Tips for Saving Money When You Have a Low Income

It is very important for a person to save money in this era where there is no guarantee or warranty for any product or service.

Most folks want to save lots of money so they will build wealth and plan for the longer term.

Most of us have got goals we would like to succeed in life like traveling, world tour, buying branded and expensive stuff, or things we would like to shop for like a dream home.

However, this will seem impossible when you are surviving on a low income.

When it comes to finances, it is important to not only think about the now but also the future. Even if you are earning a wage, you’ll still save little by little.

It is important to save money for ourselves and our family. 

Tips for saving money when you have low income

Savings is tough even within the better of financial circumstances. It is even harder when you are living pay-check to pay-check or simply starting out your career on a decent salary and budget.

Saving takes discipline, but it is not impossible to urge savings under your belt if you are living pay-check to pay-check. 

According to the analysis done by NatWest, there are 7,50,000 anonymized customers and not even half of them save money on a monthly basis.

In India, 73 million people are under low-income belt i.e. 5.5 percent of the Indian population earn very low or minimal.

This shows poverty sign, but poverty is kind or diseases or illness which can be eradicated directly from roots if we follow certain tips and do some savings then we can easily fight against poverty and remove it.

Here are the following ways and tips to saving money even in low-income earnings:

1. Analyze your spending

First, you need to do a thorough analysis of your spending. How much you spend from your earnings?

List down your spending and checkout where you are spending more or less, are you overspending somewhere then cut that.

If you are spending on unnecessary things or luxury things then you need to restrain your spending accordingly.

After listing down and analyzing it check how much amount is left and whether you can save anything from the left amount or cut your spending somewhere.

If yes, then do the needful but if no then save at least 2 percent from the left money.

2. Look for the best-paying savings account

The minimum anybody should be earning on savings right now is 1.45 percent, which is the rate of the top easy-access account.

There are ways to earn more, like locking money away. If you are young and saving for a property, open a Lifetime ISA, which can offer you a 25 percent boost.

For those people on a low income, look for government savings schemes.

3. Cut Down Your Biggest Expenses

Trying to save lots of money once you have low income is often very difficult. Sometimes it feels impossible to chop down even a rupee or two monthlies.

Aside from the usual money-saving ideas, like cooking meals at home and canceling your cable bill, what more you can do?  

Instead of trying to chop back your small expenses, specialize in the larger ones so you’ll make more of a big impact.

4. Keep entertainment costs at bay

Eating out, hitting the bar after work, getting to the movies and other entertainment purchases can add up to an enormous dent in your budget pretty quickly.

Here are some ways to assist keep entertainment costs low yet still celebrate.

• Have lunch or dinner parties or any kind of gatherings at home. 

• Instead of watch movies at the theatre and purchasing popcorn or cola; watch movies at home on OTT platforms and cook your own popcorn or munching at home and enjoy it.

• Only once in 3-4 months go out for entertainment purposes like dinner, lunch, or a movie date or just to party.

This way you will save money and then enjoy it later.

5. Buy only necessary

Many times, budgets take a tough hit and savings suffer thanks to unnecessary expenditures.

You see a chance to upgrade your electronic gadgets, otherwise, you have a troublesome week at work and need to recover via a “new and shiny” purchase or an upscale night out. 

The temptation to shop for unnecessarily also can are available the shape of peer pressure from those around you who spend with reckless abandon or from kids who want things that “everyone else” has.

Make a commitment that you’ll only buy when necessary until your bank account is made up of a cushty level. And once you do get to buy, work to shop for used if possible or to a minimum of buy on sale.

6. Bring your own lunch

Brown-bagging saves tons of cash over eating out. It is a bit of cake to save lots of R.2000 every week only one or two lunches. There is a bonus beyond saving money too.

Talking a walk, a day at lunchtime is cheaper than a gym membership or medical costs down the road.

7. Buy in bulk

It pays refill at the supermarket, drug store, warehouse club, or food store, especially when your favorites are on sale.

Buy your favorite cereal, coffee/tea packets, sanitary napkins, spices, and grocery items in bulk.

This way you will save a lot of money and get it at discounted prices too.

Instead of ordering from online and spending on delivery charges, go to the wholesale market and buy in bulk.

This saves money and goods are cheaper there plus quality is not much compromised.

8. Skip drinking bottled water

If you prefer pristine or mineral drinking water over to what comes out of your tap than rather install a filter or simply choose the faucet and save a bundle.

You can even boil water or rather installing water and then refilling your bottle in office for free will help you save some money rather than spending on bottled water which is a bit expensive.

9. Repair rather than replace

There are significant savings to be had in repairing items rather than replacing them.

Have a blind with a wand that won’t open or close the slats, consider repairing the tilting mechanism before you purchase an entirely new set of blinds.

Is it that the handle on your fridge slump, consider replacing the handle before the whole fridge? There are many places to shop for replacement parts and online tutorials on the way to fix items yourself.

10. Find other income streams

There are two sides to each income equation — saving and earning.

If at the top of the day you have done everything, you will squeak savings out of your current income, it is going to be time to think about additional income streams.

You can work on weekends by converting your hobby or talent into earning some additional income.

There is a lot of work from home, part-time jobs, or just a few hours of your daily work from home jobs available.

You can also do some sports coaching, or teach at institutions or take some type of classes or invest in shares or bonds or do trading.

Start saving money in the bank or financial institutions where you receive interest on the principal amount.