Trust me, you’re not alone in needing a spending plan. Nowadays, more and more people hope to have a reliable way to spend their money more slowly. Of course, this is not impossible, but you may not have mastered the tips. Survival is only the first step, what you need is to enjoy life, come and accept these challenges!

Make a Spending Plan

Estimating your income is the first step in planning your expenses. To know how much money you have available for spending, you must first figure out how much money you can earn. Note, that this is after-tax income. Generally speaking, it’s easiest to calculate it every month. Take a look at your pay stub – how much money did you take home in the past four weeks?

• If you’re an independent contractor or freelancer, figure out what you’ll need to pay next month. As long as you’re prepared in advance, you don’t have to be afraid when the bills come.
• If you are an ordinary employee, don’t hold out too much hope for a tax refund. If you can withdraw, you can certainly celebrate, but there is no need to get too hung up on it.

Make a list of expenses, including fixed expenses (rent, student loans, transportation expenses, etc.) and non-fixed expenses (food, entertainment, water, electricity, heating, etc.). This list must be based on reality and it is better to have more than less. Use your brain to think about whether you have forgotten anything – have you donated to an international children’s organization? Have you ever had a $25 cup of coffee every two days? Have you ever paid regular tuition for a yoga class but never attended it? Be sure to write down all basic expenses!

• Go through your various expenditure details and check for any gaps. One of the great benefits of the information society is that you can see where you spend your money when you log on to the Internet, but this does not mean that you can ignore cash flow!

See if you can streamline your spending further. As you read through your expense log, force yourself to find a few silly expenses that you can eliminate. For example, could you stop using your landline phone? Can Internet TV be used instead of cable TV? Can I skip the latte? The way to save money is often reflected in the little things, and you spend a lot of this money without paying attention.

• When it comes to technology products, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. You can call your phone, Internet, and cable TV providers and tell them that you may not be able to afford your current costs. You may be surprised to find that they have service plans for “paupers.” Therefore, you might as well look at your expenses twice more. Even if you say “I really can’t save any other money!”, you may not have pushed yourself to that point.

Set goals. Now that you have a rough idea of how much you can save, write down that number and work towards it. It is recommended that you calculate two numbers in advance: 1) the amount of money you spend each month, and 2) the amount of money you want to save each month. If there is still some savings, you can do whatever you want!

• Goals can be divided into three types: daily, weekly, and monthly. Which one you use depends on your own habits. You can stipulate that you can spend 50 yuan on food every day, 300 yuan on shopping every week, or set aside some money every month to buy things you like, as long as you are aware of how much you spend and save.

Keep some money aside for emergencies. There are always some “what ifs” in life. You may never know which faucet will leak, or you may develop diarrhea for no apparent reason and end up unable to go to work. Set aside some money just in case. It’s best if there are no surprises, and if there are any, it won’t be overwhelming.

• Think about it: How many times have you spent money on something you didn’t intend to buy? 99% of people will answer “It seems to have always been like this.” So, even if you forget to buy a birthday gift for a friend, don’t go crazy, you still have a small savings bank for emergencies.

Maximize the utility of idle funds. It would be best if you have a spare amount of money at your disposal, but it won’t grow in size just by putting it there, so it’s worth thinking about how to make good use of it. In your opinion, which is more important, having a house full of pets, or getting a manicure every two weeks? How can you truly feel happy?

• We’re not going to force you to convince you that having a house full of pets or getting manicures every other month isn’t a good idea. Some people may think these things don’t matter, but you may regard them as treasures. Therefore, you can use some of your money to do things you think are important, but you have to be more pragmatic. If you really can’t come up with the money, just let it go for the time being.

Optimize Your Lifestyle

Save money as soon as possible. For most people, this is a lifestyle change. We are often used to spending our wages happily after receiving them, but now we can no longer continue to live in a muddle. By Friday, put away the money you vowed to save and don’t think about spending it.

• If you can, put money in your savings account, or at least somewhere you don’t normally have access to it. You can put the money in a closet (if you can resist the temptation) or give it directly to your mom for safekeeping so that you can force yourself to stay within predetermined limits.

Do your own thing. Nowadays, technology has such a profound impact on life, and it is not easy to do your own thing. Most people are accustomed to eating quick-frozen food, pursuing immediate benefits, and coveting temporary quickness. For those who want to save money, this lifestyle is not advisable. You have to do it yourself to have enough food and clothing. Here are some small methods:

• Cooking for yourself is healthy and saves money. If you make too much rice at once, you can also refrigerate it for later use.
• Grow your own fruits and vegetables, which takes cooking to a new level. As you can imagine, if you grow your own fruits and vegetables, you will save a lot of money. Not only will you not have to face those dumb prices at the grocery store, but you will also get extra satisfaction from growing them. Just think, how many people can do what they say?
• Do needlework. How many of us have seen holes in our clothes and simply thrown them away? Raise your hands and admit it, you know you have done this. Stop wasting and try sewing and repairing your own clothes! This will not only save money but also turn you into a fashionista. Your clothes will be unique and cool.

Find another job. This is not to make you fat in one bite, but if you want to make more money, it will be of great help to find another job. This job does not necessarily require you to put on a white coat and do research, even if it is weekly Going to other people’s homes to coax children will also make you feel that your life is different (this is the main contradiction). Happiness is often more important than wealth.

Recruit a roommate to share the apartment. This trick is very useful. Whether you live in the city or in a small town with one traffic light, six bars, and nine churches, it’s necessary to find a roommate to share the rent. Moreover, you can save money in many other areas, such as buying toilet paper, food, and boxes of wine at half the price. Of course, the premise is that you and your roommate get along well.

