Financial Planning: Save Money By Preparing and Analyzing A List Of Expenses

With the advent of shopping malls, the accessibility and affordability of technology, the rising costs associated with health care, servicing of loans, and the effect of rising inflation, it has become very difficult for one to spend less and save money for future use.

Current statistics indicate that there is a considerable decline, in percentage terms, on each bank account holder’s savings and also that there has been an increase in the average number of withdrawals per month, leaving people with little money to spend before the next salary credit hits their respective bank accounts.

Coupled with this statistic is the fact that retail outlets marketing a wide range of consumer products have reported a significant increase in the their respective sales revenue, thereby indicating that the age of consumerism is truly alive and kicking!

While these facts and a host of temptations are a commonplace scenario in the real world, there are many ways by which you can keep yourself from being sucked into the hype and in the process assist you in creating and developing your personal and unique habit of saving a few bucks from your monthly salary income. The following are some of the measures that you might find useful to adopt:-

Ø Avoid Compulsive Buying– Given enough money, 7 out of 10 people are easily tempted into buying a personal item they get attracted to in a store at a first glance.

In a simulated sociological study, people who originally planned on merely window-shopping ended up buying personal items in cases where they had their credit cards with them.

If you are doing window-shopping, limit your spending to a few bucks and try making your list the next time you plan on buying such items. Buy only the store items you need and abandon those that do not satisfy an immediate need.

Ø Budgeting – Along with your objective of saving money, it is also important to keep an organized and effective, yet reasonable budgeting technique. Budgeting helps to eliminate impulsive buying that would tend to build up during trips to the shopping mall, thereby enabling you to save money which you would otherwise have spent on items that are not really necessary. Shopping according to a list which is drawn up beforehand will certainly help in this saving process.

Ø Performing Price Comparison– The World Wide Web provides a great avenue for obtaining a checklist of prices on specific items that you plan on buying.

This will work very well for you if you are into bulk buying and plan on conducting your shopping activity in one place. This process will give you a good idea if the usual store from where you usually get all your everyday household needs actually offers you a reasonable price for specific products.

Ø Take All the Convenience At Home – Lunch, snacks, and major meals are something which you can prepare at home. If you are serious on saving money, you can prepare all this from home and get away with some amenities of the gut by replacing soda with water. This is not only beneficial to your pocket but does a great deal for your health as well.