How to Save Money in India: 5 Tips to by Heart

India is home to the largest middle class population in the world. As middle class Indians one of the earliest memories we can recall of our childhood is the importance of saving money being taught to us by our parents. Right from our childhood when we were handed out our first ruppee all the way to when we earned our first hard earned money, our parents instilled in us the importance of saving money and most significantly how to save money in India.

Now there are definitely some of us who have figured out how to cut our expenses and save a huge chunk of every paycheck we earn, while there are others who sturggle with saving enough money every month. What most of us don’t realise is the fact that the art of how to save money in India is neither taught to us in school, nor is it included in any educational curriculam we undertake.

It is such a phenomenal skill, and yet no inclusion of it is made anywhere we look around us. However, growing up our parents have always emphasized on why saving money is important and have given us enough reasons to justify their statements.

Some of the most common things Indian parents tend to say on the topic of saving money are as mentioned below.

• Save money for a rainy day
• Save money for future expenses
• Save money for recession
• Save money to buy a house
• Save money to buy a car

And many many more. However, one common aspect of all these statements, that we often fail to realise is that, all of these are very goal oriented. Each of these statements share a goal which is likely to resonate with our present lifestyle and thus using them continuously helps in making the process much more attractive, while at the same time making it easier to achieve.

Along with this, another aspect that as millenials we often overlook is that the topic of how to save money in India is an art and like all forms of art and skill, you need practise to get better at it. It is not logically feasible to just wake up one morning and reach your financial goals by saving all your money at once. However if you learn how to save money in India regularly in a disciplined manner you will sooner or later realise your goals. Thus saving is a skill that needs to be practised and exercised on a regular basis.

Now, there are many different approaches to saving money in India and if you just do a Google search, you quickly come across hundreds of tips and tricks that teach you how exactly to do this. While some of them focus on cutting down your expenses and focusing on investing first and then spending, in my opinion that is not such a great practise. Hear me out,

Why do we work so hard, day in and day out if we don’t end on living the lifestyle we dreamt of. What is the reason behind spending countless hours on presentations and begging our bosses for appraisal if we plan to save all that money for a rainy day and live a meagre lifestyle today?

Thus in my opinion, there should be a balance between how much we earn, how much we spend and how much we save and invest, and once we figure out this sweet triangle, that’s the real deal my friends. So in today’s blog post, I will share with you the top 5 tips which I personally use to save a huge chunk of money every month while maintaining the lifestyle I work so hard for.

How to Save Money in India: 5 Tips to Memorise

Tip 1: Go Shopping With a List

One of the most arduous expenses all of us need to undertake, despite the fact that if we stay alone or with our family is go to shopping every so often. It can either be go get the weekly groceries, clothes or other essential and non essential items we might need to lead our lives comfortably. However, although all of us go shopping multiple times a month, rarely do most of us take a list along with us of the things we need to buy.

One common strategy that all of us tend to follow is, we look around our house and make a mental note of all things we need to purchase and bring back with us. However, once we reaching the super mart we either tend quickly forget the essentials we need at home and purchase something else altogether or we only remember to purchase a few items from our mental note and pick up other items which we feel we might need in the future. This method of shopping has two clear disadvantages:

• The first is you tend to forget all the necessary items that you need to purchase for your household and thus transition into a state of guilt when you reach home, either at the hands of your mom or your partner or even worse, yourself.
• The second is, you end up buying unnecessary items that do not add any real value to your present lifestyle and only contribute to either degrading your health or adding to your list of expenditures.

Thus a better way to shop is to take a list with you and that’s the first tip on how to save money in India.

The next time you plan on going shopping, take a look around your house and use either pen and paper or a note taking app to make a list of all things you need to buy. This will not only help you keep track of your expenses and maintain your budget, but also make sure that you maintain your diet and don’t spend unnecessarily.

Check out my favorite note taking application: To-Doist

However, do make sure that you follow the list and not completely ignore it to go on a shopping spree.

Tip 2: Split Subscriptions With Your Friends and Family

As the trend of streaming services in India continue to rise, all of us want to have access to all the streaming services out there in the market, be it Netflix, Hotstar or Amazon Prime. However as each of these streaming services are from different retailers, all of them charge a different amount for monthly and yearly subscriptions and taking all of them by your own can quickly add up a huge amount for your expenses. Just take a look at the following example to understand this better.

Thus, the next tip on how to save money in India is to split your subscription with your friends and family. While you might have thought of doing this previously, earlier it was difficult to do this as there was no application either to make a note of all the transactions taking place or grant access to only those users who have paid for the service. But now there are applications like SplitsSub that will not only help you purchase and share subscriptions of almost all streaming services with your friends but also help to track your expenses so that you know who has paid this month and who hasn’t.

Such a sweet and yet tangy way on how to save money in India; wouldn’t you agree.

Continue to Read the Full Article