Five Techniques to Cut Personal Expenses



SPECIMEN

1. Save money on your car
 

a. Own the car that is within your means
 

 A lot of people have fallen in the trap of owning cars that are above and beyond their income, maybe they don’t know that expensive cars usually are expensive to maintain. Their monthy maintaince may be higher than the cheap car.

You should think about car spear, do you really have income to replace Land Cruiser or Hammer lights, cluthes, engine e.t.c? Can you afford to fuel it or you just want to    maintain status quo?

Other people especially we Tanzanian and African at large are changing cars like dresses, we are competing with fashion. I am not saying its bad to own good cars but we should evaluate ourselves; what am I try to achieve to by having a new car every month? In my society is every kid going to school and every family having a meal? Why can’t I switch and give back to society and be a blessing?

We should be as our fathers in the bible they were blessed and become blessing to the society. For example Abraham when God blessed him he made him a blessing to others also.

It is important to own the car that is within your means for you to have a stress free life, Amen!

b. Car Insurance

Shop around to find the lowest insurance broker in the market, these days there are a lot of them which means the competition is higher for others to offer lower rate.

It is good also to pay the comprehensive and avoid third party, if anything happen you are sure your car will be recovered.

Third party can be used temporarily to avoid traffic chaos especially if the comprehensive is due and you don’t have enough money to pay for it.

 

2. Save money on your phones
 

a. Cell Phones
 

Cell phones help us to communicate but in our society we are misusing this service hence misusing our finances.

You will a student having three phones, where did you get the money to recharge it? Think about it otherwise you will fall in the trap of doing illegal businesses or having unpleasant relationship then dishonoring God by only maintaining status of recharging mobile phones.

Women have become victim of spending a lot through mobile phones, because they are blessed, like chatting. Before you call someone ask yourself does the conversation worthy it, what is the gain? What are you going to achieve? Above all, is it a blessing or a curse because I am just calling to gossip?

If you recharge your phone, keep the vouchers then at the end of week check the cost, you will be surprised how huge is it than any other bill.

Also beware of promotional message, they will sometimes eat up your money.

Then be disciplined on what to talk on the phone and why? If it is business it is okay....Say no to Blah Blah conversation.

You can save up to 50,000 Tsh and more by disciplining yourself on unnecessary calls.

 

3. Save money on Food
 

a. Buy groceries in bulk
 

Buying foodstuffs in bulk is the best way that help to cut down expenses and save money.

If you are living in Dar es Salaam you can buy in any large local markets like Kariakoo,Buguruni,Ilala,etc and those in other town you can go to your local markets too, there you will get fresh groceries for cheap price. And if you buy it in bulk you will save  hundreds of shillings.

b. Bring your lunch

Price for lunch in cities is ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings,if you spend 5,000 Tsh per day in week it will be 20,000 Tsh. in a month it will be 80,000 Tsh. So if you bring your lunch from home you will be saving between 80,000 Tsh to 100,000 Tsh for a lunch. In a year it will be over a million. Do you see..change your lifestyle.

With that you can quit drinking soft drinks like sodas by bringing juice from home if need be. Or you can drink water and it will be a healthy idea.

d. Make going out to dinner be special

Do not go out for dinner every day, save your money you can go once or twice a month you will save a lot of shillings.

 

4. Save at the bank

Get your bank statements and examine them for hidden fees. Ask for explanation if you find its ambiguous.

If you are not comfortable you can switch to other reasonable bank, you better take your money somewhere where you have control over it and not the bank.

 

5. Save on consumptions

Before any purchases make sure you are getting the best price of your items in the market . You can search and do a comparison on prices.

You can do window shopping which is best way to compare prices. I remember one day I bought some shoes in a posh area, when I share its price with my friend I find out in Kariakoo the same shoes were very cheap.

 

We have just started a section on Christian Finance Advice, stay tuned more to come in this section.