The Easiest Money-Saving Guide that will make any 20-Something Feel Rich even if it's Month-End!

It’s here; we are approaching the end of another month. Every 27-30 days, we revisit this time when our pockets go dry. They feel lighter than the previous day. When the last notes and coins start coming out of our wallets like a cash dispensing machine, giving way to the torn inners of that purse to peek out shamelessly.

Feeling helpless, we put it back into our back pockets stealthily, counting in our heads what we may be left with in our bank account. The plight only begins here. Talk to parents in the evening after a hectic day at work and literally no money, and there they go– “You should save 50% of your salary. When we were your age, we would save more than spend. Why haven’t you got yourself an LIC policy yet? If you don’t like that idea, invest in mutual funds or better yet, let’s get you flat on EMI!!”

And here you are thinking.. REALLY?!! With no investments whatsoever, I have run out of cash already. With investments, I may have to sell myself to pay the EMIs.

And as the ranting is still on from the other side, you feel - PARENTS CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND and so, you hang up. This is the common story of every 20-something who has set out from his/her home to build a career from scratch.

Well, let’s not talk about investing money, because you have heard enough of that advice, but the fact that you are cashless at the end of the month is not something you want to face. It leaves you cutting down on getting proper means for yourself and that’s definitely not a good idea!

So here’s a little advice on how you can enjoyably spend your salary and yet not run out of money by month-end. It’s no mammoth task, it requires sweet little baby planning your spends and you will be fine:

Generally speaking:

1. Put the money aside that you want to save, plan your month with the rest of the money.

2. Now there may be a world of things you want to do with the rest of the money, but you cannot. So make a list of the things you want (say 20 things) and prioritize the ones that you want the most (say 3 or 4).

3. Use that list to also see what are your needs and wants. If you have a meager salary, learn to live on your needs not on your wants, and if possible adjust your needs as well (ex: maybe you can do with a cheap soap over that branded body wash)

Let’s now get more specific:

From your salary, keep 10% aside for your things of interests.
20% for your diet
30% aside for your needs (House rent, travelling fare, meals, paying bills etc)
10% as buffer for any of the above (emergency funds)

Now you can save 30% (which is really a significant amount) of your salary. At the end of the month (or whatever your cycle is for getting paid) if there’s any extra money you are left with from that 70%, save that too!

On second thoughts, I would never suggest you to save that extra income unless you really need to.

Therefore, some points to remember -:

1) Never adjust so much that you kill your interests (put some money aside 10% for the things in which you are interested – shopping, watching movies, eating out etc and remember, money will grow with your salary.)

2) Never adjust on a healthy diet. If you are doing so you are killing yourself.

And the best advice - Make more money:

Go for second income as well. As by only saving you can never save so much money with a small salary. Try to work on some weekends on contract basis/freelancer so that you are not always bound to anyone. Take a project, finish it, take rest for a while and enjoy with extra money that you earned and then go for next project when you are ready!

Try it, and I assure you, your wallet is not going to feel lighter as you approach this time of the month!