“You don’t always need money to acquire things – it’s often possible to use your resources and barter when you don’t have cash.”
~ Lebo Gunguluza
South Africans need to make their resources turn over ten-fold. Especially if we are to find financial freedom within our current economic turmoil. Not saving, isn’t an option. Nor is spending without consideration. There needs to be thought placed into our actions and the direction that we send our hard-earned money into.
When we read the word ‘saving’, we often only think of the act of placing our money into a savings account with a desirable interest rate. But is it that simple?
Let’s look at the definition of the word saving:
“The act or instance of economizing or spending less”.
By this simple definition, it’s important to understand that saving can and should be happening inside your home every day.
The adage, ‘You need to spend money to make money’ is not always true. If you work well with what you have, you truly can become financially independent, even in a world that leaves our finances so dependent on outside influences.
We cannot become a millionaire overnight. Well, at least not without some miraculous event occurring in our lives. But we can become clever, crafty, and self-reliant. If you focus on these 8 saving tips, your money can become a tool for investing, instead of being hammered by any economic migraine.
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Great Saving Tip #1 – Pay Yourself First
If your financial stress is lessened, your perspective on life is very different. Regardless of the amount of money that you earn, you need to pay yourself first. It is a general rule of thumb that 10% of your salary should be assigned to an automatic debit order every month and go into a savings account. Currently, the Notice Savings Account from Discovery Bank is offering competitive rates to get the most back from your savings account.
Great Saving Tip #2 – Hack Success by Setting Smart Goals
We recently posted an in-depth video on the exact method of using the S.M.A.R.T framework to set goals that are realistic and can be achieved. Watch it here. Goal setting is necessary. It is imperative if you want order and success in your finances. You need to understand the path that you are following, instead of leaving everything to chance. It is currently unimaginable to even contemplate not writing down or using an app to set those dreams into goals, and then realise them. Every celebrity speaks about how they had a goal once in their lifetime and achieved it. Think of Jim Carrey with his million-dollar cheque.
Great Saving Tip #3 – Pack Your Lunch and Cook Your Dinner
Take-out should not be a default. Buying lunch every day or eating out every week is robbing you of your finances. If you need to see it in action, take last month’s bill on take-outs, restaurant visits or vending machine purchases, and add them up. If you cannot recollect the number of times, start now. Take a notebook or use your phone and record every food purchase you could have gone without. You will be amazed when you add up how much a chocolate or quick box of chips and a burger can cost every week. Every cent saved makes more sense to your financial freedom.
Great Saving Tip #4 – Kitchen Windowsill Shopping
Lettuce, Rosemary, Onions, and Garlic are some of the greatest windowsill decorations, and it saves money. Although growing potatoes takes a little practice to harvest, they are exceptionally easy to grow. One head of lettuce costs roughly R18 and instead of spending that money, you can save it. If you do not know where to get trustworthy seeds, Seeds4Africa are very well priced and have a large variety of yummy, easy-to-grow items.
Great Saving Tip #5 – Heard of a ‘Staycation?’
A staycation is a vacation in your area. It is a massive saving compared to leaving the province that you are in to go on vacation and out of season rates are great for further saving. Every province has its beauty and tourist attraction, and hardly any South Africans have experienced the entirety of what our beautiful country has on offer. Try a staycation and let us know what new and amazing sites you have found in South Africa.
Great Saving Tip #6 – Make Gifts and Cards
This may sound like a terrible idea to people who believe that they are not creative, however, with YouTube and other platforms like Pinterest that offer billions of how-to videos and articles on making goodies, this is an option for everyone.
Great Saving Tip #7 – 30 Days or Nothing
The 30-day rule before purchasing anything only works if you have a willpower, and do not go against it. However, once you begin practicing it, you will find that almost every time that you have waited 30 days, you no longer want that item anymore. This is a brilliant method of saving and really does work, if you can stick to it.
Great Saving Tip #8 – Thrift Store Shopping
South Africa has a thrift store or a person advertising second hand goods in quality in every town. Everyone is either selling out, swapping out or donating their unwanted goods. Most of the thrift stores, or second-hand shops have amazing items, some of them brand new with price tags on. Not everything should be bought from a thrift store, but jackets, books, toys and so forth are absolutely cost saving at the end of the day. The plus side to many of the stores such as Little Eden, is that they are owned by a charity and the money spent is going to a good cause – looking after those less fortunate.
Under our current economic climate many people are afraid of the looming price hikes and the financial forecasts which will severely impact their standard of living. If you are anticipating a period where you will not be able to meet your repayment obligations, fill in our no-obligation free quote and see how debt counselling can assist you.