Iponmuna: The Online Money Saving Expert

Want to speed up filling your savings basket? “When you are out during the day, don’t spend money you get as change. Then, after you come home and are ready to make contributions to your basket/account, be sure to include all of those unspent money along with your coins.

These are called “hacks.” Here are some of money-making and saving hacks to help you save more or spend less.

Saving More

Take your discipline completely out of the equation by automating your savings. Save before you see the money by transferring it automatically from every paycheck into savings. Instead of trying to find the moneyevery month, you set it once and watch the money pile up. Saving automatically is more efficient and more effective. If you take the traditional approach—waiting until you’ve paid all your bills before saving what’s left—there’s often nothing left to save. There’s a reason “pay yourself first” has been the mantra of the money-enlightened for decades: It works.

Paying Your Bills on Time

Most banks offer automated bill payment you can set up online. Utilities and other companies offer this service too, and might waive convenience fees or offer discounts for the right to suck money directly fromyour account. If your monthly bills include debt payments, automatically pay more than the minimum to work off debts faster. Minimum payments are for losers.

Create a Budget

Traditional budget worksheets are a thing from the past. It’s time to throw out the paper and pencil and let your computer or phone do the heavy lifting. Use a free service like web saving softwares/apps to establish goals and automatically track your spending. For even more convenience, look to the dozens of apps—many free—that can put your computerized budget into the palm of your hand.

While tracking and analyzing your expenses is the only way to know if there’s really any money hiding in your budget, the time-honored technique of using a change jar is a low-tech and simple way to save. When you come home, simply empty your pockets or purse of change. Start doing this and the amount you’ll save might surprise you. Try it.

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Got a tight budget? Start using coupons, search for discounts or buy items you typically purchase at lower-cost. But if you really want to get big savings, consider cutting out products and services you really don’t need.

A lot of things can be eliminated, and you can do it without sacrificing convenience and your quality of living. Here are some basic things you can stop buying just to give you an idea;

Coffee Visits

Buying a cup of coffee every day can burn quite a lot in your wallet depending on what coffee you drink. A small cup of brewed coffee from Starbucks costs around Php 100, which equals Php 500 a week if you buy one cup a day or Php 1000 if you buy two cups a day.

A better alternative is to brew your own. You can buy cheap ground coffee at your local market for about Php300 (depending on where you buy it, cheaper in Batangas though =) ), and that brews about 200 6-oz. cups (or 400 12-oz. cups).

Landline Phones

You could make calls on your cellphone, or take advantage of free calling services. For instance, Skype provides free calls to other Skype users and free video calling (in which you talk face-to-face with live video).

Incandescent Light Bulbs

It’s “greener” to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and can also save you money on your electric bill in the long run. Although it will cost you a few more up front, replacing one incandescent bulb with a CFL bulb will save Php 1000 or more over the lifetime of the bulb, and changing five bulbs will save Php 5000 or more over the lifetime of the bulb. What’s more, CFL light bulbs last at least six times longer than traditionalincandescent bulbs.

Disposable Water Bottles

Whether you’re heading out to the gym or packing your lunch, it’s easy to just bring a disposable water bottlein your bag. But those water bottles can really add up, even if you buy them in bulk. To save money, skip the disposable bottles and buy a reusable water bottle.

Baggage Fees

These days checking-in a bag for a flight can cost a some money. If you’re a frequent flyer, avoid the fee by packing your things in a carry-on, or consider sharing a check-in bag—and splitting the fee—with someone you might be traveling with.

You could also choose to fly with an airline that does not charge for checked bags. Some airlines accept the first two checked-in bags for free, as long as they’ll not exceed their free limit for each.

Saving Hacks

Things You Should Stop/Buying