How to save money and invest in yourself in 2024

5 mins reading

Introduction

Now how to save money? This is the most asked question you will ever encounter in your life because a lot of activities and purchases that you make will require money to live such as food, petrol, clothes and shelter. We all depend on money to allow us to survive in the 21st century era and there is nothing that doesn’t require money except for free donations.

Pay Yourself First

The “Pay Yourself First” method is the most effective method which can be known as the saving method. This means that when you first receive your pay cheque or monthly wage you would dedicate 10% of the months wage and deposit this into a separate savings account with the highest interest rate. By doing this, you would only have 90% of your wage to use and the little 10% is being saved and stored in a little piggy bank waiting for you to return so that you can reward yourself down the line.

Hopefully when you had saved enough money by putting 10% of your wage every month you can reward yourself by either going on holiday or buying a car or even go for a training course to develop your skills. The reward is limitless because you had been self disciplined to set 10% of your money and finally when it comes to fruition you are able to treat yourself. Obviously you can modify this and apply 5%, 15% or 20% to be saved up. But that is going to depend on your circumstances for example if you have kids or commitments that you cannot save as much as you would like. Getting a good habit of saving is a good start to saving.

Don’t spend worthless junk or “Keeping up with the Joneses”

This is true for anyone especially myself because I would also buy things without thinking or justifying it. We are all human and we all have “wants” – it’s a feeling not being able to obtain it that causes jealous and envy in our hearts to want it. However as you mature and grow older you will realise that there are more things to life than a brand new TV or the most up-to-date PS5 to play with your mates. If you track your spending you will be surprise when you look at the receipt in 1 months time and ask yourself “Why did I even buy this?”

We have all been there and you need to have control in yourself to think logically. Do I really need it? Will I use it again? Ask yourself these questions continuously and hopefully you can decide for yourself whether the purchase is justifiable or not. Because if you want the thing you want and don’t use it. It will ultimately become clutter and will end up eventually being thrown in the bin. Why buy it if this will eventually be in the bin? It’s a waste and waste for the environment.

Budget

Budgeting is a really useful tool for keeping track of your spending. By setting fixed amounts this allows you to be creative with your spending and utilise things more efficiently for example plan your meals for the week, freeze your food so that it lasts longer or wear more warm clothes in the house during the autumn period. You can either record it in an A5 notebook or in a spreadsheet in your phone. Whichever is easiest for you and keep this new habit. At the end of the month go through each spending and list each item as a category: Food, Fuel, Clothing, Bills, Luxury Expense, Sports Activities, House/Car Maintenance, Subscriptions, Paying Debt, Transport, Car Parking, Travel, Holiday, Toys… the list is endless. As long you can categorise them and see where your money is going then this will allow you to change your habits the following month.

Bulk buying

If you plan to use the same washing liquid for the forthcoming months or years why not purchase it in bulk and maximise the benefit. If you can calculate the lowest £/$ per litre then it is usually a no-brainer. Let the numbers do the talking. Obviously if you have the money and the means to do so I would highly recommend bulk buying because you will always need it like toilet paper. However if you are tight in money then you can slowly buy mini-bulk stocks until you have reach a certain stage where you are comfortable on having 2 years worth of washing liquid or toilet paper that you can access via your storage room.

Conclusion

These are many other tricks on saving money but these are what I think are the most important ones to start out with. Slowly but surely you will reach your goal and I wish everyone reading this to be successful. I wish that you will one day treat yourself to something special when you have achieved your goal. You don’t have to be frugal you can be smart in spending too!