• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Budgeting / Debt Relief
  • Home / Health / Auto
  • Credit Cards & Scores
  • Tax Tips
  • Kids / Students & Money
  • More
    • Electronics & Gadgets
    • Health & Beauty
    • Hobbies & Crafts
    • Home & Garden
    • Jobs & Money
    • Outdoor Fun
    • Travel

Personal Finance Guide

Real People. Real Experiences. Real Helpful.

a Fun Times Guide site

Home » Jobs & Money » Budgeting Tips & Debt Relief » 2 Simple Tricks To Save More Money!

2 Simple Tricks To Save More Money!

Pin
Share
Tweet

Some articles on this site contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to yourself.


how-to-save-more-moneyYou know you need to save. Retirement, college, and emergencies. Vacations, holidays, or a house. The list is endless.

But at the end of the month, you just never seem to have anything left to save.

One way to bump up what you have left at the end of the month is to control your inner shopaholic, and put an end to impulse spending once and for all.

We’ve all been there. A trip to the store for something we need and suddenly – there it is!! The perfect dealy, doo- hickey, thingamabob that we’ve wanted all our natural lives (even though we may not have realized it until just this second) and it only costs…. well, you know.

So we buy it. And we love it. For a little while anyway. Until we don’t have the money for a real need – like a car repair – or we realize that there still isn’t any money in the retirement account. Then the guilt sets in.

What to do? Well, here are a couple of quick and easy (no, really – they are easy) ways to control the shopaholic that lives inside us all.

 

#1 – Break it Down

This is my husband’s favorite trick. Calculate how long you have to work to earn the money to buy the object of your desire, then re-evaluate how badly you still want the item.

Here’s how: Start with your hourly wage. If you are salaried, your hourly wage is your annual salary divided by 2080 hours. Reduce that hourly wage by 30% – ’cause the tax man gets his share first, right? Now that you have your true hourly wage, divide the cost of your precious item by that number. That’s how many hours you have to work to buy your heart’s desire.

For example, lets say you make $12.00 an hour. After taking away the taxes, your true hourly wage is $8.40 ($12.00 * 70%). Now, assume you want the most fabulous handbag you have ever seen in your entire life (humor me guys, you don’t really have to buy a handbag!) and it only costs $100. You will have to work 11.9 hours to pay for the purse ($100 / $8.40=11.9). In other words, you will have to work a day and a half to buy the purse. Do you still want it? Whether you do or not, you now have a better idea of the cost of the bag, and what you are sacrificing to get it. Personally, I’m waiting for a sale!!

 

#2 – Delay Gratification

Yes, that’s right. Trick #2 is simply – wait. Just tell yourself that the doohickey will still be at the store tomorrow, or next week, or when you get your bonus. Tell yourself you will buy it then and just walk away.

Then tomorrow, next week, or when you get your bonus, if you still must have the thingamajig, go get it. But, I warn you, you probably won’t be as smitten with it after time has passed. In fact, you probably will have decided that you really don’t need/want it as badly as you thought. Truth be told, you probably will have forgotten about it altogether!

Now, it goes without saying that the gobs of money you save when you control your impulse spending needs to be put into a savings account. So when you decide against the $100 purse, and buy the $25 one instead, put the $75 into your savings account and watch your money grow. Before you know it, you will be making positive strides towards your goals.

Sandy
Sandy

I’ve done bookkeeping and accounting work for most of my adult life.

Pin
Share
Tweet

Filed Under: Budgeting Tips & Debt Relief, Jobs & Money Tagged With: frugal tips

Primary Sidebar

About Us

LynnetteWith input from Financial Advisors, (a Tax Accountant and an Investment Manager), I share helpful tips regarding money and finances -- including debt relief, insurance, budgeting, and investing for retirement. My goal is to help you save more, spend less, and invest for the future by sharing honest, tried & true budgeting tips and tools. When I'm not saving for the future and helping others save for theirs, you can find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites).

Lynnette: View My Blog Posts

AndreaI have been a certified tightwad striving for financial freedom since I became pregnant with my first child -- and I decided to find a way to stay home with him full-time. I enjoy sharing my personal experiences in my journey back to financial health and planning for a future -- which will include sending 2 kids to college and early retirement.

Andrea: View My Blog Posts

Top Searches

auto insurance bankruptcy banks books car buying charities childcare Christmas clothing and shoes college consignment and thrift stores credit cards and gift cards credit rating death and dying debt relief frugal tips gas and car costs gifts grocery shopping health insurance home buying homeowners insurance identity theft investments jobs life insurance loans monthly bills and utilities office items and housewares online shopping organizing tips phone restaurants retirement saving money selling things senior living Spousal issues stocks student loans and financial aid tax credits and deductions Taxes 101 tax updates today's economy traffic tickets

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Fun Times Guide logo
Shop Our Favorite Items

Copyright © 2004-2021 The Fun Times Guide | Privacy Policy | About | Contact | Sitemap