It is essential, in the current financial climate, that we get to grips with managing money. Being a ‘money saving expert’ may be some way off, but the sooner we address the issue, the better. Having money affords us the luxury of choice. The lack of it causes grief.
If our relationship with money could remain dispassionate, we should probably manage much better. Somehow, our emotions get involved and too easily we can be taken in by an irrational impulse. Instead of standing firm, we succumb. Recovering form unguarded moments like these can take months of worry and heartache. But all is not lost, if we are prepared to learn from our mistakes.
A bargain should be an advantage to us if we buy it, rather than a helping hand to the seller in clearing out his old stock. Buying things for a reduced price is much more of a bargain if we are in the market for the product on offer anyway. We should beware of buying things just because the price has been reduced.
Big stores offer generous sounding discounts from time to time and are worth looking at, but not everything is quite as good value as we are led to think. Learning to read behind the offers takes research and a little thought.,Occasionally, buying something there and then is cheaper than having to drive 30 minutes to a store that has the same product for a little less money.
Saving time, petrol and bother, should be seen as part of the overall picture. We should not get too carried away trying to save an extra 3% if it means the inconvenience of a longer trip in the car. Then, of course, what happens to the money we save by our hunting for bargains? If it is blown on a take-away on the way home from a particular spending trip, it is not so honest to call it a bargain-hunt at all. Tips for saving money should stress the pitfalls of the little hidden extras that swallow any savings made.
Establishing a balance between spending money and saving it, is priority No. 1. Without balance, one is not even aware if savings are made. The simple arithmetic of income and expenditure has to well understood before the benefits of managing our money can be exploited to the full. Time invested in learning the basics, will, in due course, be money in the bank. Money in the bank will go a long way to making life more enjoyable because of the well-earned, luxury of choice!