How I’ve been saving money

I’ve always had enough money to spend ever since I started working at fifteen. As I student I quickly managed to figure out that money makes life more fun. Well, not the money itself but the things and experiences you can exchange it for. This is how I ended up having up to three jobs at the same time. When I started my agency in April 2015, I knew there were going to be times where I wouldn’t have a lot of money. Or any money at all, which is part of being an entrepreneur. So, this is how I’ve been saving money to keep my life fun!

Minimalism and fashion

I’ve always been good at saving money, because my parents taught me well. I did however spend a lot of money on clothes and cosmetics. I already had so much, but I thought it was mandatory to keep up with all the trends. How else could I be stylish and trendy myself!? Thank the lord for quickly learning how to rock a capsule wardrobe and still look cool. Minimalism helped me save money because it changed my mindset about shopping and fashion.

I used to buy things without thinking too much about it. I’m not saying you should overthink everything you buy, but it’s good to check if you really need it and really like it. For instance, I would buy a lot of phone cases to match them with my outfits. Who in the world needs five phone cases!? Right, no one really does. By stopping these useless shopping sprees using minimalism, I’ve been saving a lot of money. I made a conscious decision to save more money in order to spend in on experiences and awesome memories.

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Goodbye subscriptions

I think the average household has a lot of subscriptions. Newspapers, magazines, mobile phones, television, equipment and maybe even a grocery delivery service. I’ve been saving money by getting rid of every subscription I don’t really need. I stopped my magazine subscriptions and the one for my television, since I never even had one. It was just a part of the phone plan I purchased, but wasn’t able to separate  services until recently. Some providers don’t give you the option to subscribe to one thing only, very annoying!

But when my provider did start to offer a service like this, I immediately canceled my tv and landline subscription. This saves me around €30 each month, nice! The only subscriptions I have now are Netflix, Videoland (which I’m stopping soon), internet and my mobile phone. I don’t even miss the other subscriptions since I never watch tv. I rarely read a magazine and I never used the landline phone. Also, Netflix and Videoland are watchable wherever I am, which is much better than a tv mounted to the wall.

Grocery lists and meal plans

Oh yeah, I love me some food! To be honest, back in my student days most of my money went to food. I often went to lunch or dinner with friends. I mostly ate outside during my internships and it was almost always fast food. Can you imagine spending around €10 every weekday on food? Yes, that gets expensive really fast. And it’s not like we didn’t have any food at home. My parents always made sure we had enough to eat and snack on. I was just too lazy to pack my lunch and I enjoyed fast food over a normal sandwich.

Needless to say, I was losing a lot of money and gaining a lot of fat, haha! Therefor I’ve been watching my food budget for the last five years like a hawk. Basically when I started living on my own, I knew I had to make a change. I do spend a bit more on healthy food, because I think that is very important. But I haven’t seen the inside of a McDonalds in over five years. I rarely order take-out anymore and that saves up to €50 a week. Yes, I know… That’s a lot! I also ordered a lot of take-out food, so you do the math. I do still go out to dinner sometimes, but that doesn’t cut into my budget since I have money left to spend.

Buying gifts

This isn’t a humble brag, but the truth. I’m a very giving person and when I’m happy, I want you to be happy too. That’s why I bought my mom a gift from the money I made of my first job. I didn’t even buy anything for myself. This trend kept on going for a really long time in my life. I would buy my friends and family gifts a lot. Mostly to share my happiness or because I wanted to let them know I care.

But when I spend, I spend really well, haha! The gifts I would buy often cost a lot of money and I liked it that way. I like giving people things they actually like, made of good quality. As you can imagine, that also cost me a lot of money. How I’ve been saving money is by not buying gifts all the time anymore. I don’t even know where I picked up this habit, I just did it. Needless to say, giving gifts isn’t necessary and it’s not good for your budget. Let me tell you, I saved a lot of money by not giving so many gifts anymore.

Start saving money today

Now, there are of course many things you can do to save money. I just wanted to show you some real life changes I’ve made. This helped me save about a €150 a month when I started making more money. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less but it is saved money nonetheless. I still live a cool life and I can do whatever I want. I just choose to not buy and invest in things I don’t really need. I’d rather have some extra cash in the bank for cool experiences and awesome memories.

I hope this article inspired you to do the same. Let me know and tell me what you did to save some money!

Kaya-Quintana

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