What are Your Saving Habits?

Everyone has their own personal methods or style of saving their money. This is understandable as each person’s income and expenses vary and no one is the same.

There are so many ways to save money and you can get an abundant of tips just by reading the information found in this website. Have you ever stop to think back on who taught you to save? Is it a self-learned habit? Perhaps your parents were the one to instill this habit when you were young?

My saving habit is partly self-learned through trial and error. Yep, making mistakes is sometimes necessary in order for us to learn and move on. My parents especially my mother is largely responsible for teaching me aboutsaving money. Her teachings are by example and by recounting her own personal experiences with money. The obvious one that stands out is her account of stretching her meager earnings for dailyexpenses and savings.

My mom’s story

Back in my mother’s younger days, when I was still in diapers, she had RM0.20 to spend on breakfast and lunch. More often that not, it meant foregoing either breakfast or lunch. She would use the money to buy a cup of coffee and a bun (Chinese Pau) for her daytime meal. Out of that 20 cents, she would have 5 cents left to be put away. Part of her earnings also went towards helping to support her younger brother through school and towardssaving for a rainy day.

My own saving habit really started in secondary school where I would jot down my daily spending in a small note book. The purpose is to track where my money was going and how much I had left. To this day, I have maintained the habit of keeping track of my spending which now includes the entire family’s spending.

As you can see, my saving habit rests upon knowing where my money is going. If I can control how I use my money and how much is being spent, this prevents unnecessary spending. Most of my money goes towards necessities or needs instead of wants. Therefore, every month means having a positive cash flow to be put aside for a rainy day.

I did not even use a budget system as this method alone was good enough to ensure money never ran out at the end of each month. Looking at the big picture, controlling your spending is the easiest way to save money. Then invest the money wisely and at the end of the day when you are ready to retire, you will have something to support you.