Jenny Shah
Knowingly or unknowingly, we often indulge in frivolous expenses, which when avoided can boost our savings substantially. Increasing your sources of income is not always the solution to achieve your financial goals, such as a secured post-retirement life, an expensive purchase, creating an emergency fund, etc. Just a few tweaks to your lifestyle here and there will do the trick. Take a look at these lifestyle hacks, which will help you in living a financially stress-free life without sacrificing your happiness…
Buying items you need, not to impress!
Purchasing items to impress others is something, which many people are guilty of doing. This particular habit would keep on burning a hole in your pocket and deviating you from the track, which you need to be on, for achieving your financial goals. Let’s take an example, a simple item like a watch can be purchased for its utility or to flaunt a particular brand. A small change in your spending behaviour will go a long way in ensuring that you achieve your goals.
When it comes to transport, go mostly public!
Using cabs or autos for daily commuting has become a common habit because of the ease of access available. However, it can’t be denied that a comparative analysis of such modes of transport and public transport would often show that when it comes to choosing the mode of transport, it’s better to go public. You will save on petrol or diesel and maintenance costs associated with your own vehicle and end up with valuable savings at the end of every month, which you can direct towards spending on other important expenses. It doesn’t mean, you need to completely avoid using your own vehicle but use public transport more often.
Reduce the frequency of eating out, make a lifestyle change
Eating home cooked food not only helps you lead a healthy lifestyle but also helps you in increasing your daily savings. Getting up a bit early and ensuring that you have a home cooked breakfast maybe a tiring activity but helps you in avoiding the rising costs of restaurant meals and the probable medical costs associated with often falling ill because of unsafe food.
Don’t be a compulsive shopper!
Being a shopaholic might help you feel good but does a world of harm to your monthly savings. Going for shopping with a list is an old-school idea, which still works in helping you avoid frivolous expenses. So, don’t be a compulsive shopper, rather, a sensible spender.
Avoid plastic money
One can say that the more cash-based a payment is, the more likely it is that people will be cautious about spending. When you spend money from your wallet, you can see it reducing, which makes you more conscious of your spending habits. Credit card, on the other hand, is just a piece of plastic, in which one can’t see the result of the expenditure for almost a month. We can conclude that the habit of impulsive spending is reduced if we spend cash rather than plastic money. Focussing more on the benefits of the card and ignoring the fact, that ultimately, the entire amount would have to be paid is what makes us use plastic money more.
The above-mentioned lifestyle changes are simple and easy, but one needs self-discipline to inculcate them in his/her daily lifestyle. Going by the plethora of benefits offered by these lifestyle hacks, a little self-discipline should not be a problem. So, adopt these simple changes and live a financially stress-free life.
(The author is Assistant Vice President-Investment Advisory at Capital Quotient, a SEBI-Licensed Registered Investment Advisory firm.)
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