Once you’re in the rhythm of running an established farmstead, it can be tricky to change your ways and increase your rate of saving money to embark on your next big project.
Be it a DIY job that you see as essential, a new build, creating a new system of recycling, or getting the fundamentals in place to become more eco-friendly or self-sufficient, getting the capital to embark on the project and obtaining all of the required materials can be challenging. So, here are a few of the easier ways to save cash without drastically changing your lifestyle.
Ignorance isn’t bliss
The best way to commence saving money is to see how much is being spent. Now, you don’t need to get out your bank statements, run the numbers, and calculate areas where you can cut costs. Something as subtle as an extra little screen in the kitchen will help. Smart meters are on the rise and proving to be very useful to those looking to save money with minimal effort.
As this little bit of tech shows you how much each use of your utilities is costing you in real-time, as well as your daily and weekly outgoings, you naturally adjust your habits, knowing the cost of each activity. By the end of this year, over 100 million electric smart meters are expected to be installed across the United States, per Statista, with them now seen as an essential household item for many.
Cut your biggest expenses
As a property owner, the chances are that your biggest monthly expense is your mortgage. If you’re not new to the loan, you can most probably shave a fair bit off your monthly payments. When you sign-up for a mortgage, the longevity of it usually has people caught in the mindset that they are on that deal until it’s finished. However, unlike your phone contract, you can easily switch providers mid-contract when it comes to your mortgage.
You probably found that getting a mortgage in the first place was a long and arduous process, but as you now have the option to compare mortgages with Trussle online for free, the process of finding a better deal and then remortgaging is much easier. By filling in just six boxes, you’ll be met by a list of mortgage and remortgage providers who can offer you the best rates. So, setting off on the path to save on your mortgage is both quick and easy, with potential payment reductions for anyone looking to save money.
Try a new, tech-rejecting diet
Spending money has become so easy that many people don’t even know how much they’re spending each month. With the ease of merely pressing pay online or tapping a card to a scanner, we don’t have to think before we buy, nor do we get to see a running count of our expenditures. As such, people have been prescribing the “cash-only diet.”
As the name suggests, throughout the duration of the diet – with the exceptions of your monthly bills going out via your online bank account, presumably, you are only allowed to use cash to make purchases. As relayed by someone at Business Insider who tried the cash-only diet, following it enables you to see exactly how much you spend, makes you put more thought into each purchase, and gives a realistic view of how quickly you spend money. Furthermore, it is less convenient to get cash out and adds another deterrent to spending. Also, any additional change can be put aside as savings.
Whether it’s keeping a closer eye on your expenditures or cutting the costs of your biggest outgoings, follow these tips to save cash for your next big project.
