5 ways to remain committed to your savings goal

Zee Media Bureau/ Shrankhla Verma

At the end of the month, when you sit back to calculate your expenses and savings, the expense quotient certainly exceeds the savings for most of us. The barbarous expenditure of money is no good an investment but a cause for regret later. It's better we learn and device ways to organise ourselves with the money rolling out at such a higher pace than heaving sighs of regret later. Here we enlist five easy ways to keep a check on your savings.

What are you saving ?

Coming in terms to this can be disheartening. But, it is important for you to know your actual and miscellaneous expenditure. Only when you have differentiated between the type of expenses you have, you can save. Knowing what exactly you want to save for makes it a lot easier. For instance retirement plans could mean investing in a long term scheme such as Public Provident Fund (PPF) or equity mutual funds, while recurring deposits could work for short term savings like purchasing an automobile or plan for a holiday.

Savings over spending

It wouldn't be much of a surprise if you're one of those who spend first and then save. This decreases the chances of you saving reasonable amount of money, drastically. The wiser way would be to separate the amount which has to be saved from the rest. Make sure that the savings remain untouched under any circumstances lest something serious or urgent should happen. For this various automated savings options are available for you to choose from, which take less of efforts with great results. There the amount will automatically be transferred from your current account into your savings.

Financial blueprint

One simple way towards saving money is to make yourself a budget. For beginners, you may not squeeze yourself into saving so much but you could start with saving a fraction of what you earn. Make a 80:20 ratio which is expenditure is to savings. This ratio can later be enhanced with 60:40 depending on your skills to save.

Optimise your savings

After all what's the use of earning when you cannot even avail the satisfaction of spending it on yourself, comfort and the commodities. Cutting down on your necessities on a regular basis shouldn't become your criteria for saving. Instead, start from a little and when adjusted to that, save a little more but not at the cost of your necessities. The horizontal nod is only for the urge to spend money on non-useful and unnecessary things such as an extra burrito just for that craving. NO !

Stay clear off the debts

Another barrier which stops you from saving a reasonable amount of money is the 'outstanding amount'. Paying back your debts should be made a priority, be it from a friend or bank. Credit cards should also be avoided on the other hand since then you indulge in heedless spending of money. Keeping yourself clear of the debts can ensure you of the loopholes in your savings.