Little things mean a lot, there’s a lot of truth in it even in finances. The small things that you do consistently have a huge impact on you whether it’s good or bad. Unfortunately, a lot of people failed to see the huge impact of small things. Hence they continue to run in circles and struggle financially. Worse, they don’t seem to know what makes them struggle and keeps them from moving forward.
If you’re conscious about your finances, you can make necessary adjustments that can help you improve in your finances and make you more efficient. Of course, you can have more spare cash or avoid the possibility of running short of cash and struggle financially.
Here are some tips on how to make huge savings through small things and even small changes.
1.) Assess your current financial situation and behavior. Before doing something, you must first check and know where to start. Check your sources of income and how your spend. Are you impulsive? Are you controlled? Can you follow a budget well? Do you even have a budget? These are some of the things that you need to start with. If your the amount of money that is coming in is greater than the amount that you’re spending, then you’re not in big trouble but you may need to make some necessary adjustments in order to be more efficient. However, if your expenses are greater than the amount that you’re earning, you’ve got a lot of work to do. Financial trouble is definitely just around the corner.
2.) Make a list of your expenses and be detailed as possible. This might sound as a tedious task but this will make you realize what necessary adjustments you should make. You have to be so detailed that you must list even the smallest cent. After making the list, you might be surprised that a huge chunk of your money goes to your wants than your needs. Wants are things that you can live without while needs are things that you can’t live without.
3.) Make small but gradual changes. You can’t change your lifestyle overnight hence instead of making an abrupt change, make it slow and gradual. If you smoke a lot every day, make it a point to reduce it by a stick every week or better yet every 3 or 4 days. If you love eating outside, you can either cook your food at home and pack it or eat in lesser amounts outside. You can also opt for cheaper restaurants. Such changes doesn’t mean that you’ll deprive yourself of the great things in life that you consider but rather, keep your lifestyle as much as possible but by reducing the cost. What’s the difference of making your own coffee and buying one from Starbucks?
4.) Be consistent with your plan. Starting to implement change is difficult, sustaining it is much more challenging. If you did well in implementing your plan, then exercise more effort in maintaining it. You might be tempted to relax a little and celebrate for a job well done. No, instead, set higher goals such as cutting down more expenses and wants. If you smoke lots of cigarettes everyday and was able to cut it by two sticks in a day, strive to make it four the next time. If you’re used to be an impulsive buyer and is now able to stop yourself from spending quickly, then start a different goal by making conscious spending by following a plan.
5.) Improve as you go and don’t go back to your old ways. As soon as you’re making progress, set it as a goal to improve more. In your finances, make it a goal to save more than you used to save. The more you save, the greater your chances of securing your future and make yourself financially independent and free. If you used to save $200 a month, increase it to at least $250 a month. You can also set goals such as increasing your cash flow and either maintaining or further minimizing your expenses.
There are lots of ways and approaches to become more efficient in your finances and save more, but generally it will always start with knowing yourself and your finances. If you don’t know where to start, you won’t get anywhere. Afterwards, implement the best plan that you can come up with and stick to it. Only change it when you’re seeing no progress with it or if you can come up with something better.
Let us do some math, if you spend $3 for a cup of coffee a day, $3 a day is roughly $90 a month and will sum up to $1,080 in a year. Three dollars may not sound that much but $1,080 does. If you can’t save $3 a day, there’s no way you can easily save $108. And see the amount that you’ve lost by spending $3 a day? Now you see how small changes can make huge impact in your finances.