Most of us have money worries of some kind. Around 82% of millennials owe money in some way, whether it’s student loans credit cards or a mortgage. Even if you don’t owe money, there’s always something else to think about. Things come up, and we need money to replace appliances, buy new cars or move to a new house. The kids always need money for school trips or uniforms, food is getting more expensive, and we all like to have a nice holiday from time to time. Even if you consider yourself to be sensible with money and in a good financial position, there’s retirement to think about. Say you earn $45000 a year and live comfortably, take away state benefits and pensions and there could be a shortfall of around $20000 a year. That might mean that you need to save over $5000000 before you can retire and live comfortably. That’s a lot of money. Have you thought about where it’s going to come from?
The harsh truth is that many of us worry about money without ever actually doing anything about it. We know that we should be saving more, but when the cost of living is so high, we just assume that there is nothing that we can do about it and give up.
This isn’t true. There is plenty that you can do to save money, without affecting your quality of life. Here’s a look at some of the very best ways to save money in 2018.
Snowball Your Debts
The average American household has a credit card debt of over $7000. Often spread across more than one card. A huge amount of us are only paying the minimums, which can mean that it takes a lifetime to pay off what is a relatively small debt and that we pay over double the balance in interest.
To avoid this, and save yourself a fortune in the long term, it’s a good idea to use a process called snowballing to pay them off. Say you’ve got two cards, one at 21% interest the other 18%. Whatever the balance, the 21% is costing you more. So, instead of paying the minimum, look at what you can afford. Set up a direct debit and keep paying that amount. Then, when that debt is clear, add that amount, and what you are saving to the amount you are paying off the next card. Check out learnvest reviews for some other great personal finance advice.
Little and Often
If you don’t have debt, you are already in a fantastic position. But, there’s still a lot more than you could be doing. Get into the habit of making small savings and transferring them into a savings account. You might be amazed at how quickly even saving the odd bit of pocket change can add up.
Budget
One of the main reasons that we overspend is that we just don’t know how much we can, or should, spend. Sit down and set up a spreadsheet for your household budget. Add absolutely everything that goes in and out of your account and look at small cuts that you can make. You can even budget for luxuries throughout the year. Just make sure that you stick to it. I’ve really been loving my traveler’s notebook to track all my expenses!
I hope you enjoyed the post and that it helped you in someway.
Thanks so much for reading, as always <3
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