The idea of saving money has never sounded well in everyone’s ears. Especially in Singapore, a country known for its expensive lifestyle. Many Singaporeans find themselves spending every cent they earn. Some even go further to spend what they have not earned. Mostly, you may find a significant percentage of nationalists earning less than $10,000 monthly, not to mention that category that pockets $2,500 in a month.
I mean, how do you survive on such kind of salary and remain with a small amount to save? That is the question that most Singaporeans would ask. Am I excluded? No. I share a similar experience. Earning $2, 500 as my monthly salary and still, I have to save for my future.
This should sound ridiculous, but it’s possible. How? Some lenders, such as A1 Credit, may help when it comes to saving and investing. However, not all can benefit from such provisions.
As much as saving money from such a salary could be a dream to me at first, I had to make financial commitments and strategize my spending. On every payday, I could lock myself in my room and start calculating my salary.
First, I had to deduct my expenses from the total. You know the necessary costs: food, transport, healthcare, and accommodation. Then I put a small amount aside for personal treatment. Weekend outings and refreshments, you know. Then the remaining amount is directed to my savings account. This is a trick that helps me have a running savings account, and I have never skipped even a single month. To help me further in my money-saving mission, I came up with money-saving tips that I am willing to share in this article.
Adopting The 50-30-20 Guide
Have you ever heard about the 50-30-20 rule? The guide states that you should spend 50 percent of your salary on home expenses, 30 percent should be directed to savings and investments, while the remaining 20 percent should be set aside for lifestyle. Traditionally, it would be hard for anyone to spend less than their salaries and save the balance. Looking at the personal expenses, family care, big purchases, most people would end up broke within the first week or even languish in debts. Unfortunately, as people hit their 30s and 40s, or start making more money, they upgrade their lifestyle. They create larger circles that would leave them with nothing to save. The only survival tool becomes a salary.
This bad-spending habit is what we are trying to curb, and that is why the financial experts came up with the 50-30-20 spending rule, a useful guideline that helps one save the right amount of money every month. With this rule, I always ensure that I do not spend more than 50 percent of my salary on my home expenses. But how do I ensure that I maintain my 50% spending without dipping my hands in the saving accounts? I came up with a spending plan at my house.
Designing A Budget
Regardless of your age or salary, it would help if you had a spending plan kept safely in your household. An idea that will show you where your money goes every month. This will also help you stick to your 50 percent rule and enjoy your lifestyle without necessarily thinking how low your salary is. After adopting the law and applying it to my salary, I could still spend more than had planned. I had to squeeze my savings to raise more money in the mid-months when my groceries were depleted. That why I decided to create a budget to help me have monthly food that could push up to the next salary.
For me to have a sufficient budget, I had to follow two essential steps. First, putting together all the expenses that showed how I am going to divide the 50 percent of the salary. I placed my income on the left side, then listed all the costs on the right side of the paper, ensuring that I never missed any element. The second step is about balancing the equations. On some occasions, you may find yourself spending more on groceries than other items on the list. To prevent this, you can make some adjustments to the expenses, such as taking breakfast at home and carrying your lunch to work and buying groceries in bulk when the price has gone down.
Overcoming The Temptations
Coming up with a spending plan is not an excuse to relax and spend 20 percent of your money on everything that attracts your eyes. You can still maximize your savings by limiting the amount you spend outside your budget. This is what saving experts would call spending temptations. On your spending, you can try as hard as possible to resist the following temptations;
Frequently Buying New Clothes
Everyone can admit how so hard it is to resist the feeling of buying new clothes, especially when you have extra cash in your pocket. For instance, you may be tempted to buy any original trendy fashion cloth that will catch your attention when you walk past the leading cloth line. But since your salary cannot support you with this feeling, you need to resist the temptation and walk home.
Having Coffee with Friends After Work
Most offices provide coffee, either in the morning or afternoon, so why should you waste money buying coffee after work. Although this money is not included in your savings or spending plan, you can frequently prevent buying evening coffee and save that money tomorrow. Imagine spending $7 a week or $21 a month only on coffee?
Buying New Devices
I am always tempted to buy every new phone that comes to the market. It is a habit that I find hard to resist. Do you fall in the same trap of buying new devices every time they are launched? We can overcome this temptation by keeping away from browsing through new products on their websites. It sounds hard, but worth trying. This way, we will maximize our savings.
Conclusion
If you were asking if you can save money from a $2,500 salary in Singapore, can you get the right answer? It was the same question I asked myself a long time ago, but when I decided to give it a trial, it worked. I have given you the only steps I used to achieve my savings goals, and I am a happy beneficiary of the plan. Why don’t you start today and have a working savings account that will cushion you in time of emergency? Follow the right path and be an inspiration to someone else.