Ways to live within your means
Today we are inviting you to test your level of creativity by finding new ways to live within your means and save more. Here are a few tips from us.
1. Kill pride and laziness and make a budget. As boring as it appears, planning what to spend your money on and tracking what you do spend will help you to cut away spending habits which cause money to disappear. Also, don’t be ashamed to live in a studio apartment and rely on Uber instead of buying a car, if that gives you more room to save for assets on which you have your eyes.
2. Be banking fee and interest rate shy: Use only the amount of credit that you can pay back in one month, before the billing date on your credit card. In this way you will save thousands in fees which can be used for something better, like the deposit on a new investment property.
3. More money: Find a second job or additional income so you can save and invest more towards asset acquisition and spending goals. Get skilled in a new area and work evenings or nights. Offer to take on a new project at work for extra pay. If you want to vacation in Dubai, Abuja or Paris once every three years, or buy an investment property every five years, it would help if you found ways to increase your income.
4. Get a cheaper car: Depending on what delights you more — having more in savings or profiling in a Benz you may want to consider spending less on car insurance and car-related expenses. Choose a strong but cheap car and service it on a timely basis. Keep your tank filled too, to spend less on fuel.
Save a cash cushion: Save three months of expenses so that in an emergency you can use this instead of borrowing. Failure to have an emergency fund will lead you to borrowing when emergencies come up and they always do. Borrowing for emergencies is an expensive habit when you could have saved the price of that new car battery in two months.
5. avoid hire purchase: You will likely spend three to four times the cost price of products. This might mean washing your clothes in the laundry sink for one year before you purchase that new washing machine. But it’s better than being locked into a two or three-year plan that eats your cash, literally.
6. Moving house is an option: If your mortgage is preventing you from saving and investing towards other future goals, rent out all or part of the property until you have paid off the mortgage. There is nothing wrong with moving back to a relative’s home for a short period in order to pay off that mortgage faster.
7. Bulk shopping is a good strategy: Buy supplies, such as food that you need on a monthly basis, in bulk so that you will spend less. In addition to the wholesale price, the less often you go shopping for food, the less likely you will be tempted to add chocolate and other delights to your shopping list.
8. Buy basic insurance to cover property, health and life: We are not saying you should pay $50,000 monthly out of pocket just because you are afraid of disaster, just find an insurance package that offers protection from life’s major risks and disasters.
9. Find cheap or inexpensive ways to enjoy life and reduce your entertainment budget: Take nature walks. Go to visit relatives in rural areas some weekends. For daily diversion, getting a Netflix (movies) subscription or navigating your way through Youtube is less expensive than doing parties ever so often (even a party of two), for which you might need to spend more.
10. avoid boredom which can lead to impulsive or compulsive behaviour which can cost you. Build networks of friends through church, work or social clubs. Offering your time and services free is a cost free way of finding happiness for yourself and making others forget their sorrows.
11. add variety to your life in harmless ways. Replace harmful habits. Develop a taste for water and lightly salted cucumbers instead of alcohol and chocolate. Get lots of rest. Sleeping when you are tired is an excellent way to maintain health and get rejuvenated. Many mistakes are made when individuals are exhausted and their judgement is impaired.