-
-
-
Services
-
-
-
More
-
POSTED BY ON March 10, 2012 2:50 pm COMMENTS (10)
I am planning to write an article on “Some tips which can reduce your expenses and it works” . Now I dont want to stuff it with generic points like “eat at home” or “make a budget” . I want to use some really tested things which most of the people are not able to even think off or dont know about it .
We all live our life without actually stopping at each points and asking – “What if I tweek this a bit – Will it save me some bucks – without loosing my comfort ?” . I want some of those kind of points .
LIke for example – I have changed my post paid connection to pre paid , as the plans are cheaper in that and now I have a track of how much more I can talk . This reduces unwated calls with unwanted people and I make sure I keep my usage only what is needed. I am able to reduce my bill by 1,000 atleast . But the cost I pay is inconvinience to recharge it online , but its not a big thing as it takes not more than 2 min to recharge it from freecharge.in .
So whats your tip ?
Manish
2021 © Jagoinvestor.com All Right Reserved
HI Manish
Some tips that I subscribe to, includes:
– Cooking healthy food at home and NEVER eating out – if there’s an exotic dish that interests you, get the recipe online & cook yourself. It’ll be a good stress-buster and you will start liking to cook after a while. This is the experience of a person who never knew to make a tea 10yrs back & now even Gourmet today, oneself. All thanks to net.
– invest in data more than voice. Now that’s a personal opinion. You have endless opportunity to communicate via the net than you need not invest much on phone. Like your idea of switching to a frill-free prepaid is best. But take a good Broadband/data connection for saving on communication via mail, net calls, skype, chats – it’s worth the investment.
– Try a few make it yourself like cleaning liquids, compost for garden, soap&bath powders, handstitching basic stuff – you can find tips online
– Switch to a cycle & use your legs (as in walk) & public transportation more – I did it so you gentlemen can definitely give it a try
– See if you can give up on high maintenance luxury items like cars (middle class tip but really helps on petrol & maint costs savings)
– Read blogs online by Retire Early groups, primarily in US – though their culture is so different from Indian culture you can see how they are coming closer to our habits, in order to save & retire early (even if you don’t retire early, at least the tips they give, will help you save more each year)
– See where your bills are going and reduce, cut, save. I have made a post on budgeting and cost cutting based on real data, in response to another post – pl chk it out:
http://localhost/jagoforum2/uncategorized-overlooked-expense-types/5711/
This tool has really worked for me to cut down the ‘big rocks’ in my expense list.
Hi All,
There is one tip i forgot to mention. There is a chain of Medical Store called “Medplus” which offers flat 10% discount on total amount on medicines and 5% discount on all other accessories. I have been using this facility since last about 3 years. Of course Medplus may not be available in all the cities, but wherever it is you can surely use it.
Of course 10% is not a small amount. Is it ?
Regards
Chandrakant D
Many good ideas:
Mine 1 cent is :
dont use the vehicle if you can go there by walk.
Thanks for all your views guys ! …
There are few credit cards that pay you back some 5% to pay utility bills (Telephone, Electricity and Gas). A 5% return on a zero invesment – [even before you eventually pay your credit card dues] – is literally creating money out of thin air, if you will.
Lets not get started with saying Credit cards are bad. They are like fire – you can make or break things – depending on how one uses it.
Use it and pay in full and prevent cash outgo for about 30 – 45 days at least on one side and take cash advances and pay hefty fees and charges on the other side. It is people’s choice!
Hi Manish,
A couple of tested ideas :
1. Buy online if possible. It works very well outside India due to a developed online market, but in India it would still need to get developed.
2. Concentrate upon recurring costs and try to minimise them rather that one off expenses. Examples are monthly telephone, broadband, etc.
3. Avoid reducing immaterial expenses – as you may end up spending disproportionate amount of time in controlling them rather than focusing on higher costs.
4. Usage of energy efficient gadgets. Examples, replacing old CRT Tele with current LED. Replacing normal lamp bulbs with energy efficient CFLs, etc. They really make a difference over a yearly cost;
5. Budgeting the dine out costs – avoiding more than x number of dine outs per month;
6. Changing of cellphone plans.
7. Reviewing the plans for the Tele Cable and see if you can downgrade.
8. Reviewing the insurance providers and see if it makes sense to go to another provider.
9. Using a cycle 😉 This would raise eye brows !
10. Purchasing groceries in bulk then piecemeal. I have often noticed that the so called super stores are at times expensive. There is always a local ‘Shaher’ in every city where you can go once a quarter and buy bulk goods such as lentils, rice, etc. which may be cheaper than the superstores.
And above all, if one may not take their wife to shop, they may reduce the bill by 25% 🙂
make a group of like minded 3-4 friends and buy seasonal fruits and some vegetables in wholesale for a week by driving to wholesale market of your city instead of a mall or retail shop. some fruits like apples have one month self life.
Dear Manish, My tip, make a habit to go to shopping in malls only with a shopping list & trying max. to sticking to list. cutting down the trips in a month to malls & other shopping joints. During purchasing, compare the price & opt a bigger UNIT if my consumption allows me to purchase that bigger unit.
Thanks
Ashal
Excellent tip. If you want to buy say 500 gm of soap powder, go in for a 1 KG or 2 KG (depending on your storage space for the powder at home).
The higher units usually are cheaper than buying lower units for the same quantity. The savings might be trivial on a single item/purchase, but over a long period, you can save tons on this
Good thought Manish!
Here are a few at the top of my head:
1) Whenever we visit malls and head into a swanky bookstore we walk out with a book or CD. Buying them online, say in Flipkart, makes sense – it is 25% cheaper. At least in metros the delivery is usually done in 48-72 hours. The IMPULSE BUYING decision is one we need to avoid (My spouse reminds me we bought a book last evening in Crossword paying Rs.2 below the printed price!)
2) Movie coupons: If we plan for a movie already the booking it online in sites like bookmyshow makes sense. Usually they offer free tickets, free snacks on select credit/debit cards. It definitely cuts down costs.
3)Pizza coupons are available in plenty. If people eat pizza even once a month it makes sense to cut costs using coupons. Using sites like snapdeal.com gets you good offers on a lot other things.
The MOST IMPORTANT point is this: If you have already decided to buy something it makes sense to go and buy them using these cheaper alternates.
If you decide to buy something because a sale is available you will anyways not value it/cherish it in the long run!