Let’s be clear: budgeting requires a lot of discipline. At a time when subscription services are aplenty and online shopping is convenient, it can be easy to over-spend. If you’ve been over-spending in most of your budget categories, it is perhaps time to re-evaluate how you manage your finances.
Thankfully, there are plenty of budget and money hacks out there to help you better manage your personal finance. From opting to use an interest-free payment option when checking out to using a cash-only budget, you can be sure that there are a lot of creative solutions to help you save better. Here, a short curation of our favourite money hacks to have you become richer in the future. Read on to find out more.
Related: Simple ways to take control over your budget
Ditch Delivery Apps, Meal Prep Instead!
Time-starved, the convenience of having your takeaways delivered to your doorsteps is great. We don’t deny it and we definitely are guilty of splurging on a decent meal occasionally. And yet, here’s the thing: ordering food too frequently may in fact put a hole in your wallet. You may have unknowingly placed a bulk of your budget into paying for delivery fees and food with prices that have been marked up (so the restaurants can cover the cost of subscription fees).
Although that’s not the only caveat, it has been reported that the trend with millennials ordering food from delivery apps may even one day render kitchens useless (and home-cooked meals, a novelty). All of these paint a worrying picture but it could be easily resolved if you … cook your own meals!
Making a meal plan can save you a ton of money. You should consider gravitating towards buying groceries when they are on sale. For the uninitiated, it would be wise to start with simple recipes, such as making eggs or preparing pasta. Cooking can be extremely therapeutic and you should keep your options open too! Most importantly, you’d be surprised to know how much you would have saved (especially since some meal preps can be made in bulk and in advance)!
Say No To The Drinks
If you don’t have the habit of carrying your own water bottle, you might consider doing that soon. You’d be surprised that the amount of money spent on your morning joe, diet soda, and even a bottle of mineral water can add up substantially. Look to make your own coffee and carry it in your own thermal flask, or simply bring around water from your home! At restaurants, you could consider opting out of purchasing beverages too.
Embrace The 30-Day Rule
There’s a saying in shopping-speak: if after 30 days, you still want an item in your shopping cart, buy it. If not, ditch it. The rule has stopped me (and many others) from buying things on impulse (out of excitement or anger) and I am thankful for it. Of course, if you find yourself needing to purchase a big-ticket item, look for affordable payment plans, such as hoolah which offers interest-free monthly installments, to complete your purchase.
Save Five-dollars A Day For The Long Run
This is a personal favourite. Whenever I receive a pocket change of five dollars, I keep it in a separate envelope. I, then, let the money grow over the years. After a year, you are allowed to spend the money in any way you desire – whether it’s on a meal, investing, or a saving plan. There’s no hard or fast rule to saving five dollars; you can make adjustments to this!
Cash Envelopes Save Your Wallet
This is one of the best money hacks to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck. If you still have trouble managing your finances, you should consider using cash envelopes. With them, you will be allocating your monthly budget into categories (such as groceries, transport, food etc) and then placing them into envelopes. Through the use of cash envelopes, you learn to be better at managing your expenses.
At hoolah, we are advocates of financial literacy. Through this story, we hope to have empowered you better manage your personal finances! If you happen to have more budget and money hacks to share, reach us on our socials!
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