Getting your first real job can be somewhat challenging and exciting. At one point, you should set strategies to save money, on the other hand beat the urge to splurge is not that easy, especially in the early phase of the career where you feel you do not have any liabilities and seems like all the money you get equals to freedom to enjoy your life to the fullest. However, always remind yourself that investing money and building wealth take time, one cannot just put the money in the ground and watch the money tree grow overnight.
Because wealth creation takes time, you should start saving money in the early stage of your career since this is the time where your money starts to flow steadily on a regular basis, without any additional responsibilities you may get once you are older.
Set your personal budget
Do not assume too early, sometimes even if you get a large amount of income, you still can end up in debt, and taking a lower paying job does not always mean you cannot fulfil your daily needs while saving at the same time. This is the solid reason why you should set your personal budget. Although it seems a bit tricky at first, determining how much you need to spend on shopping, paying taxes, saving, and lifestyle expenses can help you take control of your whole salary. In order to get used to it, you can start by writing down the approximate expenses you need to spend, and then learn the pattern from that record. When it becomes habitual, in the coming months you would automatically know to take control of your finances.
Make your loose change really count
Never underestimate the power of saving all those coins you get when you purchase something at stores. Collect the coins and spend it on smaller needs such as for bike parking or buying snacks. You would save more money for other necessities.
Create another bank account
You may think it is too early to spare your income for future needs. But once you are in the future, chances are you may end up regretting your financial habits when you were younger! To avoid being spent for unnecessary stuff, you can create another bank account intended especially for saving—if you are initially out of debt or free from any liabilities you can work up to saving around 10% of your total monthly income. To motivate yourself, you must set the goals for it—for instance, in 5 until 10 years to come you would buy your own house, or in 3 more years you plan to set your own wedding. Or else, you may set the goals for more serious reasons such as for retirement or saving for emergencies. Never merely put your money in another bank account without labelling the purpose or you would not be motivated in sparing your money there.
Create detailed plan and the goals, then get some advises afterwards
However, creating the purpose of saving money is not that effective for some people, especially if you are the type of person who pays attention to detail. Once you set the purpose, you may create the detailed plan and goals of how much you should spare in a month and try your best to achieve the goals monthly. To keep renewing and motivating your bigger plan, always evaluate your financial record and reset it annually. If it does not enough for you due to minimum knowledge in building wealth by saving money; read financial books, ask the financial experts or attend classes about finance might help you.
Avoid using credit cards
Credit cards are very tempting, you can spend any future money you haven’t planned or budgeted before. The consequences would come to you perhaps not in a snap, but for the long run you would end up with unhealthy cash flow as you have to pay for it later. If you cannot avoid using credit cards or putting yourself in debt, make sure you already have the plan to repay it. Some people only use credit cards for the discounted prices purpose, you can opt for this method however never do it unless you already have the money to immediately pay the full amount of the bills.