3 simple tricks that have saved me thousands of dollars

• Our author learned early on in her life to save in order to lead a comfortable and carefree life even with a low salary.
• It is important to always have an eye on your expenses and also to look for unorthodox ways to save better.
• You should also be careful not to change your lifestyle as soon as you earn a little more. Healthy growth is important.

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When my mother finished her nursing education at a local community college, she switched from working full-time in a nail salon to a hospital. Besides being a big career change for her, the new job made it possible for her to buy a house. After a few years, the day came when she finally had enough money to pay down a small house in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California.

To cover the mortgage and take care of my older brother and me, she took on a second full-time job as a nurse. I remember getting stressed all the time and saying, “Bills, bills, bills! Always so many bills! “

From a young age I made the connection between money, time and freedom. Earning more money didn’t seem to bring rest, comfort, or freedom. Working more meant having less free time. I realized that spending manageably was the key to a happy life.

I have applied this lesson in a variety of ways over the years in order to live comfortably within my means and save large for my goals.

I am very careful about my expenses

Since opening my first checking account at the age of 16, I’ve been pretty vigilant about my expenses. I started by keeping a checkbook in high school and then played around with spreadsheets during my college days. I later turned to money management apps like Mint.

Nowadays I automate most of my bills and the only expenses I really keep track of are my daily groceries, clothing, concerts, movies, or housewares expenses. I’ve set a weekly budget that resets on Mondays. When I end up spending a little less, the leftover money goes to a fund or is otherwise saved.

I’ve found ways to save something everywhere

When I got my first apartment in my early twenties, I found ways to save everything from electricity bills to clothes. I made a game out of it. The goal was to keep costs as low as possible and still have fun. In the first year when I was out alone, I lived very spartanly to save up for an emergency fund. In a year that saved me $ 5,000 on a monthly salary of $ 1,800.

I loved talking to other “savers” to learn their best tricks. They gave me lots of tips on how to creatively save money – from different uses for the same item to a cheap evening out on the town.

I go through my budget regularly

I make a point of checking my living expenses at least once a month. Since I am self-employed, I have a separate business budget that includes health care, work tools, and internet expenses. If my income, my needs or my life situation change, I adjust my budget. That helps me to live within my means. In addition, I can steadily advance my savings goals.

To avoid lifestyle inflation, where expenses are in line with any increase in income, I keep my expenses relatively the same even as I earn more. If I’ve covered additional living expenses in the past – like moving to a slightly larger apartment – I’ve looked up where I can offset the additional costs. For example, if I moved and paid an additional $ 200 for rent every month, I would check to see if I could cut my spending on groceries, streaming subscriptions, and the like.

By growing up in circumstances where money was always scarce, I learned early on that the key to increasing wealth is not how much someone earns, but how much of that money is consistently saved. By carefully managing my budget and making sure that I did not experience lifestyle inflation, I was able to live within my means and save for various goals.

Read too

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12 Unusual Tricks To Save Money Every Day – According To Financial Experts

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This article was translated from English by Klemens Handke. You can find the original here.

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