Spending money is easy; saving money, on the other hand, takes some practice. While it isn’t impossible, there are ways to help you save money for bigfinancial goals, like buying a new car or home, going on your dream holiday or funding your studies.
In this post, we share 3 simple ways to get you started on saving money for the goals you have when it comes to your finances.
1. Manage your current spending habits
Take a good look at what your expenses are, and the way you are currently spending your money. You might discover that you are spending money on items that you don’t need or could live without.
If so, try cutting down on these unnecessary expenses and get into the habit of tracking your spending habits. Use a journal or an expense-tracking app to help you keep a record of your spending so you can manage it better. Once you have figures for your spending, categorise them under groceries, utility bills, rent or bond etc, and write out the total amounts for each. Make sure you use any card and bank statements so that you can account for all of your expenses.
2. Scale back to save more
One way to save more money is to scale back on certain expenses, like going out for dinner or subscriptions that you don’t need anymore. Scaling back means you’ll have extra money to put into a savings account and, over time, the additional money you have can go towards one of your financial goals.
Look for ways to reduce your fixed monthly expenses, like car insurance. We recently partnered withMiWay Blinkwhere our customers could earn up to 50% of their car insurance paid back into their bank account monthly.
You can take it one step further and commit to scaling back by participating in a “No Spend” month, where you only purchase the essentials you need and don’t spend any money on non-essentials. The money you saved can now go towards that dream holiday!
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3. Set goals for your savings
When you’re looking to save money for a big financial goal, you want to think about what you are actually saving for because this will influence how much money you need to save – for short term or long term goals that you may have.
- Common short-term goals (one to two years):Emergency fund, rent, travel, credit card repayments, wedding, home improvements, or deposit for a car.
- Common long-term goals (three years onwards):Deposit for a home purchase, paying off a bond, retirement fund, starting a business, or your child’s education.
Once you’ve set your financial goals, you can start prioritising where your savings should go. For example, if you plan on travelling abroad during the December holiday, you can already start putting money away now into a savings account and set aside a monthly amount to save. Remember to think about your long-term goals as well, and to make sure that you are allocating your savings towards these goals too.
Save today; your goals will thank you!
Saving money for your big financial goals isn’t impossible but it will require discipline. If you know what your financial goals are, take the time to set aside money consistently to help you reach them.
Keep an eye on your spending habits, and scale when you need to get your finances back on track and aligned to your goals. Hopefully, this post will encourage you to start saving money today, because your financial goals really will thank you in the future.
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