• You can either rent a room with someone and split the cost, or you can rent a larger house for the same amount of money, both of which have their own advantages (although the latter doesn’t really save money). If you have to put up a curtain as a partition, accept it calmly, life will still go on, hey, so what if you sleep on the floor at night?

Get rid of bad habits of “burning money”, which are more typical ones such as smoking, drinking, taking drugs, etc. They are not necessities of life. From this point of view, you can choose whether or not you want them; but they are harmful to your body, so you really shouldn’t want them. There are times when people need to treat themselves rationally, and this is one of them.

• Even if you’re just addicted to watching movies, there’s room for improvement. Ask yourself honestly: What unnecessary habits are costing you a lot of money? Everyone has this problem. If you really can’t change it, at least look for cheaper alternatives. For example, how about watching free movies on the Internet?

Pay more often with cash. The feeling of carrying real banknotes in your bag is still very different. Generally speaking, when you swipe a card, the money will be swiped out before you even think about it. If a little person is reminding you every time you swipe your card, The money is going to be gone, and you probably won’t be so fond of swiping! So, use cash more and you’ll be less generous.

• A good way is to set in advance how much cash you can only spend in a week, and once you spend it, it’s gone. This sounds cruel, but it will help you develop a good habit of planning your money!

Change your mind. A lot has been said about how to save money, but the most important thing is that you have to mentally agree with it. If you can’t bear to eat without going to a five-star hotel, it will be quite difficult to save money. But if you can change your mindset and not be picky, saving money will be effortless, and you will be less likely to be resistant to “thrift fatigue.” If you end up being driven crazy by saving money, it’s not worth it!

• Comparison is the most meaningless thing about appearance. You don’t need to worry about your own face all the time. Cherish what you already have. The essence of life is not material wealth, but your tolerance and mentality. If your current situation makes you satisfied, then you are happy and everything is enough.

Spend Every Penny Well

Use Coupons. There’s no shame in this, it’s stylish! Some TV shows specialize in promoting various coupons, which seems to have become a mainstream trend in society! Quickly find a pair of scissors and start collecting them. Don’t forget about our weekly promotions from your favorite stores and brands!

• Some discounts may be quarterly. If not this week, it may be next week. Don’t be discouraged and check out more. Occasionally there will be great promotions during the week or after the holidays.

Check out those coupon download sites. In addition to clipping newspapers and visiting merchants’ official websites, you can also go directly to some coupon download websites, such as Dianping, Qianku.com, etc., where you can not only download coupons for shops but also 50% off discounts on popular restaurants. Spend a little more thought and your quality of life won’t suffer any decrease!

• This will also greatly enrich your life. No money to go to the gym? Go to group buying websites and look for 20% off boxing classes. Want a nice Christmas gift? Uh, what did you do with your coupons? It can’t only be used to buy household items!

Going to second-hand stores for shopping is also a popular trend. If you can buy it at a second-hand store, why not? The retro trend is booming, and it’s time to abandon the misconception that consumption comes first. In addition to regular thrift stores, you can also go to garage sales, thrift websites, auctions, and other community fairs (such as church book markets, etc.). In no time, you’ll be a full-fledged second-hand buyer.

• Admonish your family. Generally speaking, people like to store a lot of things at home and even have complete storage facilities. Think about how unreasonable this is. How many people do you think can truly live frugally? So give them a quick reminder, they must have a lot of things they don’t need that they can resell!

Have you heard of Freecycle.org? On this site, you can see who’s selling unwanted items for free near your home. Of course, they also have items they want to exchange for. There are many, many similar websites!

• In many cases, you don’t have to pay the original price. In addition to the coupon download sites mentioned above, you can also go shopping at online stores like eBay, where you can often get very low discounts after bargaining with the store owner.

Apply for a credit card with a lot of points activity. This trick is sometimes very dangerous to use, especially if you are the kind of person who spends a lot of money. Applying for a card is like drinking poison to quench your thirst. However, if you are a person with relatively strong self-control (and have good credit), apply for a reward card. Rich credit cards are a good choice. Every time you swipe your card, you will get a certain amount of points. Over time, you can use the points to exchange for gifts or “cash”. Ha, another source of income!

• Be sure to read the instructions for using your credit card. You don’t want to open a credit card with a ridiculously high rate and then get stuck in a cycle of debt repayment, which defeats your purpose.

Experience first, material second. You may often hear people say that having an experience makes people feel happier than simple material abundance. Even after many years, you will still feel fulfilled when you think about it, and it will not be forgotten by you and gather dust in the corner. Therefore, when you feel that your life is empty, try to focus more on experience rather than material things. Material wealth cannot bring you real satisfaction, and even if it does, it will be as short-lived as a flash in the pan.

• Is the Christmas discount season coming? Buy membership cards for training classes or gyms, buy travel points, and buy things you can actually use. A 50-inch TV is great, but after a year you may want to get a new one. Remember, you should enrich your life with experiences rather than material things.

Tips

• Take the following methods to save electricity: turn off lights and unplug electrical appliances immediately after use. Don’t just turn off electrical appliances, because they may still be in low power consumption, which will lead to higher electricity bills.
• Drink more water and less beverages. Compared with various drinks on the market, water is healthy and cheap.
• Reduce food expenditure, only go to the supermarket once or twice a week to buy food, and try to eat a variety of ingredients bought at home.
• Pay off your outstanding debts or bills now. If your credit card has not been paid off, pay it off as soon as possible, otherwise the interest on the debt will pile up.