5 Simple & Effective Ways To Save Money

​Money is probably one of the most important things in life aside from family and friends. This post will come in handy no matter what age you are in since the tips I am about to share are realistic, simple and effective. Nothing makes you feel more confident than gaining better control of your money. Here are 5 simple and effective ways to save money and spend smarter.

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1. Watch where you are spending your money

​This might be cliche or common sense but the best way to save money is to watch where all your money is going out. Most of your monthly bank statements should automatically categorize for you based on your spending report. If not, you can always write it down manually or balance the deposit and withdrawals monthly basis. 

For example, most of my money goes out to food and clothes. What about you? A good approach is to set up a budget for yourself. Have a financial goal before leaving your house. Always remind yourself to buy something you need, not what you want. That's a big difference if you think about it because we really want everything. But once you purchase the product, that excitement goes away within few days. Then, you want something else. This is common for everyone and that is why you should be strict with yourself. 

2. Lock your money in the online savings account

I recently got to learn about this as I am getting older, but now that I think about it, getting an online savings account is a good idea especially if you are looking to save a bit more from what you have now. 

For example, some of the banks that offer online savings accounts with high APY are Discover, American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Ally. APY stands for Annual Percentage Yield. Of course, the higher the better. Most of the generally used banks such as Chase, Wells Fargo, or Bank of America has a low APY compared to the former ones I mentioned. While there are pros and cons in each bank if you know you have a certain amount of money that will be untouched for a good period of time, why not lock it with a high APY? Definitely, a smart way to save and earn interest from it. 

Normally, there are two types of an online savings account: an online savings account and certificate of deposit (CD). The main difference between the two is CD does not let you take out money for a certain period of time once you lock it in, but it comes with higher interest rates. 

3. Pay off everything before you purchase anything 

​I've encountered people who have so many different things to pay off at the same time; all the money they earn goes right into paying off the debs/loans. While at the moment there is nothing you can do, for the future you probably should not spend a lot of leisure or others until you pay those certain assets off. This is crucial because being in debt or owing money will always give you heavy shoulders. 
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4. Do not touch the savings

​Most of us have checkings and savings accounts. I normally use checkings for regular spends. For savings, I try to keep it without withdrawing money from it. A good practice you should try is to save money by inputting your earnings little by little in the savings. In long term, this will add up and you will see the difference how much you made throughout. You could start saving as less as 5 dollars every day. 

An easy tip is to set up an automatic transfer in your bank. This way you can avoid your monthly fee and save at the same time! 

5. Being smart with discounts and coupons

​Before I dive into this topic, I just want to be honest that I am not talking about looking through coupon books or ads. That is actually waste of time and it might make you purchase something more you don't need. 

I am referring to the small coupons or reward stamp cards you get in restaurants or bars. They normally offer 10% for students or other discounted prices for military or elders. If these are one of your go-to places, it's good to utilize them to save money. 

Hopefully, these 5 money saving habits gave you some motivation to look back at how you are spending your money.  We've all been in that stage where we just want to go crazy on a shopping spree after getting a big paycheck or want to celebrate. That's totally natural from time to time but you also need to pay attention to overall spending ratio. Always make sure to spend wisely and don't forget how hard you worked for them.