Do you find yourself struggling to stretch your salary to the end of the month? Living from salary to salary can’t be much fun. But often it’s not the money we earn but rather how we handle it that makes all the difference.
Here are some concrete situations in which you can save money for the days when you wait for the next paycheck.
Have a Budget in Place
Don’t wait for the salary to get credited for making your monthly savings and expenditure plan. You need to have a basic financial plan in place beforehand. This plan can be updated every two-to-three months. The basic idea here is to group the inescapable expenses, savings & investments and ensure there is something left for the financial contingencies. This helps to control the overspending that is a major problem for finding your bank balance below your expectations as the monthly-end comes near.
Get Started with Paying Your Bills
It is better to make the bigger, fixed payments. This refers to the installments you have to pay and bills on your phone, electricity and whatever else you know is critical to sustain your lifestyle.
Pay Yourself
Yes, this might sound strange but you need to pay yourself from your own salary. This basically means following your budget outline or even if you don’t have one, setting aside an amount for your personal expenses. This includes your partying, random shopping, fuel fill-ups and anything else that you plan to start/end during the course of the month.
Create Piggy Bank Savings for Emergencies
It is always a good idea to cheat yourself into saving a bit more than you desires. While insurance and investment are more like planned financial tools, you can create saving traps for yourself. For instance, use a piggy bank at your desk or within your room and any coinage in your pocket or every Five/Ten rufiyaa note you have has to go in this savings contraption. Over a period of three months, you would be surprised to find out how much this humble tool can save for you!
More Tips to Manage Your Salary:
Plan Long-term for Big Purchases—try to avoid making big purchases in the form of impulse buys. Try to weaken impact of the bigger expense, by saving for it over a few, preceding months.
Handling Bonus/Increments—try to control your urge to splurge. Try to think of your bonus as your big opportunity to set up an emergency fund for yourself but do use a bit for partying too to ensure you enjoy your money too.
