My close girlfriend J has been reminding me to save money for the rainy days. She just got married last year and lamented that she should have saved enough money when she was single. So she has been reminding me since then...
I do have a bit of savings but I must admit that it is not a big figure and I can do better. So since September last year, I decided that I will log in my daily expenses so that I can monitor my expenditure and find out if I can cut down in some areas and save more money. It did help a bit and it is slowly improving.
Surely as the years come and go, my expenditure has grown but savings are lesser. Compared to my previous job 5 years ago, I now earn 50% more but my savings is less than what I could save then!!
In order to really do something about it, I decided to set down that one of my resolutions this year is to save a certain percentage of my salary and I will continue to watch my expenses.
I think it is no coincidence when I was catching up with another church friend D yesterday. I told him that I had thought of pursuing a Masters in Nutrition overseas but due to the high cost, I thought that it would not be possible. We then began a conversation about savings and money. D has been married for 1.5 years and he too, feels the strain of family finances. He thinks that if I can set down practical ways to cut down expenditure, I can save quite a sum of money overtime and I can go study!
These few general suggestions that came out in our discussion:
1. Take less taxis. Take bus instead!
2. Cancel unncessary credit cards and don't be fooled by their gimmicks.
3. Eat at food courts, hawker centre. Only eat at restaurants at special occasions. When with a group of friends, be the first to suggest to eat at a more economical place. Others will appreciate and follow :)
4. Consider taking bus instead of driving.
Suddenly I begin to realise that this is one area of my life that God is challenging me to work at. (In fact, I just recalled that I was on a similar topic with another girlfriend just last Thursday!!) I may or may not go study my Masters but I surely think it is high time I be more prudent of the money I earn, given by God. There are a few things I can do proactively and one of it is that I will be cancelling 2 shopping credit cards. I guess being single, it is easy to spend money on many things since I do not have much financial burden. It also doesn't help that I work so near Orchard Road. I think I also need to be less generous... I spent quite a bit on gifts for people in the last 3 months. Wedding ang baos, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts... perhaps I should think of a more cost-effective yet meaningful gift for people.
So next time when you see me, remind me to save :P Don't expect me to give you expensive presents :P But surely I will welcome any tips to save money :)
Lord, help me be a good steward of the money that you enable me to earn. Help me put into good use for your glory and Kingdom-sake.
3 other thoughts:
a very simple thing you can do: open another bank account and physically transfer a sum of money ($500? $1K?) to that account every month, and tell yourself that that account cannot be touched, except for investments or emergencies. EVERY MONTH. CANNOT TOUCH. consistency is the key.
~just passing by~ :-)
hey you can cut down on your coffee intake ;) btw there were some relevant articles in the jan 1 edition of the straits times (i'm slowly working my way through the free copy i got on the plane :p) eg p.18's tips on tracking your spending (which i see you've already started), and p.20's recommendation of a book to read for "insights into finanacial planning in the Singapore context"!
anyways, some of my own suggestions - not sure if you already practice any...
- rather than regularly buying food/drinks from outside each day, eat at home or bring from home, eg for your coffee(s), breakfast, lunch...
- allot time to take the bus, and use the commute to read/reflect/pray (or catch up on sleep?! hehe)
- when you need to drive, plan your trip to minimise running back and forth, making multiple trips / paying multiple parking fees
- if being near orchard is a temptation, plan to spend your lunch times with colleagues/friends rather than shopping/visiting the shops. if alone, read, listen to music/talks, spend time with God :)
- go straight home after work (no detours via shops)... spend more time with your family :)
- as per previous comment, open separate account and automatically direct savings amount there on regular basis. leave the access cards at home so you can't get your money easily
- consider only carrying your credit card(s) when you're planning to buy something specific, so as to prevent impulse buying
- make a budget, try it for a few weeks/months and review/adjust
- for meaningful gifts, you could try something like tear australia's gift catalogue, though i'm not sure if singapore has something similar.
- remain generous in your giving towards gospel ministry, especially if as you say you are single and without much financial burden :) consider your situation a gift from God, allowing you to more freely support those other parts of the body in their work.
live simply, that others might simply live.
hope some of the above is useful :)
geeee... thanks quop! for the many tips on saving $ :)
alreadi m doing some of the suggested n shall try some others. prayerfully i can keep up until Dec 2006!! :P
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