Sanjay, a 34-year-old advertising executive, lived his life lavishly. He was young and successful. Being a sensible person, he made all the necessary investments and bought the best of insurance plans as well. After paying the premiums and EMIs, however, he forgot about all his responsibilities and spent a large chunk of his remaining salary on his lifestyle habits. Partying on weekends and taking luxurious holidays were a part of his life. But how wise was this? Not at all, and sadly, Sanjay learnt this the hard way. His savings were low and he did not have any emergency cash to fall back upon at the time of an emergency. Had he been a little more responsible, he would be financially better off today.
Importance of curbing the lifestyle expenses
- Helps save for a rainy day: Even if you make the right kinds of investments and protect your health and life with insurance plans, you may find yourself in a sudden financial crunch. Investments cannot be broken instantly and you must have some money that you can withdraw with your ATM card at any given point of time. Making changes to your lifestyle can help you in building such a corpus.
- Helps in down payments: Most people have fixed salaries. So if it always a good idea to cut down on the expenses and create a fund to buy assets. If you are wealthy and have a good credit history, your lender will easily give you a loan. But having some cash at your disposal with help you with the very essential down payments.
Saving money as a part of your lifestyle
So how exactly can you save money by making changes to your lifestyle? The answer is actually quite simple. Look at these easy tips below and start saving today!
- Cook at home. Eating out is a major lifestyle habit that pushes up your monthly expenses. So cut down on the restaurant trips and try cooking at home. Hire a cook if required, as even after paying the cook’s salary, your overall expenditure will be much lower.
- Cut out smoking and drinking. A person, who smokes one packet of 10 cigarettes every day, spends approximately Rs 5,000 a month on cigarettes. A person, who consumes alcohol on a regular basis, spends a further Rs 10,000 on it. If you go out to party, a single alcoholic beverage can cost about Rs 500. So if you reduce your tobacco and alcohol intake, not only will you do your health a favour, you will also do your finances a major favour.
- Take the public transport. Sanjay’s office was 10 km from his house. He used to take a taxi every day while going and coming back. This cost him approximately Rs 300 everyday and about Rs 6,500 every month. He could save a lot of money if he took a ten-rupee metro ride instead.
- Cut down on the luxuries. While it is important to enjoy life, it is not a very wise idea to spend too much on leading a luxurious life. So cut down on your multiplex visits, expensive holidays, shopping binges and other such lifestyle expenses.
If you are on a tight budget, here’s more on how to save money.
The bottom line
With the expenses rising everyday and the incomes remaining steady, no amount of money is too much money. So make a conscious effort to cut down on your lifestyle expenses and make a habit out of saving money. In fact, saving money should become an integral part of your lifestyle. Keep the tips mentioned above in mind and your job will become a lot simpler.
