MONEY-SAVING STRATEGIES ARE HOW THE RICH BECOME RICHER
There are good saving strategies and then there are smart money-saving strategies that increase wealth and reduce debt.
How you choose to manage your money when you are younger will dictate how wealthy you will be in your senior years.
You have to have money-saving strategies in place otherwise you are only taking on a basic level of financial opportunities if you save anything at all.
I’ve often heard that the only way to be financially successful is to start investing your money early.
Although there is much truth to this you can still build your net worth and crush debt at any time in the game.
The only difference will be the numbers and although you won’t have as much money socked away at least you’d have something.
Tackling Money-Saving Strategies
I often feel that I hear and read the same thing about money-saving strategies but here’s the thing, not everyone is doing it.
The reason we continue to be hounded by the media, bloggers, government, and banks about money is because of debt.
Too many Canadians are sitting on debt that they are struggling to pay back and continue to play cat and mouse with their finances.
At some point, I believe that some people just give up on the money they owe and would rather juggle it around than deal with it.
There has to be a solution doesn’t there?
Best Saving Strategy If It’s The Only One You Choose
Well, the most obvious would be to stop spending money on stuff and to take your finances seriously.
The number one best saving strategy on the most basic level that I urge everyone to consider is to spend less than you earn.
If you can’t do that then you must consider your options because you will quickly find yourself in a bad financial situation.
The easy part is to feel miserable about your current money situation the hard part is finding somewhere to live when you are homeless.
Don’t make the mistake of waiting until the walls come crashing in to get motivated, seek help or hope for a miracle.
Unfortunately, many of us won’t see financial miracles unless we make them happen on our own.
Money-Saving Strategies Feed Your Tomorrow
I can’t stress enough how much money you will need in your retirement years especially if you were to become ill or need to go into a retirement home or assisted living.
Having money in the bank when you retire is the difference between a private room or sharing a room for the rest of your life.
Perhaps you don’t care today but you will care tomorrow when it’s your turn.
Not everyone ends up in a retirement home either which means you still need to pay for everyday expenses.
Our neighbour is 91 years old and no sign of heading into any type of retirement villa as he’s content in his home.
This means he still has utilities, property taxes and all the other basic budget expenses like everyone else.
There is never a point where money won’t matter in your life because even when you’re dead someone has to pick up the pieces and that still costs money.
- How would you like to be buried?
- Who will fund your funeral?
- Who’s going to take over closing your affairs?
Someone has to do the work.
Penny-Pinching Money-Saving Strategies
There hasn’t been a time in both of our lives that we haven’t been made fun of due to our Frugal lifestyle.
We still use coupons to lower our grocery budget and often shop at second-hand stores for deals.
Most of the extra money we earn comes from buying and selling also known as profit income.
In the past, we would earn rental income from renting out rooms in our house to international students tax-free.
We would do just about anything that we could think of to save money or earn extra money just to get ahead.
Creating The Financial Life You Want
Today this blog earns us a nice monthly profit but that took us years to accomplish however it’s earned income but on a passive level.
I still work on the blog every day whether I publish a blog post so I do spend time working on my cash hobby.
Besides spending less than we earn over the years we’ve fine-tuned many money-saving strategies that have helped us reach millionaire status.
It’s not that much in today’s money considering hight home prices in many parts of Ontario but the big thing is that we are debt-free.
Our house is fully paid off and our vehicle was purchased new with cash.
Related: How We Became Mortgage Free In 5 Years
We pay ourselves first every month by investing in our retirement and our son’s future.
These are not things we started when we became debt-free either, it has been on-going since we were in our 20’s.
Let’s have a look at some of our money-saving strategies that everyone should at some point evaluate.
Approve Your Mindset Reset
Our money-saving strategies have grown over the years by incorporating financial education which has helped us to pay off all of our debts.
This mindset reset as we like to call it took time to flourish because there really is lots to learn.
What we can tell you is that with a slight mindset shift from spender to saver you have easily taken the first step to financial freedom.
All you need to do is believe that you can become debt-free and to find ways to make money work for you instead of against you.
Once you start to see your debts disappear and your bank account grows this is the point where you know you’ve made progress.
The key is to build on that success by pushing the limits and finding alternate streams of income to reach your financial goals.
Tracking Our Spending
There’s budgeting and then there is tracking your spending both of which we do.
Tracking our expenses meant that we documented every dollar we spent in our excel spreadsheet.
By doing this we were able to see our monthly expenses in each budget category and what they were for.
This was one of our smartest beginnings because it helped us to figure out where we were not being smart with our money.
Even though we are debt-free today we still collect every receipt so we can track them.
Another thing we learned during the process of tracking expenses is how much our utilities were costing us.
You don’t really look at the overall yearly expenses but when you see that your mobile phone is costing you $2000 your jaw should drop.
