These are rough times.
With the chaos of our current economy, it becomes that much more critical that you are very deliberate in the way you spend and save.
If you have lost your job, no doubt, you are in emergency mode. For those of you who haven’t, be prepared… because today, no one’s job is safe. Regardless of your financial means or the lack thereof, it is critical that you have good control over your finances. Your family’s happiness and well-being depend on it.
Here are some pointers to help you to protect your finances through this difficult spot.
Tellies, Not Takeaways
A great way to continue to put food on the table is to make sure that the table you eat at is in your dining room and not in a pub or a restaurant. Fortunately, 73% of families surveyed choose to eat at home to save a pence or two. Besides, fish and chips, cottage pies, baps, and bangers and mash right off your own hob simply taste better than pub grub, do they not?
Regarding entertainment and recreation, most of these same families chose to watch Eurovision Song Contest on the telly in the lounge instead of going to the cinema, cut back on holiday travel, and so on, and so forth. Spend quality time at home to lock in the quids.
Food Frugality
Mums, you would be surprised what you could save just by being aware of what you buy and resolve to buy only what you need. There are various tips you can employ whilst shopping, including:
- Stock up when on special offer items you will need or buy later. But don’t go overboard and overspend.
- Make a meal plan for the week. Convert this to a shopping list and get only the items on the list.
- Buy a bread making machine and save by baking your own fresh bread. Life is good when you have one of these.
- Don’t shop when you’re hungry.
- Don’t bring your husband if he is hungry. Just kidding. Actually, we’re not.
Save Your Spondulicks, Spend Some on Shares
Blokes, you need to do your part too. Skip the pub crawl and enjoy a pint or three at home. Take the odds you save, and put it away for a rainy day. Consider this brass your brolly when the downpour starts. The missus will love you.
In case you’re one of those who have been saving for a long time and have built up a large balance, take a portion that you can afford to lose and begin trading shares. You can either learn to trade in the stock market or even trying your hand in the foreign exchange (trading notes). Please remember that these can be very risky moves, so use only money that you could burn with a match and still not skip a meal. At the same time, if you receive proper education on how to trade and you are very conservative on your money-management skills, you can actually put your money to work for you, rather than allowing it to lazily stagnate in a savings account, losing value over time because of inflation. At the very least, put your money in some conservative money market, bonds, or mutual funds.
We hope that you’ve found some pointers that can help you keep your bank account from ever reaching nil. It is a tough world out there right now, and you are now better prepared to put a financial hedge about your domain and the ones whom you love.