How to Save Money in 2021? 8 Best Methods of Saving Money

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It seems that simple question how to save money has an immediate answer from almost anyone. We thought that opening a bank account would suffice. Then we realized that banks are as good as money repository.

ATM cards make access to the money is done in a flash so, having them is just another way of carrying a wallet. Years would pass, and we would realize that there's no money saved.

So how would you save money that will really take you to achieve your financial goals?

Here are easy to follow step-by-step methods that will help you to save money — realistically

1. Plan your budget

Budgeting is one best method to save money. Daily and monthly budget planner would come in handy.

Financial management needs a plan. Budgeting is an integral part of the whole process of financial planning.

Without clear layout put in placed for budgeting, the realization of your financial goal will be hampered and delayed.

You must have standards in budgeting basic needs, i.e., foods and clothing without depriving yourself and your family of an equally needed holiday. Below are realistic budget plans for food, clothing, and low-cost travel vacation.

Food

Also the best method to save money is by managing your grocery shopping in such a way that no food goes to waste and that you gain money in buying a large quantity of food which expires longer enough, i.e., a year or two.

If there's one thing you should put as #1 priority in your budget planning, it is the food. If you don't plan it, expenses go to different directions.

I can prove that to you right now. Please go to your refrigerator and see how many kinds of foods are there that's been sitting there for quite a while now.

Those are money. Soon foods that you think no longer can be eaten would end up in the trash.

It could have otherwise cash appropriated for savings.

How to save money on foods?

1. Schedule a day in a week for grocery shopping.
2. Clean your fridge before you start this to restart your budgeted stockpiling of food.
3. Make sure that your food stockpile is rotating.
4. Don't allow yourself to skip a food item that doesn't last.
5. Apples can last its crisp for 2-weeks, but spinach can't so buy a small supply that can be consumed in 5-days.
6. Be sure that all perishables are in one place.
7. Organize how all stuff is arranged in the refrigerator so that you won't put unfinished items in small gaps.
8. By all means, apply FIFO — first in first out — on perishables. If you buy a new stock of tomatoes and garlic today, get the old ones outside, put the fresh inside then layer the old ones and use them first.

Clothing

There are plenty of methods of saving money when clothing is put into the equation. One of them is to have plenty of inexpensive apparel that people won't notice that you're stingy to yourself because you're wearing the same clothes all the time.

You can be in style without spending an exorbitant price. Buying used clothing is out of the question, however.

Thrift shop? It is just an option for you. The last option, if you know what I mean.

How to save money on branded clothing?

Always buy when there's a sale in their boutiques, warehouses or a mall-wide sale is on-going.

You can have those signature brand shirts or pair of pants at a fraction of its original price. A lot of savings will be yours there.

Don't purchase clothing and garments on their regular prices. That's what you do to amass a lot of savings.

Holidays

Travels are good and, it's more enjoyable when you know you spend a fraction of what regular travel packages cost. One of the best methods of saving money in traveling is to plan for it one year ahead.

Don't take a vacation if you can't minimize the full travel expenses to 25%. That includes your airline tickets.

Yes, it is not only plausible to have the most memorable and enjoyable travel on a tight budget. It can also easily done. Here are the easy steps.

How to save money on holiday travel?

1. All vacations should be planned at least 6-months or even a year advanced. The purpose is to get seat-sale in airline tickets.
2. Make sure you get 60 to 70-percent savings on bookings.
3. Travel to a destination during the seasons which are off-peak so that everything is cheap.
4. Be contented in the dormitory instead of hotels as the savings you get is up to 80%.
5. Once in a popular destination, don't be gullible to the local offers. In fact, it's better to do it your own. That said, there are exemptions where the organized tour is cheaper, so you must research on which one for DIY or an organized tour.

TIP: Organized tours offered by cheap but — travelers recommended — dormitories are way cheaper than those offered by hotels. I should know as I've happened to discover it in one that I've joined in Kota Kinabalu, where I paid the lowest among us. A Russian paid the highest. His hotel was Mandarin.

2. Manage your expenses wisely

With the use of your computer, you can go far in managing your expenses, such as storing receipts in digital files.

