Best Practical Money Saving Tips

Saving money can either be a way of life or something that you will never do, there is no in between and the choice is ultimately yours. You could argue that in today's world where prices keep going up and revenue keeps decreasing it is impossible to save money anymore and that mentality alone will have a very negative impact on your efforts. Even if you are living from one paycheck to another it is still possible to save up, all you need to do is know and adopt a few practical money saving tips:

Save a percentage of your salary

The majority of people that treat saving money as a way of life start here. They get a savings account and every month automatically take 10-30% from their salary and dump it there. You can start off with a smaller percentage and increase it each month. And while you do this you will see that allowing yourself a smaller sum to spend will "inexplicably" lower your expenses as well, there are ways to cut back on costs when you decide to really motivate yourself.

Set precise goals

Once you start saving it's good to set a price goal, be it a fixed sum of money or the price of a certain item you're saving up for, it's always good to be exact so you can feel much better while on the road to achieving your goal, there's a big difference between "I guess I have to save up some more" and "Only 200 dollars left and it's mine!".

Always pay in cash

Credit cards, while comfortable, make it very easy for you to lose track of your expenses and begin getting into debt. And let's not talk about the interest rates as well! If you pay in cash you're sure never to spend more than you have. Remember that the average family has close to $7000 in debt, don't be one of them!

Make a list and check it twice

While fixed expenses are harder to reduce in cost, there are some practical money saving tips for saving money on groceries that you could easily adopt. The bulk of it involves knowing what you need and where to buy it at the cheapest price.

No gambling

If you've studied math and liked it then you know, the math in gambling is not in your favor. You'll earn more by not gambling at all than by trying to outwin your losses

Shopping is not a healthy way to de-stress

Neither is gambling or anything that involves costs that you can't predict. A movie ticket has a fixed cost so you could try that. Better yet, a walk in the park is free! Window shopping might be free as well but try to avoid it as you will inevitably be back to buy something you saw but don't really need.

Save energy and the planet

Using CFL bulbs instead of your regular incandescent bulbs can reduce power consumption by 80% while offering the same illumination.

Use coupons

One of the best practical money saving tips, using coupons can net you a 10-20$ discount each trip to the grocery store.

Buy online to save money

Whenever possible practice the habit of buying online, especially when talking about furniture, electronics or clothes. Online stores don't have rental costs or a lot of employee salaries to pay so their products are cheaper. You can also find discounts for online products so whenever looking for a product, search for the product name and the words "discount code" in the same search.

Save money on gifts

Star a gift closet. Buy gifts all year round, when they aren't overpriced as they usually are on seasonal occasions and deposit them in your closet. But be sure to keep an inventory of the gifts you bought to make sure you don't buy and give the same gift twice! Collect wrapping paper and ribbons to make your gift more beautiful and thus more appreciated even if it isn't the most expensive thing.