Save Money while Maintaining Your Lifestyle
- Srishti Narang
- October 28, 2023
- 9:55 am
It’s no secret that it’s a lot easier to spend than it is to save money. Money Saving requires discipline to prioritize the future you in exchange for any instant gratification that you may get when making an impulse purchase. Plus, many of us rely on the mindset that we can always save money later down the road.
Regardless of what we prefer in the moment, we know that saving is a smart financial move.
Experts say that for each dirham that you have in a savings account, you’re decreasing the likelihood of missing a bill, forgoing medical care if something happened, skipping meals, etc. if you have an emergency.
1. Save your windfalls
If you don’t want to — or can’t — cut expenses, the next easiest thing is to save windfalls. Financial windfalls are basically extra money in your pocket: a tax refund, a bonus at work, a cash gift, an inheritance or even savings when you get a discount from coupons or cashback on your shopping. Because this is unexpected cash that essentially “fell into your lap,” you don’t have to give up anything to then turn around and put it into a savings account.
While you may feel inclined to have the money go into your standard savings account with a bank, consider putting these windfalls of cash for goal-based savings on Sav.
2. Automate your savings
It’s a fact that saving money is really easy if you make it automatic and timed with when you get paid. Sav can help with this. When you automate your savings, you eliminate the decision of whether or not to save, and you forget about what you may be sacrificing to set aside those funds. If you’re paid through direct deposit, you can set it up so a percentage of your paycheck is automatically moved to a goal you set on Sav. Freelancers or contractors with more inconsistent income streams can schedule a recurring deposit from their bank account to their savings at a time in the month when they normally have a surplus of cash flow. Following smart saving rules can help you manage money better.
If you are nervous about getting started, set up an automatic transfer of just a little bit, like 1% from each deposit. This way, you know that it will always happen when you actually have money coming in. And then after a month or two, you can try increasing it to 2% or 3% and then keep doing that every couple of months until it feels like you’re saving what you can but still able to enjoy life.
Once you set the automation rules on Sav and forget, over time your funds will grow and you will have become accustomed to living off of a budget that accounts for saving for your future — and you’ll eliminate the urge to think about what you’re giving up..
3. Make saving fun
So, Grandma always told you to save but you just thought it was boring? Think again! With Sav, you can enjoy gamified savings and earn extra rewards for achieving your milestones. You can scale a virtual Burj Khalifa as you proceed with your savings journey and we promise you it’s amazing at the top!
Sav allows users to create rules that trigger a transfer of money to their savings. For example, you can set the Round Up rule so each time you spend, a certain amount of money is moved to a goal – your emergency fund, new phone or travel fund, whichever goal buckets you choose. Another way to look forward to saving is to earn Sav coins for your actions on the app. These coins can be used to unlock exclusive discounts offered by all your favorite brands.
4. Cut off regrettable expenses
You know you should save but don’t know what expenses to cut first. These expenses may not seem obvious but, with careful consideration you’ll see how things like ATM fees, remittance fee, late payment charges on credit cards, etc. can be avoided.
be avoided. World over, the second most common type of purchase that people regret is eating out. So we suggest creating rules for sustainable spending that limit how much you spend on dining out each week or month.
For example, if you normally eat out four days per week, cut it down to just three days per week. If you usually find yourself having two drinks and dessert with dinner, make a rule for yourself that you only have water with meals out or no dessert in exchange for one drink.
You don’t have to give up a lot of what makes you happy to start saving money. By saving your windfalls, automating your savings, making saving fun and cutting off expenses you might regret later, you’re already well on your way to setting aside a decent amount of cash. Plus, knowing you have savings on Sav to fall back on lets you feel like you indeed won’t have to make financial sacrifices in the future. Having a little financial cushion, even if it’s fairly small, can give you peace of mind and a little bit of slack, which will help you better focus on the parts of your life that make you happy and healthy
FAQs
Sav app will make you feel good about money with fun saving rules, and rewards for EVERY Dirham you save. We are ambitious, positive, and always focused on what matters most to people.
SNBL stands for Save Now Buy Later, a concept that encourages sustainable spending.