Your goal is to save money, and so you've got to do things that people with no aspiration like yours don't do.

Examine your daily, weekly, and monthly expenses. Remove one or two expenses from each of them that are least important.

Here you can have a lot of savings by managing your expenses which will enable you to cut or eliminate factors that make your regular spending at a higher level.

How to manage your expenses?

Use a spreadsheet to manage them better, and make sure all expenditures are sustained in reasonable costs.

You need to record all your expenditures — daily, weekly, and monthly. Review them and ask yourself about their performance.

Sample expenses that needed review

Typically, questions such as the following would pop up:

• Do you really need internet-cable pack — with tons of channels — which you can't watch completely?
• What about your electric bill?
• What about the brands of the produce, poultry and meat products that you buy weekly?
• Do you still subscribed to daily newspaper delivered to your door?

If you're subscribed to a full-monthly package of internet-cable with tons of channels that you don't get to watch even the 50%, maybe it's the right time to reduce the number of your cable channels.

See how much you can save in electric cost by cutting on some usages at your home. You might like to unplug your laptop every time you take a break even when it's time to eat, etc.

You know as a seasoned buyer myself, I have observed that there are unbranded meat and poultry products which much tastier than branded ones. You can also compare the prices of other grocery items such as canned goods, cereals, powder milk, detergents, etc., and get those that are cheaper.

With regards to the newspaper, you might want to reconsider as news is on the internet now which most of the time is bundled to the TV cable service.

The list of expenditures and the questions of their importance is quiet long. You better act on them if you are serious in saving money.

3. Choose the right saving plan

You've got to have a right saving plan where you have a document that contains how much the money you put in on however manner. It's powerful because you get to monitor your progress. So have it available all the time and see to it that you look at it regularly. It's better to avoid regular savings-account to get maximum rates.

Don't save money in a regular savings account. Realize that a regular savings account is nothing but a stash or a secure place to keep your money safe.

Yes, there's an interest but little and by that I mean so little, not to mention it is taxable.

Well, all earnings are taxed, and savings' interest albeit small is still earnings, right?

But why not put your money where it will help you in achieving your goal of saving money fast by means of the money itself working for you and reproducing itself.

That way while you work and save, your money works and save as well.

The smart way to do it is to save in regular bank account for a while until you have the amount needed for you to get a right saving vehicle.

Once you've reached the amount needed for your chosen saving plan, move the money onto that saving plan.

Repeat the process, saving money bit by bit in the regular account for your chosen saving plan.

Where to save money to boost savings?

Here are the types of saving plans which yield relatively high interest compared to a regular savings account.

They are arranged based on the level of knowledge that you first needed to acquire before putting your money to each of them. The first on the list, of course, is the least complicated.

Time deposit account

This type of saving your money is as simple as opening an account.

The only difference as the name implied is that you can't touch your money during the whole period that it is locked, i.e., 12-months, 2-years, 3-years, etc.

Interest rates vary from .88 % to 1.25 % depending on your chosen bank.

There's no risk as your money is covered by insurance provided your deposit doesn't go above the minimum insured deposit amount as governed by your country's deposit insurance agency.

Guaranteed bond

Since our topic is about how to save money, we will not take-up the stock investment which is highly risky.

When your purpose is to save money, that means you are averse to investment in which capital is not protected.

Look into the guaranteed bond which is offered by corporate accounts. You will not worry about your money as both the principal and its interest are guaranteed.

That means the full amount of money you put in will be repaid plus all interest will be paid, guaranteed.

Fixed income security

Although considered as an investment, it is unlikely for your initial investment to be lost in the fixed income security.

Your investment will be returned at its maturity while by that time, you will have already received the return in the scheduled fixed payments.

4. Set your financial goal

What are your financial goals? You can't be successful in whatever methods of saving money if you don't have even one financial goal.

Have a clear and definitive vision of your primary purpose why you do is saving the money.

Your financial goal will serve as the fortification to your project of saving money for your future.

It will entrench all methods that you consolidated, so that, if there's an obstacle you can easily overcome them by setting your eyes focused on that goal.

5. Set a timetable

Timetables accelerate the realization of your financial goal so make them count.

