11 tips on how to save, which would be approved by your grandmother.
Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – March 14, 2021 – Lifestyle
Everyone sooner or later wonders how efficiently they spend what they earn. Some people wonder why the money in the house invariably runs out a week before the salary, and someone can not get rid of loans, because the loans paid off like a magic wand are replaced by new ones.
Perhaps it is worth taking note of the experience of housekeeping and family budget, accumulated by the older generation? Most of our grandparents had modest incomes, lived in difficult times, but raised their children to their feet and managed to help their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. What principles of saving your adored grandmother are relevant today?
Buy local goods
Meat, dairy, bakery, and other products made in the region of your residence are usually not only fresher imported but also cheaper. The costs of transportation and storage of such goods from manufacturers and sellers are less, so the price is lower. So if the quality of cheese from a local cow and her “sister” in a bright plastic package from a large food company is identical, is it worth overpaying for the tricks of marketers?
Bargain
We somehow got used to it, but our grandparents considered bargaining almost an art that helps maintain the family budget. It is possible and necessary to bring down the price not only on trifles, for example, in the market, choosing farm meat, or on the site of announcements, buying to the favorite child skates, overalls, the tablet. In large transactions, in particular with real estate, the seller also often makes concessions, and here your benefit can be calculated in the tens of thousands of hryvnia.
Of course, this advice does not always work, and you do not need to be like Plushkin, demanding everything and almost for free. But do not forget about this principle of saving, because even 3-5-10% discount, you bargained – it’s money left in your wallet.
Compare prices
And we will add: to know the average price of each good which are often bought. And to compare the cost of the same product, you no longer need, as in my grandmother’s time, to go around all the nearby stores, “listen” to the sundress radio or call friends: there are special sites and applications – aggregators, where necessary and relevant information is available after a couple of clicks.
Go to the store with a shopping list
This advice helps you not to forget what you need and not to buy what you don’t need, especially if you made the list and your husband, teenage child or other household member goes shopping. Otherwise, there is a big risk that you will bring the third box of eggs in addition to the already existing two in the refrigerator, and in a bowl with sweets will be added candy and gingerbread (goodbye, savings, figure, and dental health!).
Take lunches from home
With this point, hardly anyone argues: homemade food is cheaper, healthier, and tastier than what is offered in canteens and cafes. The only thing you need to have – time in the evening or in the morning to cook for yourself and your loved ones “takeaway” and spread out on lunch boxes.
Work
Not every one of us can and wants to become a master, sheathing and tying the whole family. But the ability to do something beautiful with your own hands is not only a nice hobby and anti-stress art therapy but also a way to save. Perfectly bake, paint, weave lace, cook homemade soap? Your cookies and cakes, paintings, postcards will be a good gift for family and friends and will make your own home more beautiful and cozy without extra costs.
Use household cleaning products
Reducing the consumption of household chemicals means saving money and doing a good deed for the environment. What every housewife has on hand: citric acid, soda, vinegar, mustard powder, salt – will help to cope with tidying up the kitchen, bathroom, and more. If you do not remember how your grandmother removed the scale from the deck, and there is no one to ask, then look for recipes and life hacks online, there are many.
Exchange services
In the days of our grandparents, it was called mutual aid and connections, nowadays – barter, swap, car sharing, and other smart borrowings. A mother-accountant may well help a confectioner’s neighbor fill out a tax return and get an exclusive cake for her son’s birthday instead. If you have a good haircut or manicure, the friends and relatives to whom you bring beauty, are unlikely to refuse to sit with children for a few hours or take care of your pet while you are away. Believe me, each of us has a talent for sharing that is interesting to others.
Save money
No matter what your income is now, it is important to form or return the habit of spending less than you get. The classic advice of financiers is well known: save 10% of your income. But first, you can lower the bar to any amount comfortable for you to make it easier to live at least a month without the temptation to encroach on the stash – and thus convince yourself that you know how to collect, including for large purposes. That’s how your grandparents’ savings started!
Spend and save at the same time
Older people do not trust bank cards due to uncertainty in the handling of modern technology, so they pay in cash. And we, the younger generation, should take note of two points.
First, sometimes cash really helps to save. Proven by psychologists: purchases, for which we pay in bills, are more tangible and real for us than a virtual calculation, and “paper” costs are easier for us to control.
Secondly, the principle of “spend and save at the same time” does not oblige to abandon the convenient non-cash payment. Many stores encourage card payments with additional discounts, and banks offer cashback, with which a certain percentage of the number of your expenses is returned to your personal account each month.
Understand the importance of prevention
Treating mild tooth decay is cheaper than deep caries, so your grandmother disciplined visits the dentist once or twice a year. And the grandfather fiddled with Lada and did not pass maintenance that the car did not need emergency and expensive repair for a long time. In general, as they say, it is better to prevent than to treat.
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Source: Ukrgate