This week I have collaborated with Elizabeth Grier to get your mind focused on saving. A lot of fear is attached to the concept of ‘finance’ and this week we want to encourage you to embrace what you have so that you can save for a more prosperous future. Remember in life you were born with two fears: falling over and loud noises – so every other fear you have is self created. Challenge your fear and start to embrace the possibility of having a more fruitful financial life. Read the tips below to start saving now.
Saving is for everyone. One cannot emphasize how important it is for your financial well-being. It may be understandable that some of you might think “I don’t make enough money to save”, or “I barely can pay the mortgage/rent”, or “saving is a luxury”. Perhaps you are already saving, but would like to save more. This article is to explain that saving is possible since there are always small yet impactful ways to cut expenses in your daily lives which can amount to substantial annual savings. Think about what you could do with the savings! Even saving £20 a week accumulates to over £80 a month or the equivalent of £1040 a year! (£20 a week x 52 weeks a year).
Here are a couple of examples:
1) Instead of buying a coffee or tea with milk at the coffeeshop en route to work or during your break, you can bring a thermos to work instead and make your own tea or coffee. If you have 2 teas a day during an average workweek of 5 days a week, that is 10 teas a week. If you assume a tea with milk at a coffeeshop is around £2, then that is £20 a week. You can instead buy a box of 50 tea bags for around £2.80 which is around 5.7 pence a tea, or £2.28 a month for your workweek tea drinking habit versus £80/month if you take tea out, so you save over £1000 a year if you bring and make tea at work!
Often there it may be deemed fashionable to be holding a paper coffee cup from certain stores, think about investing in a flask from that coffee shop if you so wish. Alternatively you could create your own fashion and not worry about what others think. Just be mindful of all the saving you can make and what you could actually do with the money you save.
My father always told me to save for a rainy day. If we live impulsively we may not have enough capital to support us when we really need it. Always ask yourself twice if you really need something before you put your money down for it. Little things add up, so be mindful of every cost. Be around people who like to save and not spend impulsively, this will have a positive influence on you and ensure you are mindful of saving.
2) Further savings can be had if you choose to bring your lunch to work. Instead of going out to buy a sandwich and a bag of crisps for £5 a day, that is £25 a workweek, or £1300 a year on a simple take-away lunch! Instead, you can buy a loaf of bread, cheese slices, mayonnaise and tomatoes, and pack an apple (healthier option) instead of crisps, for a packed lunch. On an annual basis, it was calculated that a packed lunch of a sandwich and an apple would cost approximately £155. If you were to pack a lunch instead of buying one, you could save over £1100 a year!
You could receive similar savings by subscribing on an annual basis to a magazine or a newspaper instead of buying it on a daily basis. You usually receive significant savings that way.
Remember that all of the power we have comes from within and is therefore under our control, so get into the driving seat of your finances and drive yourself towards a comfortable life. Create a vision board of what this could look like and start practicing the great tips above to create the life that you want. In June I plan to run a work shop entitled ‘Achieve the life that you want and more’ and we will be covering how you can create more saving and draw abundance into your life. To sign up and take advantage of an early bird discount email: Mamta at think spa London dot com.
We hope that these examples outlined in the article will give you the motivation and the belief in yourself that you can save. Everything is possible and never forget that the longest journey begins with the smallest steps.