How many times you made a New Year resolution and could not stick to it? Happy New Year 2017 to all my blog readers. All these New Year we never forget to make New Year resolutions to make coming year better. What we do forget is to learn from the mistakes we have made in previous year and vow not to repeat it. After a lot of thinking, and looking at my Walnut App (which is a nice app to keep records of expenses) I came to a conclusion that all these years I was spending a lot and some of these expenses can be cut down. To make year 2017 and ahead a better saving year, here are few things I have decided to do while shopping:
1. Not to stroll at Super market: Most of the times all I have to buy is a loaf of bread but I end up buying things worth thousands, all because of unnecessary strolling at super market. All those goodies look so delicious, especially when you are hungry. To avoid over spending on unnecessary things, always make list of things that you need to buy and stick to it.
2. Use Coupon codes: If I count how much money I could have saved by using coupon codes, the figure would give me a heart attack. Online coupon sites like Grofers offer wide range of latest and working coupons that can be used at online stores and save huge amount of money. So whenever you see an option to use coupon at checkout on any online store, look for coupon code and apply it. For mobile and DTH recharges, there are always coupons and cashbacks available, do make use of them and save a lot of money.
3. Make food at home: Eating at restaurant is convenient but cost so much money. Cooking the same dish that you eat regularly at restaurant at home will always be much cheaper. Downside is that you may have to do the dishes if you don’t have a maid.
4. Use Google earth to find best route: Before heading to a new shopping mall, always use Google earth to find the best route from source to destination. Google will let you know how much KM’s you will have to drive if you choose a particular route. This saves a lot of fuel and time as well.
5. Shop smarter: Do not hurry up to buy things that you do not need immediately. Do your research and read reviews before buying. This will save you from buying worthless products.
6. Buy things locally: Driving 20 KMs to get that 5% less price on something? Does not make any sense right? Buy things from shops that are closer to you home even if they sell at slightly higher price because the amount you save on fuel is worth more. Also consider the wear and tear of car and time spent on going to a shop which is far away from your home.
7. Recycle things: Any appliance or gadgets that get old or stop working, before throwing them out make sure that you pull out all the things from it that can be used later. Like I often take apart power chords, LED’s, transformers, capacitors and other useful (and expensive) components which can be used later on to repair other appliances.
8. Grow your own food: You don’t need a farm to grow vegetables. Using pots you can grow many vegetables at home and enjoy super fresh home grown vegetables. I have grown lettuce, mint and coriander, green chilies, brinjal etc successfully at home in pots. One must try growing lettuce because they are quite expensive in market and there is no comparison to the freshness and taste that you get with home grown lettuce and that too at a fraction of the cost.