This year, the youngest millennials will be 24 years old. If you’re one of them, this means that you’re at the early phase of your career.
Soon, you’ll start a family, have kids, buy a house, and car. At this stage, you probably already have a credit card and student loan debts.
If you don’t start saving and managing your money from now, you’ll be doomed when you finally retire. And the trend shows a tendency towards that.
A study found that 33% of younger millennials (between 25 to 34 years old) don’t have any savings at all. While 67% of them only have savings of less than $1,000.
Don’t make the same mistakes. Start saving money as early as possible and reap the rewards later in your life. In this post, I’m going to show you eight creative ways you can do to save money.
Creatives Ways of Saving Money
1# Don’t get into mortgage just yet
When you still other debts like student loans and credit card debt, don’t force yourself to buy a house just yet. Housing price is very expensive and paying for a mortgage will leave your bank account zero at the end of the month.
You could only get into a mortgage once you pay off all of your debts and have a monthly income 70% higher than the mortgage payment. Until then, stick to renting or living with your parents.
2# Save first, spend later
The problem with most people is that they spend first and save later. When they receive their paychecks, they’ll use it to cover their expenses and save whatever amount is left at the end of the month, if any.
To be able to save money, you need to reverse the process. When you get your salary, immediately save your money before using it for anything else. Many experts recommend the 50/30/20 rule. 50% to cover your expenses, 30% for discretionary spending and 20% goes to the savings account.
However, this rule is flexible and it depends highly on your income. If you’re a high earner, this seems very possible to achieve. If you’re struggling to cover your expenses, then saving 10% of your income seems okay as long as you do it consistently.
3# Make a separate savings account
Create two accounts from two different banks. One for your daily use and one for your savings account. For your savings account, make sure to break your ATM card so you can’t withdraw money easily. Also, pick a bank that’s far away from your house so you can’t bank in person either.
If you don’t do that, then it’ll be almost impossible to save money. Imagine running out of money and the ATM is just around the corner. 90% of the time you’ll withdraw your money thinking “only this time”. This will continue to happen until you have no more savings.
4# Use more cash and less cashless payment
Research shows that people spend 20% more when using a credit card compared to using cash. If you want to keep yourself from overspending, it’s better to avoid using cashless payment and use cash instead.
When you use cash, you can feel and count it. So, when it’s gone, you’ll feel the pain. That’s not the case with cashless payment. No matter how much money you spend, you won’t feel it because it physically doesn’t exist.
5# Keep paying your debt even when it’s been paid off
When you’re finally able to get rid of your debt, don’t be tempted to increase your spending or get yourself into another debt.
Instead, allocate the same amount of money you used to pay your debt into your savings account. You won’t feel any change in your lifestyle, but this time, you’ll be paying yourself instead of the creditors.
6# Wait for 30 days before making big purchases
Use the 30-day rule whenever you want to buy something expensive. The rule is very simple.
Anytime the urge of buying something emerges, just wait for 30 days before deciding to buy it or not. After 30 days, the urge will eventually die down and you’ll think clearer whether you really need that thing or it’s just your desire.
7# Cut off recurring expenses
Recurring expenses are those expenses that you have to pay regularly (usually every month) whether you use the product/service or not. Examples of recurring expenses are gym membership, TV cable subscription, and paid newsletter.
Cut off all recurring expenses that you no longer need. Instead of going to the gym, you can work out freely in a public park (jogging, doing push-ups and sit-ups). Instead of subscribing to cable TV, there are a lot of cheaper alternatives such as Netflix.
Your recurring expenses number may seem small now, but it will add up in the long term and eat up your savings without you knowing.
8# Don’t let FOMO controls you
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a social anxiety that’s commonly found on young people. It’s a feeling of wanting to catch up to what’s cool and trending. According to a study, 40% of millennials get caught in debt just because they want to keep up with their peers.
Don’t make the same mistake. Limit your social media use so you won’t get influenced by your friends’ new Gucci bag or holiday to the Maldives. Learn to say no to a night out when you’re running low on cash.
Author’s Bio: Andre Oentoro is one of the co-founders of Milkwhale, an internationally acknowledged infographic production agency. He helps businesses increase visibility on the internet with visual data and well-placed outreach campaigns.
