoundly positive impact on the financial aspect of your life.
So, here are 3 foolproof tips that will help you save that hard-to-hold bucks and make your life easier, and anxiety-free.
Best Money Saving Rules
The 365 Method
The cheap items that you see aren’t cheap after all – Dear Alyne.
Inspired by Dear Alyne, the 365 method is in our experience the most effective everyday saving practice. The rule goes, whenever you are tempted to spend money on anything that you don’t need like that extra cup of expensive coffee, you multiply the money you spend on that coffee by 365 (days of the year) or by the number of times you tend to consume it.
5 bucks for that extra cup of coffee a day might sound trivial, but, the fact is that it costs about 150 bucks every month (5*30 days) and a monumental amount of 1825 every year. These small purchases that we tend to do every day and frequently, in truth tend to add up to a significant chunk of change when you start looking at the big picture. Just to comprehend how much of an expenditure these types of expenses can be, consider you are investing the same 150 bucks each month for a 10% interest for 10 years. That’s 1,03,376 bucks!!! Sounds impossible, but math never lies.
This simple calculation put into constant practice will save you a great of money. This same principle is when you apply to a lot of excessive comforts that we consume, like using private transport instead of using public to commute or carpool, that extra pack of snacks that you feel you absolutely got to have, the constant biriyani runs that you do that you somehow convinced yourself adds meaning to your life, and so forth.
Another great implication of this practice is that it helps people kick a lot of their addictive vices. Cigarettes, alcohol, and other intoxicants are not just harmful to you but they are expensive. They compound to mind-boggling numbers when this rule is applied. In fact, the added numbers become so significant that common sense finally takes control and convinces many people to kick the habit.
30-Day Rule
Before purchasing anything, and especially if you are planning to make a huge investment, take 30 days to reflect on the possible consequences if the purchase goes through. This reflection time ensures you dont impulsively spend, and later regret it when you need the money.
Another alternative is to select a product and wait for it to come on sale and then make the purchase. Discount chasing makes for smarter and more content purchases.
The Time-Is-Money Rule
Always, value time over money. The idea here is to calculate and break down your earnings on an hourly basis.
Before buying anything, ask yourself,
Is this worth an hour of work, 5 hours of work, 10 hours of work, or 1 week of work?
This will let you comprehend how much of the resources you are actually spending to make that money and it will help you decide if spending a certain amount of money is truly necessary or not.
Above all, never spend more than you make. Saving in these manners might seem trivial, but the secret lies in saving consistently. With consistency, your small savings accumulate and that enables you to go after things that you really matter.
In the fast-paced “YOLO” lifestyle we are currently living in, more often than not we prioritize in-the-moment things and spend all our pay in the first couple of weeks if not days following payday, and end up grumbling and regretting the expense towards the end of the month. Ironically, we never seem to understand where we make money and what we spend it on.
These rules are not to turn you into a Scrooge or a person who obsesses over money. Instead, it is meant to enable you into a person who does not regret spending, makes every purchase with no guilt or anxiety, and most importantly, a person who never has to compromise financial security to chase their passion.
We hope these simple methods help you in the tremendous way that they have helped us. If you are aware of other tricks and savings hacks, please do inform us in the comments. For more lifestyle hacks, travel trips, and anything adventure, stay tuned with us, the Twins on Toes!!
