Your energy bills keep on increasing.
Neverending payments for monthly subscriptions.
The lure of shopping sites and home tv shopping.
You probably have encountered the myth that you need to make more in order to spend more. You cannot save money because you are not actively earning, hence there is no source from which you can get your savings. Wrong. Saving money is not only determined by how much you set aside from your paycheck; it is equally measured by the amount of money you choose not to spend so it can be redirected to your savings account.
In other words, money not spent is money additionally earned.
Here, let’s see these simple ways that you can improve your savings while being mindful of your spending:
Mind your energy consumption
Ever recall a time when you were asked by your parents to properly close the faucet after use? Or when you were told to keep the use of the air-conditioner to a minimum? It was because they were trying to save on the electricity and water bill. How many of you know that when you have low electricity and water consumption, you have lower charges? Say for example, you pay P3,500 for your monthly electricity bill; P1500 of which you’ve identified is from the aircon use (that’s roughly P50 per day for an 8-hour aircon use, which is about P6.25 per hour). Now imagine if you cut down about 3 hours of aircon use every day, that’s P6.25 x 3 hours x 30 days, you save P562.50 off your electricity bill per month, P6,750 per year! When you are mindful of this very small detail, you might have just contributed big to your savings.
Make use of your home resources
Are you currently enrolled to a monthly home internet subscription? Why not make money out of this monthly expense? Instead of simply using the internet subscription for recreation such as Netflix or social media, you can actually find a lot of online money-making gigs that can make you more money. If you are able to get a P100 per hour online job, that’s already P600 for a 6-hour part time work; P3,000 if you choose to do it for a five-day work schedule. How about that cable TV subscription? Is it something that makes you generate money? If not, you might want to reconsider it. When you make use of your home resources wisely, you do not only enjoy them, you earn from them! Look around you, you can find money in your home.
Reuse stuff or consider DIY
Planning to buy a new rag for your kitchen? Check if you have old, unused clothing that can pass for a rag and use it instead. If you change your rag once a month, that’s a savings of P50 per month and P600 per year! Before you buy stuff for your home, check if you are able to DIY; there are a lot of online tutorials for home DIY projects. Not only will you save money for DIY projects and reusing items in your home, you also pitch in to your savings!
The art of saving is not limited to strict pen and paper budgeting and setting money aside, you can actually enjoy it even in the comfort of your home. From daily activities that you do to the smallest resource you have. If you can break the mindset that you are unable to save by just staying home, you’ve just levelled up your understanding on saving.
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
Do you like the idea of being able to save while staying at home?
What resources are you currently enjoying in your home?
List down ways that you can save and even earn money out of these resources.
If you want to learn how to save. Grab a copy of my bestselling book “MY IPON DIARY” at all leading bookstores or go to chinkeetan.com/ipon
Chinkee Tan’s Wealth of Advice appears Wednesdays on GoodNewsPilipinas.com
(Chinkee Tan is a top Filipino motivational speaker, wealth and life coach whose goal is to inform, educate, motivate, and disturb. His vision is to help people become financially-literate and debt-free.For more info about Chinkee Tan, please visit his fan page at FB, Twitter and Instagram. Also follow VIBER PUBLIC CHAT GROUP search chinkee tan, and VISIONCHINKEE on You Tube for more news and encouragements.)
