12 Ways to Manage
Household Finances with Small Salaries
The size of the salary often affects how to manage it so
that you can avoid a financial deficit. Especially if your salary includes
fixed income, aka a fixed monthly salary with the necessities of life that
often go up and down.
For those with small salaries, they will find it difficult
to save money for several things such as: emergency funds, college fees,
retirement funds, buying a car, and so on.
In fact, it is not uncommon for someone to run out of money
in the middle of the month. This may happen because they are not able to manage
their monthly salary properly in meeting household financial needs.
Moreover, every family must have plans for their future,
such as: vacations, owning their own house and car, to their children's tuition
fees, and retirement funds. The plan requires a lot of money, while looking for
additional income is not something easy.
Therefore, you need several ways to manage household
finances with a small salary so that the plans that have been prepared can be
achieved.
No need to be upset or sad about a small salary, prioritize
being grateful and managing your salary well. Check out the description of 12
ways to manage household finances with a small salary from Cermati.com.
1. Evaluate Installments/House Costs
Many people find it difficult to manage their family
finances because the mortgage has already deducted a large part of their
monthly salary. It is recommended that the mortgage loan is no more than 25% of
the total salary earned each month.
Tips: Look for a mortgage that offers the smallest
installments, or if you can't afford to take home mortgages, you should look
for a cheap rental. There are bound to be some offerings that match your
abilities. The key is that you must diligently continue to seek information.
If you own your own home, you can set aside a portion of
your salary to make savings or invest. If you are single, you can rent a room
in the house for 1 or 2 friends. The money from renting out the room can help
you pay installments cheaper and is a good way to invest. In this way, you can
repay the house and set aside some of the money for other investments such as
savings and emergency funds.
2. Plan Monthly Shopping Carefully
Financial waste tends to occur when using money to follow
desires, even though wants are not necessarily needs. The best way to use a
small income is to make a monthly spending plan using a written budget.
Spend money according to the plan that has been prepared.
When it's time to buy what you need, you already have a budget for shopping.
However, do not use money beyond the budget that has been prepared, because the
remaining money has been allocated for other needs.
Tips: Plan a monthly budget in writing, by dividing the list
of expenses into two, namely: primary needs and tertiary needs.
Primary needs include: food, transportation costs,
electricity, water and telephone bills, house installments, motorbikes and cars
and others. While tertiary needs include: a budget for shopping for clothes,
traveling, to a budget for hanging out with friends or coworkers.
Planning a grocery list is very efficient because by
shopping in bulk, prices will be much cheaper, so you can save more on buying
food and have more savings. In addition to getting used to making a monthly
spending plan budget, you also have to get used to complying with the financial
budget that has been made.
3. Buying Items That Are Still Worth It
Buying items that are still fit for use can save your
budget, such as: used cars, used electronics, used furniture, and so on. Many
people give cheap offers for used items that are rarely used, some are never
used.
Sometimes people can find items whose boxes have been
opened, but the items inside have never been used, but are not sold at like new
prices because the packaging has been opened. There are many online stores that
offer these rarely used used items, you have to be diligent in looking for them
on the internet.
Tips: Buying used items that are still worth using or used
items in conditions like new items will really help you save money. For
example, for families who have just moved house and need furniture such as
tables, chairs and other household furniture.
It's a good idea to buy used goods that are still good at
thrift stores, flea markets, or online stores, but don't forget to bargain.
With a little polish semrot, used tables and chairs will look like new.
4. Has Automatic Temperature Control
Automatically programmed thermostats can help you save
money, making it easier to set aside money for savings. Choose an air
conditioner that has a temperature control with the lowest energy power, so it
can save energy and save money, even though the purchase price is slightly more
expensive than the regular model.
Tips: Even though it is programmed
automatically, you can still manually change the temperature of the house as
you wish. Sophisticated temperature control can sense when the owner is away
from home, thus automatically reducing energy use, this is more efficient.
Although a little expensive, but more energy efficient and more durable.
Currently, many air conditioners are designed automatically according to the
required power.
5. Use Credit Cards Wisely
Shopping using a credit card is easy and everything can be
purchased. Credit cards can help manage finances, if you use them smartly, such
as: using the promos given to buy the items you need.
But credit cards can also get you stuck in long-term debt if
you use them carelessly. Research has shown that credit cards are the easiest
way to spend money, because in addition to the amount of money spent there are
also interest and credit card administration fees.
Tips: If you can't control your credit
card, it's best to forget about credit cards, if you want to save money and
save money. The habit of using credit cards carelessly will make it wasteful
and have serious financial consequences, don't let the household make a fuss
because of credit card debt.
6. Save Expense for Multiple Activities
You can do several activities at once to save expenses such
as: buying lunch while doing errands outside the office. This will save more on
fuel costs than making some trivial inefficient trips.
Tips: Save the difference in the money
to a savings account periodically. Even if your house is close to work, you can
grab your own lunch and coffee at home. There are always ways to save money to
make savings, it's up to you.
7. Reduce Riding Motor Vehicles
Going to Office by Bike
You can walk, ride a bicycle or take public transportation instead of using a car to go to the store or work.
Tips: You can save money on fuel and you will also get
additional benefits, namely a healthier body with lots of exercise.
8. Looking for Additional Income
Take advantage of the time you have to look for additional
income. There are many ways to earn additional income such as: selling credit,
being a freelance writer, selling online, and so on, the most important thing
is that it doesn't interfere with your main job. The more additional income,
the more salary that can be set aside for savings.
9. Cut Down on Eating Out or Order Meals Online
Occasional dining at restaurants and ordering meals online
is fine, but if this becomes a regular habit it will drain your paycheck
quickly.
Restaurant food costs at least up to 4X more than homemade
food. Not to mention if you often order food online, of course your meal costs
will go up.
Tips: If you want to save money, you should make your own
food at home. Try to eat at restaurants or order food online (Go Food or Grab
Food) only occasionally and not every day. Do this and see how much money you
can save by cooking yourself.
10. Use PayLater Wisely
In meeting household needs, PayLater is nothing new. The
convenience of getting a loan of money online through a loan application or
e-commerce can make you mistaken.
Make sure you use paylater wisely, not for consumptive needs
or use paylater because you want to shop not because of important needs. You
have to realize that paylater is the same as debt, you still have to pay it and
try not to be late paying off debt.
11. Choose a Package and Use Internet Data Efficiently
Internet data has become a basic need for the people of
Indonesia. Especially now that everything is online, whether it's work, trade
to school/education, everything is done online.
Automatically, you definitely need an internet data package
or a WiFi connection at home. To save money, try to choose an internet or Wi-Fi
data package that suits your needs at a price that fits your budget.
12. Shopping with Discounts, Free Shipping, to Cash Back
Save more shopping by taking advantage of discounts, free
shipping to cash back when shopping for food or other necessities. You can
obviously save a lot of money, especially if you are smart in looking for
discounts/promotions when shopping online or offline.
Discipline is the Key to Success
There are many ways to save money if you are willing to do
so. Discipline in carrying out a financial plan is the key to managing a small
salary. Use some of the ways above to achieve a healthy financial condition.
Try to calculate how much you save from each method and save
the money in the bank as an emergency fund, or into a regular savings account
for investment.
Managing money with a small salary is not easy to do. Don't
just give up. You should try to try the 12 tips above. Hopefully your financial
condition and income will be better this year.
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