Saving Money on a Tight Budget

You know that saving money is important and that you should have an emergency fund that is two times your monthly salary. That is very good financial advice, but if you feel you are living paycheck to paycheck, savings does not always come easy. Even with a tight budget,

you can fit in a bit of savings each month: Here’s how:

Keep Track of what you’re spending

Your first step in seeing where you might be able to find some savings is to track your spending for an entire month. Write down everything you spend your money on. This is not only a good way to see where your money is going, but writing it down will help you to be more conscious of your spending.

Writing all your expenses down will help you to see where you are spending money and where you can cut back. If you are spending a lot of money on dining out, that is an easy cut to make. Limit yourself to once a week or biweekly. You may also see that you’re spending money on trivial things that you don’t need.

Automatic Transfer

One of the best tricks to saving money is paying you first. Set up an automatic debit each month to go straight to your savings account. By doing this, you won’t see the money that is going into savings from each paycheck. What you don’t have you won’t spend. You might have to start out with a small amount first, but as time goes by and you become more aware of your spending you will be able to increase this amount. This is one of the easiest ways to start saving.

Use Credit Wisely

If you have already built up a good amount of credit card debt, you will want to do your best to pay that down. Eliminate using high interest credit cards, and make the habit of not making large purchases until you can pay for them in cash. You will be surprised at the amount of money you save not having to pay off high interest rate credit cards.

These are just a few ideas to get you started on the savings train. If you can commit to starting small, you will enjoy the feeling of having a savings account and will find even more ways to save your money. Contact Carolina Money Minders for help with your savings budget.