18 Money Saving Ideas Worth Exploring

Money plays a key role for all of us. It surely makes our lives comfortable if not perfect. Having money helps us getting most of what we desire in our life.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Wealth can be created by three fundamental means – Earning, Investing and Saving. If any of these three means is lacking, it can significantly impact our wealth creation objectives.

Saving money is an attitude or a habit which can be inculcated. Anyone can develop this attitude given that he or she consciously works towards it.

Today, I would like to highlight some money saving ideas worth exploring by anyone. Many of them are just reminders. You may choose which ones are suitable to your life-style.

Let us have a look!!

Choose your travel mode wisely - Each travel mode has its own pros and cons.

1. As far as time permits, travel by public transport. Not just it is highly economical, but in big cities it also saves the challenge of finding a parking for your vehicle and a probable expense for parking.

2. Limit number of personal vehicles you own. Owning and travelling by personal vehicle is convenient but at a significant cost. Apart from the purchase cost, it also incorporates regular expenses in form of insurance renewal, regular maintenance & service expenses and fuel cost.

3. Travelling by taxi could be cheaper than using your personal car in the long run. Anyone can do the math and find this out easily. Further, it is less tiring and more convenient travelling by a taxi as you can utilize your time better in the comfort of your seat.      

Seize the money saving opportunities at home – Your home is a great place to start looking for money saving opportunities. Let us look at some of them.

4. Judicious use & consumption of electricity can save good money. Go for energy efficient CFL bulbs/tube-lights/other appliances. They not only consume less electricity (as low as 20%-30% of normal in case of CFL) but also have longer life.  Develop a habit of switching off fans, lights and other appliances when not in use.

5. Relook your cable TV needs. Now-a-days, we are not just dependent on TV for entertainment needs. Depending on your needs, customize your cable TV plans. Pay only for the channels that you view regularly. There is no need to subscribe to standard cable channels plans. This way you can save a good amount of money.

6. Re-evaluate your telephone/mobile requirements. In the current time, everyone has their own mobile phones. Given that, do you really need a land-line at home? This is mostly redundant for which we need to pay the bill regularly. If you have multiple mobile sim-cards, re-think and justify the need of it.

7. Subscribe to news-papers only if required. In this online world with over-flow of news and information, do you really need to subscribe to the newspaper? Most of the time, we subscribe for multiple newspapers but we don’t have the time to read anyone of them. Look at your requirements and then decide.

8. Sell stuff you don’t need. There are many options of selling your redundant stuff online without any hassles. This way you not only get some money but also get some space freed up in your home.

Size of your apartment determines your expenses – If you are really serious about money savings, this is an important area where you can reduce your expenses. However, depending on your needs, take mindful decision for yourself.  

9. Rent/maintenance expenses for large house is significantly higher than smaller house

10. You require more maids/servants for a larger house.   Even, maid/servant charges are more for bigger apartments.

11. You need more fans, tube-lights, electrical appliances for a larger home

Need for furniture and other stuff are higher if you have larger space availability.

Plan well for your shopping needs–

12. Plan in advance for your major shopping needs. Planning in advance and buying in bulk help you getting good discounts.

13. Look for any deals & Offers. There are so many promotional offers especially when you are buying in bulk. Look at them and take benefit wherever you feel so.

14. Look for generic options especially medicines. Medicine expenses are really high now-a-days. Understand the concept of generic medicines. These medicines are generally equally effective but come at very low costs (as low as 10% of non-generic versions). Go for them after consulting with your doctor.

15. Go credit-card less. This is more psychology linked. Paying cash hurts more than paying via cards. Using this trick controls your desire for unnecessary shopping.

Save money by learning things for free – Yes, this is true. Just check it out.

16. Learn from each other. One of my friend’s sons used to go to a music class to learn Keyboard. After coming back home, the kid used to teach the same to his brother and father. Isn’t it a wonderful way of learning a new skill by paying just for one?

17. Learn online. You can learn literally anything online. From web development, yoga to content writing to almost anything. There are numerous free courses available at platforms like Coursera etc. You just need to identify what you want to learn and you can find courses online to learn it for free.

Take good care of things you own –

18. Take good care of all things you own – A famous quote says – “A stitch in time saves nine”. Use this advice for the things you own. Take good care of your vehicles, AC, Washing machine, TV, refrigerator etc. Go for regular service of these items. This will save a lot of money in terms of unnecessary repairs, in case of break-down in the long term. Not just this, this will also increase the life of the items you own so that there will be less need for replacement.

Try some of the money saving ideas as mentioned above and let us know in comments if any of them worked for you. 

Happy reading!!