Daily spending can add up over time if you’re not careful but there are ways to save on most things if you’re willing to put in the effort.
Here are the 5 things that can help you save everyday by cutting them out or reducing on them:
- Television Time
The television in most homes comes on when the sun rises and is on the whole day for 366 days. One big way to save money is to drastically cut down on the amount of television you watch. There are a lot of financial benefits to this but one prominent one is a lower electricity bill.
Remember you can also cancel the satellite bouquet with channels you don’t watch. Many people with satellite TV services often pay for a premium packages but are they worth it? Review your package.
- Cooking Time
Some people do not like eating leftovers: they want to cook every meal every day. However, this demands time and electricity. You can save yourself both by cooking twice as much food (especially stews and beans) and putting what you do not eat in the freezer. Then, on any busy day before you go out you can grab one of those ready-made stews and let it defrost in the fridge. Or just heat it up when you get home.
- Shopping Centres ( esp. after work )
Shopping centres might be the convenient way to shop these days but they can also be packed with temptation. This is why you should avoid shopping and grocery centres when you do not need anything. The convenience and fast nature of things in these centres mean that you will be tempted to have a quick snack or drink before you get home and justify spending the money by saying you just want to wind down from a stressful day at work.
- Entertainment
Going out once a week all year is not a requirement to be an adult. The adult thing to do is to stay in with your family or closest friends. Host a ‘bring a dish’ or ‘bring a bottle’ dinner with your friends. Play games you enjoyed when you were younger or watch some movies. This will be much, much cheaper and the same goes for the children especially young ones-what they want most of all is to spend time with you and not more plastic stuff.
- Buying on Credit
If you have a regular person coming through your area with goods on credit get up and leave or tell them you are busy. Impulse buying will be unavoidable if you let them near you. If you cannot avoid them, use the 10-second rule especially for clothes.
The rule is that whenever you pick up an item stop for 10 seconds and ask yourself why you’re buying it and whether you actually need to. If you can’t answer this, put the item back.
For clothes-go through everything that you have at home, especially the clothes you are saving for ‘someday’ and wear them now and do not wait for ‘someday!’