Another factor that you should entrench in your mind that will consummate the entirety of your saving money project is the time frame.

You must consider it the big day, and you must create a realistic timetable for it so that it served as the beacon on your daily endeavor of saving money.

6. Don't buy on credit

Buying on credit is a sure way to drag the accomplishment and the attainment of your goal in saving money. Just think of the interest rate and other charges which both constitute the layer of expenses that you have to shoulder.

The ultimate truth about credit cards is that they earn from you every time you use them in any transaction.

If they are the ones who earn, what is it for you? Convenience? Yes. At what cost?

Although it is subjective, the fact remains the same — you're shelling out money in the form of interest, membership, and annual fees.

What we got here are tweaks on how to save money and buying on credit or using a credit card is not a part of saving money.

Because annual fees and interests could have been for savings. Let the millionaires use it.

Yes, credit cards are actually status symbol cards. So let them be. You are going to save money.

You need to maximize all sources of money that will go to your savings.

You need to create the excitement for yourself on this financial endeavor to ensure success and succeed by the time your timetable runs out.

No annual fee zero interest credit

Some banks give out credit cards to their selected clients free, that is no annual and membership fees.

If your bank picks you and gives you a credit card, since you are a bank depositor, accept it.

But use it only on 'no' or 'zero' interest sales. Now that's another maximizer on your part. On those two conditions only.

7. Don't spend on unnecessary luxury

High-end coffee shop, milk teas, and other exorbitant drinks are definitely obstacles in any best method to save money that you use. So, avoid them at all costs.

Starbucks and milk tea restaurants will definitely wrack your dream of getting that whatever amount you have set in your financial goal as discussed in number 4.

What's on them anyway — Starbucks, milk teas and similar extravagant social places? They are for opulent people only.

The fact you have already reached this part of the page reading this article, you don't belong to that society, like me.

And so you want to save money for your future or for your family's future, right?

Shun places that will only dissuade you in sticking to your financial dream indirectly by throwing extravagance right on your face that will make you take out your wallet.

Besides, most of them are bad for your health anyway.

At the end, it's you that will decide. You may skip this and still go to a Starbucks. But I hope not. Number 8 below will help you on that.

8. Monitor the progress of your savings

Monitoring your progress in your saving keeps you inspire to scale up the amount you save on your schedules.

Now assuming that you follow every aspect of saving money as enumerated above, it is crucial that you maximize them.

Our purpose here is for you to really stick to your saving plan — to be not distracted.

Similar to a horse with blinders on its eyes that make it not distracted and continue racing to get to the finish line, nothing should easily sway you.

Because there will be distractions and you're going to dodge them all.

I wanna help you achieve that dream of saving that amount of money in such a span of time. So I'm telling you, you need to monitor your progress.

Watch your money as it grows. There's a big contributing impact when you watch your progress. That is — you will be more inspired.

On the positive side, you get to see if problems occur like you will see that last month you have overlooked your expenses and it got higher a little bit.

Or your last month deposit was lower than the previous month, for example.

You get to identify where a problem has originated and fix it right away. So monitor, watch, follow, and audit your progress.

Have a tool like a spreadsheet or any record book that you might want to use.

Follow these, and soon you will realize that you already hit your target amount — your financial goal.

And that's something of an accomplishment. Congratulate yourself!

Conclusion

Saving money entails a lot of sacrifices. But they're not all that needed. You need to know where are the sources of money that you're going to save. It's not only your income — or salary.

Most importantly, is the creation of the sources that you can find in the lifestyle that you have today. Because, after all, most of us have only one bread and butter, either our wages or small businesses. So, the order is — first the sources, then, the sacrifices.

How do you save money for the future? Can you share to us how do you able to get any amount which you put into your saving plan? Share the wisdom in the comments' box below.

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Vernie Mallorca

Vernie Mallorca is an entrepreneur and blogger with years of experience in selling to institutional accounts. He gradually shifted to blogging when he found out that it is his calling to write timely and helpful articles online that can help others to save money, make money, and secure their future by handling their income smartly. In this blog, he shares both managing your finances, however small it is and valuable information on running a small business.