Whether you’re a salaried worker in Nigeria or Bangladesh, you can still save money every month from your salary despite biting economic conditions. It is a fallacy to think that a salary earner cannot save a decent portion of their monthly income efficiently – they can, and that’s what this guide is all about.
For starters, you must burst the idea that you can only save from your salary if you earn more; that’s not true. Earning a higher salary does not make it easier for you to save if you lack the required discipline and strategies for efficient saving. In many cases, the more you earn the higher you inadvertently raise your standard of living, so your problem is not your low salary.
However, if you have been struggling to save a portion of your monthly salary without success, sit up to study and implement the following helpful tips:
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Set the Goal
Efficient saving culture is all about setting goals. Realistic goals. Your savings goal must factor in your salary amount, your basic monthly expenses, your purpose for saving, how much to save and how long to save to hit your goal, as well as consideration for emergency situations. You may not be able to save half of your salary every month with consistency if you’re married, so it’s best to be realistic and scale down to 25% to 30%, but you can if you’re single and living alone.
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Automate the Saving Process
The best way to save money with consistency is to automate the saving process. Get the savings automatically transferred from your account once the salary drops – instantly – as if you were servicing a loan. Just the way a monthly loan repayment gets pulled from your bank account immediately after your salary drops, so you should set automated transfers of your savings amount into your savings or investment apps.
This way, you don’t even see or touch the money before you save it. There are several money-saving apps you can download on the Google Play Store.
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Cut down on your Expenses
You must cut down on your expenses if you want your salary to take you from one month to the other. It is not a matter of monitoring or tracking your expenses, it is a matter of cutting down on your expenses. Cut down or avoid the recurring expenses on TV subscriptions, cigarettes and alcohol, recurrent club membership, weekend parties, and frequent snacks. If possible eat home-cooked meals and buy your foodstuff in bulk instead of eating out or ordering food online.
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Stop Impulsive Purchases at Supermarkets
Supermarkets are designed to make you buy things you have no immediate need for through impulsive purchases. The shelves are structured and products laid out in a manner that makes you pick up items you may never use – isn’t that the reason they hand a shopping basket to you at the entrance – to think you must fill the basket before you return to the cashier?
If you cannot stick to a pre-written list of items to purchase, then you must stop going to the supermarket yourself – send someone else with your listed items on paper or shop at a local neighborhood store. And you must even practice delayed gratification if it really comes to it.
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Avoid Debts at all Costs
Most salary earners continue to suffer cash shortages because of monthly loan repayments; it is bad enough that they complain of low salary, but it gets worse if they have to service loans from that small amount. If you ever come short of cash, do not borrow money against your salary; it is best you find alternative means to raise the amount you need from friends and family members. Servicing debts makes income-earners miserable, and it keeps them perpetually in the rat race with no ways of escape.
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Earn Extra Incomes
The best way to sustain your desired lifestyle is to earn extra income, not your salary. With multiple streams of income, you can fund your lifestyle and save as much as you are willing to save. In fact, there are people that save their entire monthly salary because they have side hustles that generate enough income to service their needs throughout the month. You can earn extra income online without leaving your day job, and you can use your weekends to do other jobs that bring extra money.
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Save Payment Bonuses and Gifts
If you get a raise at your job, nothing says you must lavish the money. If you receive a salary bonus due to your extraordinary performance, save the bonus to boost your savings or fund your household needs for the next month. In fact, if you are given financial gifts, you may as well save it or spend it on crucial needs that will further protect your existing savings.
All things being equal, you need personal discipline and determination to save money from your salary every month. Develop a savings culture and do not deviate from it even if some emergencies arise with a friend or family member. The discipline you put into your lifestyle and savings will determine what you are able to achieve in the near future.