Do you want to start saving? Get on the train! To achieve this, you must avoid certain errors that not only do not help, but also cause the opposite effect: they impoverish. In short, this is what you don’t have to do with your money if you want to save.
If you want to save this is what you don’t have to do
• Not controlling your daily expenses
Notice that we are not talking about monthly expenses, but daily. You must learn to control how your money goes from day to day . If at the beginning of the week you took 60 dollars from the ATM, why on Wednesday you only have 15 left? Any expense, however small it may seem, adds up and is significant. Not controlling daily expenses will prevent you from saving at the end of the month.
• Do not give importance to ant expenses
Related to the previous point, if you don’t control ant expenses , you will never be able to meet your savings goals. The orange juice at mid-morning at the bar, the pack of cigarettes, the parking in the blue zone … If you add up all your ant expenses for a month, you may put your hands on your head.
• Live beyond your means
If you earn 1,200 dollars a month, you cannot follow the same lifestyle as your colleague who earns 2,000. It is a very common mistake to try to live a rhythm of life above what our checking account allows us. Stop and think about the following: if throughout a month you spend everything you earn, you live only a payroll of destitution.
• Go into debt to indulge yourself
If you don’t have 1,000 dollars to buy a new TV, going into debt to indulge yourself is not the solution . Paying it with a credit card, for example, the interest could make the TV cost you double. Wouldn’t it be better to save first and buy the TV later?
• Eat several times a week away from home
Even opting for menus, eating out is quite expensive, as well as unhealthy . Okay, from time to time you indulge yourself, but don’t make it a regular thing, and even less if it’s lunch during your work break. Take a tupperware to the office and start saving.
• Change your smartphone every year
You don’t need to have the latest model of the next- generation smartphone that has just hit the market. And, of course, you don’t need to change your mobile every two years. The smartphone that you have right now in your pocket should last at least four years. If you change it sooner, you are throwing the money away.
• Do not compare the rates of the services that you have contracted at home
You can start by reviewing the electricity rate and continue with that of fiber optics or mobile telephony. Review the rates of all your services periodically and look for the cheapest
alternatives. Make life a bit more complicated by comparing rates online and you will save a lot of money at the end of the year. Do the same with insurance.
• Don’t do a weekly shopping list
If you want to see how the money disappears from your hands, do not make a weekly shopping list and go to the supermarket two, three and even four times a week. On the contrary, if you want to save, make a weekly shopping list and go shopping only one day a week . Do not buy more but not less.
• Not having an emergency fund
When you save, you always have to first create an emergency fund, that is, a piggy bank with a certain amount of money (that at least covers your expenses for a quarter). This money must be blocked in a savings account and ready to use in an emergency.
• Not setting specific goals
Sit back and contemplate life and do not set short, medium- and long-term financial goals. As a result, you won’t save a penny. On the contrary, if you set goals you will sharpen your senses and you will be more motivated to save . Goals will be your guide and reminder of what you are dedicating your efforts to and what the results will be.