Our hydro costs were through the roof which prompted us to live by our smart meter and time of use.
Even the smallest changes help the overall purpose of saving money.
Budgeting Your Money
Tracking your expenses and budgeting are two different things since one is balancing numbers and the other is telling you a story.
Without budgeting, we would not be in the financial position we are in today.
I didn’t start this blog to tell everyone that a budget would work for them but I have said that you can work with a budget.
I know many people who use a budget and fail miserably at it.
I don’t like to give the impression that just because you use a budget you’re safe from the debt devil.
Related: Magic Budgeting Jars Saved This One Couple
A budget takes work to earn the money, spend the money, save the money and balance the money.
You have to put in time in order for a budget to work and help you to pay down your debts and ultimately build wealth.
Take it from a budgeting expert, your budget will make you happy if you play by the rules.
Related: Budgeting with Mr. CBB Got Us Back On Track
No fudging numbers or making excuses for your budget or it can get nasty for you quickly.
If you find that your budget is not going as planned evaluate the areas you are failing in and write down why.
If you aren’t earning enough money and not able to pay your gas bill each money you must find an alternate income stream.
Related: CBB 10 Step Mini Budgeting Series (Plus Free Budget Download)
Debt Repayment
Just after we got married we still had a van payment that was costing us just under $500 a month.
We were only renting at the time and with one income we still managed to squeeze in extra payments to knock that debt out of our lives.
Any time we had a debt we paid it off the same month and have continued to do so ever since.
Obviously, large loans such as a mortgage, car loan and school loans take time to pay back the little things like credit card debt should not.
If you spend what you can afford and pay your credit card monthly you should avoid being stuck in the debt trap.
Keep up with your emergency savings account so you can build 6-12 months of savings for those times you are in need.
It shouldn’t have to fund your credit card either unless it was a major expense that needed to be done as a roof caved in.
Downsize
We didn’t actually downsize our home rather we bought a house that we could afford a mortgage on one income only.
Many of you who are using both your incomes to pay your mortgage and expenses might struggle if one of you were to lose your job.
The good thing is that if you own a home you can at least sell it to downsize but if you are renting you may need to source a cheaper place to live.
If you look around where you live now and realize that you don’t use the space you are paying for as much as you thought, downsize.
Find a home that will cost you less in the long run and where you will utilize all of the areas you pay for.
Spending less on housing is a huge saving that you can put towards other areas of your budget.
Eliminate The Vehicle
We had two vehicles and one was just sitting outside for over a year which I had planned on fixing only to find it was too expensive.
Instead of paying insurance costs on the vehicle we sent it to the scrapyard, collected our 3 hundred dollars and went on our way.
If you live close to work or can take the bus, ride-share or ride a bike and can eliminate owning a vehicle then why not?
You eliminate insurance, gas and overall maintenance costs along with any loans for the vehicle if you just get rid of it.
Types of Income Streams To Consider
Passive Income Stream
Although I work hard on this blog marketing it and with a social media presence, I still earn monthly income even if I reduced my workload or quit it.
This is the great thing about building something from scratch that earns money while you sleep although it does take time.
Dividend income with investing is another form of passive income where you are paid as a shareholder of stocks in cash.
You can also earn passive income from You Tube income, Instagram income or even by renting the stuff you already own.
Passive income opportunities are endless.
Rental Income Stream
This is where you earn money from renting out the property such as an apartment, house or a room in your home.
By doing this you earn extra income to feed your budget so you can pay off your debts accordingly.
Earned Income Stream
This is where you go to work and earn income from your job. In the event you aren’t earning enough money you may want to consider a second job to bring in more earned income or perhaps take on extra hours at work.
Profits Income Stream
This is where you buy and sell and earn profit from your efforts. For example, we buy and sell items from second-hand shops to earn extra money.
You might be handy at fixing lawnmowers and pick them up broken for free or cheap then repair and sell them for more money.
This is where you buy low and sell high for profit.
Royalties Income Stream
You may have work that you’ve created that someone else wants to use but pays you income called royalties for doing so.
This may be a computer program you’ve created, performance royalties in music, literary works (write a book), patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
Our Money-Saving Strategies Recap
- Spend Less than you earn
- Track your expenses
- Budget your money
- Downsize when and where possible
- Find alternative forms of transportation besides a vehicle
- Pay down your debt as fast as you can
- Incorporate various income streams to keep the cash flow coming in
- Change your money mindset.
Although I realize that we continually are told about why it’s important to save money I realize that we often need to be told more than once.
Sometimes that’s all we need to get the ball rolling because eventually we all sink or swim.
The choice is yours because we all start out richer than someone else.
Discussion: What money-saving strategies have you incorporated into your financial goals?
Leave me a comment below as I enjoy your feedback.
MR.CBB
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