If you are looking to retire early or even just create more savings pots you will definitely want to look to decrease your spending. There are plenty of ways to save money, some are just little things that can be done each day but will add up over time.

 

Get on a Budget

Before you begin to save money you will want to know what your current income and expenses are. Track your spending so that you know where your money is going. You can just keep a dedicated notebook for all of your expenditures or you could create a simple spreadsheet. Create a budget that you can stick to, write down all of the things you need to pay towards each month and have a look at where you can cut back. Once you can see where all of your money is going and keep a track of it as you go along it will be easier to save more. Create a savings goal for each month and make a plan on what you will do with this money, i.e. how will you invest it?

 

Cut Back on Unnecessary spending

Once you have created a budget and are actively tracking your expenses, it will be easy to see where all of your money is going. Whether it’s to daily coffee shop trips, weekly takeaways or clothes shopping splurges, you will be able to see what you can cut out. Obviously, you will need a clothes budget and will want to put money towards things that you enjoy. But the aim here is to not mindlessly spend. By having pots of money allocated to certain things (aka sinking funds) you can buy the things that you want without feeling guilty that you’re not saving enough.

 

Find Alternatives

Building up a good enough savings pot for you to retire is going to take time. You are still going to want to enjoy your life in the meantime. None of us knows what the future really holds so the last thing we want to do is put off living in the moment. That doesn’t mean that you need to spend a bunch of money to enjoy life. If you have decided that you want to save a large portion of your income each month then you need to find cheaper ways to have fun. Food is a large expense each month but luckily there are lots of ways to save money on food. You could look at creating ‘fakeaways’ at home instead of getting a takeaway, shopping at cheaper supermarkets or making use of discounts and coupons.

 

8 Easy Ways To Save Money

• Check to see if you can change your energy provider for cheaper utility costs.
• Switch to a pay-as-you-go phone. Buy a cheapish phone upfront and use a pay-as-you-go contract to save money on your phone bill.
• Research the best deal for your car insurance yearly.
• Use a browser extension, such as Pouch, or search Google to see if there are any coupons available before you make a purchase online.
• Use your local library for free books and magazines both online and at the library.
• Shop around for the best deal, whether online or in-store.
• Ask yourself whether you really need the item before you purchase.
• Cancel unused or unwanted subscriptions.