This time I would like to talk about money.
I don’t think that everyone is in trouble about money, but money issues are sensitive topics and sometimes there is no one to talk to even if you are in trouble.
You should manage your money well on a daily basis so that we will not be in trouble when you need it.
When you think about saving money, you may wish you had more income, but most people have a certain amount of income every month, and you need to control your expenses well within that amount.
So what I am going to talk about this time is not about how to make your income high, but about how conscious better about money.
Of course, just thinking about saving money is not enough to save money. The same is true even if you have a high income. If you are not conscious about how you spend your money, it will disappear quickly.
Therefore, in order to save money, our daily awareness and actions are important.
It is believed that there are certain behaviors in our daily activities that help us save money and others that do not.
In this article, we will learn about the behaviors that save money and those that do not, and review our lives from a different perspective.
Messy room = Hard to save money
The rooms of people who tend to save money are often clean and neat.
It is maybe hard to believe that there is any causal relationship between a clean room and savings, but there is a difference between people who have a clean room and those who do not, whether or not they are able to keep track of their surroundings.
A person whose room is well organized knows what is in his or her room, what is there and what is not there. Such a person often has a good grasp of his or her money.
On the other hand, a person with a messy room is not organized and does not know where everything is. This is a sign that they are careless about their surroundings.
And such people often have unnecessary expenses that they are not even aware of. This means that one’s carelessness shows not only in one’s room but also in the way one spends money.
Thus, in order to save money, you must be able to manage your spending. It is not just a matter of buying something because you want it, but you need to determine whether it is really necessary.
For example, people who can save money even if their income is not high do not immediately go out to eat or shop at convenience stores just because they are hungry. This is because they are discerning whether they just want something or whether they really need it.
This discernment is also necessary when organizing a room. In many cases, people who have trouble throwing things away are unable to determine for themselves what they really need.
The root cause of the inability to organize and the inability to save is the same thing.
Not add things
We have talked about the importance of keeping one’s surroundings organized if one wants to save money, but many people may not be good at keeping things organized.
The first thing you can do is to be conscious of “not adding things” and “deciding the quantity and number of things you need”.
For example, even if you find something cheap, you don’t have to buy it if you don’t really need it.
People who tend to buy things when they are cheap often end up buying too much when they go to sale items or cheap stores. For such people, it is recommended to make a list of necessary items and go shopping only for those items.
Many people who have a lot of stuff in their rooms tend to overbuy. To avoid this, it is so much better not to go to places other than where the things you really need are sold.
Second, you should decide on the quantity or number of items you need. Even if you really need something, there is a limit to the number of items you can use it for.
For example, free disposable chopsticks are useless if they are never used.
Even if they are necessary, the more you have, doesn’t mean better. Do not accumulate unnecessary items, and even if you do need something, be aware of the proper amount. Keep these two points in mind.
Refrigerator waste = Waste of money for food
As with the room, the same can be said about the refrigerator. If your refrigerator is unorganized, you are probably wasting money on food.
Unlike other things, foodstuffs in particular are based on the principle of buying only what you can use up.
If your refrigerator is messy and you do not know what is in it, it is very likely that you are wasting a lot of food.
It is very likely that you are buying large quantities of food because it is cheap, but you end up not being able to eat it all. Then, the expiration date comes, and repeatedly throw it away, thinking that it is a waste.
In other words, if you eliminate food waste by organizing your refrigerator, you will be able to save money on food that you have been wasting.
The easiest way to organize your refrigerator is to decide where you want to put your food. By always having the same items in a specific place, you will be able to see the inventory status immediately upon looking at it. This makes it easier to know what you need and how much, and prevents you from overbuying.
If you can prevent foods from appearing in the back of the refrigerator that you don’t even know when you bought them, you will be able to save money by eliminating food wastage.
Eliminate the accumulation of small consumption
Do you buy a pen every time you need one?
People who do not save money tend to repeat this kind of consumption, which they tend to think of as small. It is not a big expense if it is only one time, but if you keep repeating it, it will become a big expense before you know it.
The same can be said for drinks and snacks that are easily obtained. The way to reduce such consumption is to stay away from stores that cause such consumption.
However, it may be difficult to avoid using that store at all. In that case, it is a good idea to set a limit for yourself.
