The idea of following money-saving guides is a straightforward one. However, the difficulty comes in applying a general plan to your own life, which is naturally going to come with its own specificities that make the plan harder to follow.
Therefore, it might be more practical to apply certain techniques when you’re trying to save money rather than more detailed guides. While it might be an approach that gives you less overall guidance, the flexibility might be something that you ultimately find too valuable to ignore.
Learn to Say No to Plans
This is one of the most difficult aspects of saving money, and a more complex one than it seems at first. Of course, if your friends invite you to go out and do something with them, it’s not just that you find it difficult to say no. You will likely want to go out and have fun. The idea of getting FOMO isn’t an appealing one, and stopping yourself from having fun just to save money might be something that takes a toll on your mental health. It might just be about learning to say no to plans occasionally and enjoying your own company at those times instead. Or, alternatively, you might find that if you do go out with your friends, you don’t have to spend money on the same things as them – if they’re getting a big meal or drinks out, you might just get something smaller to save money.
Finding Money at Home
The familiar joy of finding money in an old jacket pocket feels like an elusive one – something that only happens once in a blue moon. Still, if you look around your home, you might find that you have a lot of belongings that you don’t use anymore and can be sold instead.
The risk here is that you might start to sell things that you still need just to get more money, which can be more detrimental than anything else. You have to be realistic about what to sell and relatively firm in what you no longer need. Once you have identified which items you no longer need, you can get a shipping service quote at shiply.com to get a sense of how you can get these items where they need to go.
Simple Weekend Treats
At the end of a long working week, it’s a familiar feeling to want to treat yourself. Some people might do this by going out with their friends as mentioned before, but if you’re going out for a meal or for drinks regularly, the costs can begin to add up. Therefore, you might look to get into the habit of more low-key weekend treats that you can look forward to. Having a couple of drinks at home with a movie and some friends can be much more affordable, or you might think of having a meal that’s easy to make and more of a treat than what you might have been eating in the week, like burgers or a burrito.