We would all love to have more savings, wouldn’t we? We work hard all month and after our bills are paid we like to have some money to spend to enjoy life. Beyond that we save, or at least we want to save, money for the short term and funds for our retirement. It can be challenging to build up a good savings pot, so today we want to share with you 4 tips to boost your savings.
Write a detailed plan of your income and outgoings
The best place to start with this is by writing a detailed plan of your income and outgoings. This will enable you to spot where you can make savings.
Grab your bank statement and work through it ensuring that you understand every debit on there. You might then need other statements, such as credit card spending or any other accounts. Put it all together for the big picture.
The chances are that you can spot places where you can cut back on immediately or you might see spending habits that you can curtail.
Switch your bills
Most of our money goes on bills, so it makes sense to prioritise switching your bills over to different suppliers and save some money.
We know that we need our utilities, phones, mortgages and more, but we might not need to spend as much as we currently are on them. Use a price comparison website to see whether you can save money on any of your regular bills.
After you have done that, take a look at where you do your grocery shopping. Could you switch to a cheaper store? Our grocery bill often takes up a significant portion of our monthly income, so by switching stores, using coupons or buying food on offer, you could save a significant sum each month.
Open up a savings account
If you have not already done this, then do this today.
By having a savings account, you are reminding yourself that you want to and intend to save. Set up a regular savings amount to leave your account on payday to transfer directly to your savings. By doing this you will always save something each month, and then at the end of each month you can also transfer over any extra money.
Try to keep this separate from your other accounts, restrict access to it if that helps you. It can also help to keep you on track if you have a savings goal in mind. If you do, name that account the ‘vacation account’ or ‘new home account’ and you will be much more determined to see those savings accrue.
Invest your funds differently
Alongside the more traditional methods of saving, you might want to try investing your funds differently, giving yourself a wide spread and a savings portfolio.
Along with your short term savings, you will want longer term plans, and as well as investing in the money markets you could choose to invest in property, kickstarter funds or cryptocurrency.
If the latter is completely new to you, you could check out this Bitcoin Compass review for more details and tips for getting started.
These methods of investment might be able to offer you a greater return on your savings, though of course they are also greater risk, so weigh your options before committing.