After understanding your own spending situation, set rules for yourself, such as how many times you can use the store in a month, or how many items you can buy. By doing so, you will be able to control your spending by eliminating the accumulation of small consumption.
Organize your wallet
After the room and refrigerator, the inside of the wallet also reflects a person’s spending habits. It is said that people who cannot save money often have messy wallets.
A person with a messy wallet is likely to have one of the following problems.
The first is a person who has a bunch of receipts. The second is someone who has a large number of credit cards and loyalty cards. And third, people who put everything in their wallets anyway.
People who accumulate receipts are also characterized by sloppy spending management. People who have a lot of useless cards are those who think only of benefits. And people who put everything in their wallets will have chronically full of stuff.
An important part of organizing your wallet is to be able to keep track of what is in it.
Without looking at your wallet, can you remember what and how much is in it at any given moment?
How much cash is in it and how many credit cards and loyalty cards are there? What else might be in there?
If you don’t remember, it is a sign that you don’t have a good grasp of the flow of money. Start by reducing stuff you have in your wallet to the point where you can keep track of everything.
A good way to do this is to limit yourself to two credit cards or loyalty cards.
If you use too many cards, it will be difficult to manage your money. Don’t carry cards other than the ones you use all the time. If you don’t use them, it is better to cancel them.
If you are prone to overspending on your credit card, use a debit card instead of a credit card, which will immediately debit your bank account instead of the following month, making it easier to manage your money.
Do we really need to buy in bulk?
In supermarkets, there are many products that you can save money on, especially if you buy them in bulk. When you see that, you may often buy them thinking that you can save money that way.
For example, whether it is alcohol or snacks, the unit price may be lower if you buy in bulk. However, by buying in bulk, it becomes easy to consume one more bottle or one more piece even in situations where you could originally hold back.
This ultimately leads to more consumption, and instead of saving money, you end up spending more money. If you buy only what you need for the day, even if it is a little troublesome, you may be able to reduce your expenses in the end.
Therefore, we should be aware of the risk of when you look at the unit price, you may think you are saving money because it is indeed a good deal, but on the other hand, it may be causing you to spend extra money.
There is also the option of investment.
The only ways to improve a household’s financial situation are to “increase income,” “reduce expenses,” and “invest”.
So far, we have talked about reducing expenditures, but let us change our perspective and consider “investment”.
Investment might make more income, but there is no need to force yourself to invest. It requires a certain level of knowledge, and people who already have a specific plan for how to spend their money or who do not have enough funds should not invest.
However, you do not have to invest now, so it is reasonable to start thinking about investing now.
For example, if you only save because you are not sure about investing, you will not earn a significant return. There are interest rates that can be earned by saving in a bank, but at current bank interest rates, they are not enough to be considered earnings.
In comparison, by investing your money in mutual funds, you can expect to earn a large profit. Furthermore, by investing the profit, you can expect to see your investment profit grow even more.
Compared to depositing the same amount of money in a bank, the return can be dozens of times higher.
Of course, there are risks involved in investing. By considering contingencies, calculating your investment budget, and managing your investments efficiently, you can earn a large profit even if you do not have to work.
Start with a small amount to investment
If you are concerned about the risk of investing, we recommend that you start with a small investment.
Recently, there are services that allow you to invest points generated from payments made with credit cards or apps, which do not require any initial cost.
Also, if you are not sure what to invest in, there are services that use AI algorithms to suggest the best investments for you. Although there is a fee for this service, it can be expected to generate sufficient investment income in the long run.
There are many types of investments and services for them, so why not find out what is best for you?
It is also important to be aware that if you are going to start investment, it is important to hold them for the long term. The value of the commodity you are investing in may rise or fall temporarily.
Try to manage your investments based on the premise of holding them for a long period of time, rather than being swayed by temporary fluctuations. Holding an investment for a long period of time will increase its value, and before you know it, you may find that you have made a considerable profit on your investment.
Finally…
In this article, we have discussed the importance of saving money, from organizing your room to investing.
You may have been surprised to learn that there is such a relationship between organizing and saving money, but why don’t you start with what you can do and see the difference?
In addition to being able to manage your money by having a clean room, you may also be able to manage yourself in all aspects, not just money.
When you think about it, it seems like a concept that is somewhat connected to minimalism, although the entrance of the concept is different.
I hope to talk about minimalism another time.
It can start small. Let’s start today a new way of dealing with money to change your life.
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