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This is the first and most important step. Choose the time when it is most convenient for you to keep records of expenses and receipts: It will take no more than five minutes. You can even set up a special alarm clock on your smartphone or link this action to a familiar routine like an evening cup of tea.
It is convenient to start with the history in the banking application, and then remember where you paid in cash. Try to record even small purchases like coffee or a disposable mask, because sometimes an impressive amount is spent on them in a month. Take into account the loans, both when you borrowed a couple of hundred and when they were returned to you.
You can record income and expenses in a notebook or in a spreadsheet. But it is more comfortable to use smartphone applications: here it is easy to immediately divide expenses by categories, view statistics, set limits, for example, for buying clothes or ordering a taxi.
When you keep records of income and expenses for at least a month or two, you begin to better understand how much money you spend on various needs: food, household chemicals, food and other pet products, communal services, entertainment. Try to allocate a fixed amount for each of these categories — this will help you keep yourself in control and not spend too much.
If it is difficult to plan for a month at once, divide the amount in each expense item into five parts. Four of them will correspond to four weeks, and the fifth will correspond to the remaining days of the month and small purchases outside the plan: suddenly you forgot something or did not take into account.
Try to stick to the plan as strictly as possible, making exceptions only as a last resort. For example, if you have allocated 5,000 rubles for groceries for a week, and this money ran out on Thursday or Friday, buy only the most necessary things until Monday.
When you receive a salary or other permanent income, save 10-15% to a special account or in a separate envelope if you are dealing with cash. Against the general background, such an amount is unlikely to seem critical, but in the long run it will provide you with a financial cushion.
The math here is simple: if you save 10% of all income, then after 30 months (2.5 years) you will be able to provide a familiar standard of living, even if you do not earn anything for three months. Savings will help you look more confidently into the future and not be afraid of sudden job loss, crisis or other big changes.
If you are one of those lucky people who receive a cherished SMS from the bank when the previous salary has not yet ended on the card, send the balance to a separate account, for example, to a savings account. This way you will avoid the temptation to spend a lot of money right away, justifying yourself by saying that the funds received will definitely last for a month.
The piggy bank function is often available in banking applications. You can specify what fixed amount or percentage of income you want to set aside, and this will happen automatically.
Of course, it is worth praising yourself for thrift. And then set a goal for a month: let's say if you have 3 thousand rubles left, it will be great to increase the amount to 5 thousand next time.
A bonus, a well—turned-up hack, a gift in an envelope or a couple of thousand in a winter jacket are unplanned incomes that we usually do not count on. They can become another source of savings — and an important step towards financial independence.
But it's just so difficult to postpone such income — you must admit, it doesn't motivate you too much to take another part-time job or gives rise to a desire to close your eyes to financial rules and enjoy life. But if you determine what you want to spend this money on, it will become easier to save. For example, you can assemble a travel kit or an adult construction kit that you have long dreamed of.
Interest on loans is an additional expense that we would really like to avoid. The sooner you repay the loan, the less you will overpay. Therefore, it is worth pushing up and getting rid of loans, at least from the most unprofitable ones — microloans and debts on credit cards.
Carefully check what debts you have and how much you need to pay them off right now. If it is unrealistic to collect the entire amount in the near future, think about what you can save on and how long it will take to pay off creditors. Also try refinancing large loans — find programs with a lower interest rate.When you borrow, it means that you are not coping with the current situation and spending more than you earn. When you agree to lend money, you introduce uncertainty into your financial plans — because objectively you never know whether the amount will be returned to you on time or not.
Therefore, it is better to do without loans and debts — at least until you get your budget under control. If this does not work without it — for example, you forgot your wallet at home, but really want to buy lunch in the office canteen — make it a rule to pay off debts the next day or at least within a week.
Think about how to profitably sell your free time and skills. For example, you can register in a taxi service and pick up passengers on the way to and from work. Or take a walk with the neighbor's dog, if you were going to spend time outdoors anyway.
Finally, you can try to monetize your hobby. As a result, you will enjoy the exciting process and a financial bonus from its results.
Sometimes you save up for something impressive, for example, for a dishwasher, and then something goes wrong and the deferred funds go to completely different things. It will not be easy to raise money again, first of all psychologically.
Therefore, planned purchases should be abandoned only in really critical situations — for example, if urgent treatment is required or you have to move urgently. In other cases, you can always find a way to redistribute funds.
