How to Increase your savings

Many of us would like to have some extra savings but it can be tricky to work out how to get them. We all have spending commitments, whether it is providing for our family, repaying student loans or other loans, paying rent, insurance, contracts, utilities and other necessities. It can therefore be difficult to see how we might be able to find enough money so that we can afford to put more into our savings. There are a few things that we can do though.

  • Repay loans– this may seem an off thing to do, but if you want long-term savings then this can help. If you want to boost your savings short term, then this will have the opposite effect though. Loans al cost money in interest and the quicker they can be repaid, the less interest you will pay. So, if you repay the loan, you will then have more money available, as you will no longer be paying interest, that you will be able to put into a savings account. You do need to be careful though as it may not be worth doing this on loans which have lower interest rates than you can get on your savings or loans which have fees for repaying early. So, make sure that you do some calculations first and work out whether it really is worth it.
  • Compare prices – it sounds really obvious but there are many people that do not look at prices very much. It is so easy just to buy what we need and want and not really think about how much those items will cost. Once we get into the habit of shopping in certain places or buying certain things we can often not think to really compare the prices with other stores. It is wise to compare prices on everything that you buy. This can take time, but you can start to find that you will start to save money immediately. It can be good to look at the things you spend the most money on first as you have the most opportunity to save on those, but even if you save a few dollars here and there, it will all add up and make a difference.
  • Buy less unnecessary items – It is really important to make sure that you do not buy more items than you really need. It often feels like we need lots of things, but when we actually carefully think about everything we may not. It can be wise to ask yourself the question as to whether you really need something every time you are about to buy it and this will allow you to make a better decision. It might be that you are just buying it out of habit rather than need or that you could go without it so that you will be able to save some more money. There are also situations where we might set a budget – perhaps such as buying birthday gifts and that we need to reduce that budget a bit so that we can put money into our savings account. It might feel mean, but it will give you a buffer and a sense of security and could even help to prevent you having to get an emergency loan in the future. If you are a savvy shopper, they may not even notice any difference as you may be able to get fantastic gifts in the sales if you plan ahead well.
  • Earn more – this is obviously something very easy to say and much harder to put into practice. However, there are things that we could all try in order to earn more. If we have a job then we could see if we could work more hours, do overtime or try for a promotion. We could even look for a better paid job elsewhere. If we are happy where we are or have no job then we could look for additional work. It might be that you could pick up some days at weekends or during evenings or any other time which will fit around your current job or your family life. Another possibility is working from home. There are lots of things that you could do online which could help you such as selling things you no longer want or need, finding some online work or things like that. It is good to research what opportunities are available and consider what you might be able to do based on the skills that you have. It might be that you will have fun getting paid for doing some questionnaires, you want to deliver leaflets or newspapers and get paid for that or that you want to start a social media channel and earn through advertising. There are many things you could try and it is just a matter of finding the one which suits you.

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