Managing costs – 18 ways to reduce the expenses and save money

18 ways to reduce the expenses and save money
You would have seen my article on reduce expenses and save money without compromizing on quality of services. I thought, I should continue this article by way of providing some more tips on showing more ways to reduce the expenses and save money

Again I repeat what I said in my previous article, “What I meant here is, not to cut-down the things which you use and reduce the expenses. What I am referring is getting what you want with lesser costs, thereby increasing savings and adding this kitty as extra income”.

18 ways to reduce the expenses and save money

  1. Use credit card which is charge-free: Buy a credit card where there is no surcharge (extra charge for using the credit card at fuel stations) for using it for gas/fuel. I use Citibank Indian oil credit card where I can get the fuel without any surcharge on the amount I pay.
  2. Buy clothes after you clean your wardrobe. We habitually have a habit of buying the clothes without looking at what we have in wardrobe. Cleanup the wardrobe first so you know the right time to buy the clothes
  3. Sell unwanted stuff at e-bay: Spend one week at home and clean-up all unwanted stuff. You can sell them at www.e-bay.com and get some extra money.
  4. Save money in energy bills: We used to get the Energy bills/Electricity bills for Rs.400+ / month. I educated my family on “use when you need”. Switch off the lights when you do not need.  I surprise that why we could not do this all along. We had savings of 30% once we disciplined ourselves and started using the concept “use when you need”.
  5. Buy used ones: If you go for a new one to buy you need to spend more money. Try buying a used car, used furniture which is used one wherever possible to save money
  6. Live in smaller house: Have you observed that living in smaller house saves money. It can be interms of maintenance charges, energy bills, furniture costs etc.,
  7. Shop after festival season: During festival season, thought some stores offer discounts, we need to check whether they are real genuine discounts or not. I keep seeing that during “ashadam season” (it is one of the non festival season) there are lots of discounts being offered in India
  8. Online offers: Try checking for various online offers for buying stuff. There are various companies which offer good discounts when purchased online. E.g. www.snapdeal.com, www.buytheprice.com etc.,
  9. Go out to dinner at discounted price: Have you tried checking the offers where the restaurants are offering discount prices. There are various offers at www.snapdeal.com.
  10. Fun at home: Check for various ways of having fun at home. You could save lot of money by making this as an habit as you are at home and spending very little money for having the fun
  11. Get rid of home landline telephone: With mobile phones boom, the usage charges have reduced dramatically. In case you have a home landline phone, get rid of this.
  12. Maintain only 2-3 bank accounts. In case you are maintaining more bank accounts, you need to have minimum amounts deposited in the bank account and you need to pay charges in case you are not maintaining such minimum amounts.
  13. Avoid driving wherever possible: In the weekends I try to keep my car locked. Making an habit of walking for shorter distances not only saves fuel, but it also keeps us healthy and fit
  14. Make a habit of saying “no” to more stuff. Ask “Do I need this” before buying anything
  15. Make a list of shopping and strict to this list to buy items. See my article on “how to control during shopping”
  16. Shop insurances rates: How many of us shop for insurances rates. Try checking the latest insurances rates at good sites like www.policybazaar.com etc., and this is one of the way to reduce the insurance expenses
  17. Save money by planning your travel early: Plan your travel early, make the bookings and reduce the travel cost. In case you rush for last minute bookings, you need to pay higher rates.
  18. Buy medicines for discounts: “Apollo Pharmacy” offers 10% discount on all medicines/pharmacy items. You can try for any such similar discounts being offered by chemists and reduce expenses

Have you enjoyed this post? Please provide your valuable suggestions to improve future articles. If you are excited, share the link in Twitter/Face book (copy URL from your current browser and publish in your Face book/twitter)

Suresh
Myinvestmentideas.com

Suresh KP

3 comments

  1. Hi Suresh,

    Thank you for sharing your tips. If you have any idea on how to effectively invest these small savings, that would be of great help.

     

    Best Regards,

    Hema

    1. Sure Hema. There are several tips which I have already shared regarding bank FD, Mutual funds etc. However small savings, I have not done, would do that.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *