Saving money is an issue for everyone, and nobody talks about the difficulties of this task at college time. But the key to everything is trying to organize yourself and your financial health.
To prove this point and to prove that everybody is going through the same thing, I talked to Carolina João Araújo, student of marine biology at Universidade Federal de São Paulo, and she gave us some tips to organize yourself, save a little and left over money at the end of the month. Carolina has a job, and is always trying to use her money wisely. As a strategy you can follow this easy advice to start saving money more safely.
Check it out:
- Make a Plan
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First of all you need to know how much you can save per month.
If you have a job, but are still living with your parents, that’s the time to put these resources into savings accounts, or in investment portfolios.Try to make a spreadsheet to organize your finances and organize how much money is going into different categories. When you know how much you are spending, you know how much you are saving.
- Write it down
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Always write your expenses, whether in a notebook or an app. Don’t miss any spending. Every purchase noted, you develop more notion of your budget. Once you have a plan, it is time to make changes. Start to write down everything you buy. With time you will start spending on necessary things.
- Pay your bills early
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If you get paid on the 5th day of the month, pay your bills the same day. Once you eliminate your required expenses, you have liberty to save more money, and expend a little with yourself.
Try to get everything out of the way immediately, this way, with the money that are left, you can plan the rest of your month.“If you don’t prioritize your bills and important things, you will have problems in the future ”, Carolina ends.
- Make Budget cuts
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You can save money with small things like eating lunch box instead of going to a restaurant at lunch time, taking separating money from public transport in advance, taking snacks from home instead of shopping on the street and even not buying something you really want but don’t need at the time.
“Everytime I made budget cuts, I had more money at the end of the month”, remember.
- Avoid credit card
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“The credit card is one of the great enemies of youth savings. Try to avoid it”, says Carolina.
I know it is tempting, but you shouldn’t leave for your future self to pay your present’s self bills. If you’re used to using credit cards to buy superfluous things in your routine, put these expenses on paper and try to cut them.
If you save a lot now, you will have more in the future. Then, once you are settled, you can buy whatever you want.
“Just use credit cards for big purchases, like home appliances for example. You don’t need a credit card on your daily routine”
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The article above was edited by Thays Avila.
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