.png){kind=logo}
Can you save money fast? Most people assume that money saving is a long process that can take years or decades. But, if you have short-term financial goals that you’re hoping to reach, it is very possible to save a lot of money in a short space of time.
How? Carry on reading to find out!
Automatic funds transfers
An easy way to save money is by ensuring money leaves your account regularly. You can set up automatic funds transfers through your bank, which will let you take money from a checking account to a savings account.
It’s a smart idea to do this every month at the very least - possibly every week if you want to be more specific. Consequently, you guarantee that you save x amount of money every single month, moving you one step closer to your savings goal.
Also, this helps with the next tip too…
Create a budget
Saving money is only possible when you have a budget. As mentioned above, automatic funds transfers can take a portion of your funds and put them in a savings account. This leaves you with money left to make a budget.
Account for all of your necessary expenses, such as:
- Rent
- Mortgage payments
- Other loan payments
- Bills
- Food
- Other essential life necessities
This tells you how much money you have to spend every single month without fail. So, remove that from what’s left in your checking account. Next, you can assign a budget for extra spending - this is on things that aren’t essential, but can be useful.
After accounting for this, you could still be left with some money. As such, you can put this into your savings account as well! Think of it as bonus savings on top of what’s automatically being deposited.
Cancel subscriptions
How much money are you spending on things that simply are not essential? Consider the money you’re currently forking out on subscription services. For entertainment packages alone, you may have subscriptions to the following:
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Amazon
- HBO
- Paramount+
- Disney Plus
The list is never-ending, and each service requires a small monthly payment. It’s easy to look at $5 a month and assume this is barely anything. But, if you’re subscribed to all of these services, that $5 can quickly because $25 or $30! Worryingly, research suggests that the average person can spend around $219 on subscriptions each month.
Now, imagine if you went and canceled most of these subscriptions? They are not essential; you absolutely do not need them all. If you can pick one streaming service to use, you can save possibly over $100 a month. It is such an easy way to save money fast, and you barely have to make any compromises.
Invest in smarter purchases
Your money-spending habits will be put under immense scrutiny when saving money. Unfortunately, we can often be guilty of making pretty dumb purchases. The irony is that we actually think we’re saving money by making these purchases.
For example, let's say you say a really nice coffee machine in the shop. It costs a few hundred dollars, so you think you’re being smart by not purchasing it. Instead, you keep going to your local Starbucks and spending $5 on your morning coffee. You do this every single day, for the entire year. That’s around $15000 on coffee, way less than the cost of the machine. If you invested in the smarter purchase of a home coffee machine, you could make barista-style coffee at home, removing the Starbucks expenses from your life.
There are many examples of when spending a bit more money on something initially can lead to better savings over the long run. So, be more aware of how you’re spending your money and look if there are things you can buy to stop constantly throwing money down the drain.
Make more money
This sounds like a very capitalistic thing to say, but the best way to save money is by making more money.
Thankfully, we live in a world where there are so many ways to make money online. This even includes simple ideas like taking paid surveys. You don’t need to earn a fortune - even if you make an extra $100 a month, that can all go towards your savings goals.
Conclusion
There are some very proven ways to save money fast, allowing you to reach your goals in record time. Set up automatic payments to a savings account, create a budget, be more aware of smarter ways to spend your money, cancel monthly subscriptions, and work on making more money