The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn has forced many to change their financial plans. Thus, money-saving can be prudent to survive the pandemic fiscally. It can no longer be an afterthought and identifying various ways to manage expenses can help you avoid a crisis. Generally, the hardest part is getting started, and this guide can help you develop a simple strategy to create a strong lifetime foundation for money management.
Importance Of Saving Money
Understanding how to save money each month requires you to learn the importance of managing expenses and saving money. A few of them include:
- Managing expenses can help in saving for big purchases like a car, a house, or a vacation.
- One of the best money-saving tips is to manage expenses to create an emergency fund which can be extremely useful during Covid for health emergencies or in case of a layoff.
- Saving money can help fund retirement through the right investments and will help in growing even a small amount of savings into a bigger amount due to the rate of return.
- Being in control of your finances assures long-term security and gives you peace of mind as you are not constantly worried about being able to pay the bills.
- Saving money can lead to financial freedom and independence allowing you to pursue your dream career, continue your education, or start a new business.
- How to save money for kids involves making investments in long term financial instruments that can be left as a legacy for your children’s future.
Smart Strategies To Save Money And Manage Expenses
Money-saving tips and strategies are indispensable when grasping at best practices for expense management. Here are eight essential ways to save money during an epidemic. Know more about some effective ways to manage your budget here.
1. Review Company’s Expense Policy
If you are learning how to save money from salary during the pandemic is to review the company’s expense policy. Certain companies offer money to set up home offices and expense certain other spendings undertaken by employees for work. This can help you in reducing your expenses and charge your company for them.
2. Review Insurance Schemes
Buying or upgrading insurance for you and your family might be a worthy investment that will help on how to save money for the future. Review with your financial advisor regarding your health and life insurance policies for better options. If you are buying a new policy, choose policies that are personalized to your needs. By investing in insurance, you can save major money trouble in case of a health emergency.
3. Cutback On Spending
There are many ways on how to save money each month by reviewing your monthly subscriptions being the fastest. One can forget to cancel automatically recurring monthly bills. You can choose to either cancel your subscription or change your plan to be better suited for your needs. Choose to make your own meals at home instead of ordering a takeaway. Small cuts in expenses across different categories can make a significant dent in your budget.
4. Avoid Unnecessary Shopping
During the lockdown, a lot of people being bored turned to retail therapy. By avoiding unwanted shopping one can directly learn how to save money. Instead, spend your time taking up new hobbies like gardening or painting. By avoiding shopping you can make a serious dent in your budget and save more money.
5. Invest In The Stock Market
Investing in the stock market can be part of counterintuitive money-saving ideas. Check for the companies that are valuable but are trading for lower prices and buying them can help in increasing the investment. Investments can also be part of your plan on how to save money for kids as this can create a fund for their education or marriage. There are many new apps to invest online in stocks, mutual funds, and other financial instruments that make the process convenient. Know all about the many different investment options in the market here.
6. Use Discount/Coupons
Lastly, using discounts or coupons can be a way on how to save money from salary. Many major grocery chains offer digital coupons on their respective apps. Download your local grocer’s app to take a look prior to hitting up the grocery store. Even bulk purchases of groceries can lead to big discounts and save on monthly expenses while at the same time help you stock up if a lockdown situation arises again. Shopping at the Red Dot Shop here with its stream of deals and discounts can help you save a lot of lot.
5 Expense Tracker Apps To Help Save Money
One of the easiest ways to save money is to use expense tracker apps as a way to manage expenses. We have compiled a list of apps that can be used to track expenses. Learn more about the mobile apps here that make this faster and convenient.
1. Walnut
Walnut is one of the top-rated expense tracker apps for money saving. It helps to automatically and securely track your monthly expenses. This app helps to find out how much you spend on food, shopping, groceries and how much you are saving a month. This way, at the end of the month, you’ll know your major sources of expenses. It also checks and integrates with wallets, bank accounts, and credit cards for up-to-date information, thus helping you understand where you can save money.
2. Money Manager
The best way to save money is using Money Manager for beginners with its bright colours and makes tracking interesting. You can choose to enter data manually if you prefer privacy or sync with various third-party companies options provided by the app. Its main advantages are that it’s simple to use, and gives an overall view of all income and spending, with multiple sub-categories of expenses. It has both a free version and a paid one and is available on both Android and iOS.
3. Wallet
Wallet is a daily expenses app that gives you quick and easy money-saving ideas and includes both free and paid features. It allows you to bring all your different accounts into one place, automate tracking your spending by connecting your bank account including HDFC, SBI, ICICI, and Axis, as well as accounts like Amazon Pay. It records your income and expenses, and further lets you allot money for your goals, keep a track of your debts. You can also set a budget for shopping lists so that you don’t go overboard and give you a detailed analytical understanding of your spending habits.
4. You Need A Budget (YNAB)
YNAB is a popular tracking app available both for mobile and desktop. This app can teach you how to save money for the future. YNAB has a budget section that helps you to plan your spending ahead of time, thus reducing the chance of overspending. One major downside of this app is that all transactions have to be entered manually in case of accounts outside of either the US or Canada. It is a paid app with a 34-day free trial version and is recommended for someone who wants detailed analysis and budget tracking options.
5. Monefy
Monefy provides a very easy experience due to its simple interface and navigation features. With 15 categories of expenses, 3 income options, and colourful pie chart options, money-saving with this app becomes a piece of cake. It has both free and premium versions available and also provides different time frames from daily to yearly to gain a deep understanding of your spending patterns.
Key Takeaways
The best way to save money involves keeping track of expenses through expense tracker apps and saving money that can come in handy during emergencies.
- Identify financial assets and liabilities to reduce spending and reallocate expenses
- Figuring out how to save money from salary involves knowing tax-saving investments that can help increase funds
- Keep track of all your expenses, that includes every coffee, household item and cash expenses
- Money-saving tips can help but expense management also requires you to plan your savings and expenses to know if you are crossing the spending limits
- Setting up automatic bank transfers can make the process of how to save money simple and effortless
If you are looking for the basic principles on ways to save money this is a great place to begin your journey. Maintaining discipline to your savings habit even during a lockdown will keep you financially fit. Understanding how to save money may even inspire you to find more ways to save and hit your goals faster.
