Saving Tips

• Draw Up A Budget. Review the past few months of your account statements and categorize your spending. Create categories such as groceries, entertainment, PHCN bills, dining out, pharmacy, food and automobile expenses. This helps you understand where your money is going and identify the places you can stop the leakage.
• Look for areas in the budget that can be reduced. Limit dining out by cooking more at home. Reduce utility expenses by rate shopping or asking for bundled services. Remove excess services from cell phones, cable plans, and other such expenses.
• Review your new budget at the end of the month to see if the reductions helped you to save towards your goals. Reassess if any areas need to be increased or if more reductions can be made. Remember to move all money recovered as a result of your spending reduction to a specific savings vehicle that will ensure you are working towards your goal savings goals.
• Try to earn more money to add to your savings. Ask for overtime or extra shifts at your job if possible for more pay. Establish a small business on the side. Look for more ways to earn extra cash besides your 9-5, but remember to place all this money directly into savings to avoid splurging!
• Save for One Goal at a Time. It’s much easier to focus on one goal with as much force as possible, than to spread yourself out over multiple goals. You won’t always have only one savings goal, but if you can phase them out and put timelines to each, it would be better to do so.
• Push Yourself to Reach it Quicker. By determining how long you’d like to take to reach the goal, you’ve given yourself a maximum amount of time necessary. Aim to hit it quicker by adding any bonuses, gifts, and raises you get.
• Make it Part of Your Spending Routine. If you’re at the supermarket or out at the mall, think about what you’re spending money on: could you get something cheaper (or not at all) and put the difference toward your savings.

These tips are not magic spells. They require dedication & commitment and over a period of time it becomes a lifestyle. In no time, It would no longer be a task to save for that goal!

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