Whatever your financial goals are, these simple strategies will help you to maximise your Ringgit in year 2021!

Having resolute financial goals in the midst of uncertainties brought about by the pandemic can serve a source of calm and provide a much-needed stability. On top of that, it can also help you to visualize the future you wanted to build, which can improve your overall well-being.

What we must understand, however, is that getting yourself on sound financial footing takes time and a lot of patience. But when you are being plunged into a financial crisis, time is a luxury you cannot afford. Debtors are chasing. Bills are accumulating. You need adapt to your changing financial situation, as swiftly as you can.

In those situations, keeping a tight budget and frugality are keys to survive and come out of the financial shitstorms unscathed. And if you do not wish to walk on a financial tightrope anymore, first, you need to learn how to save and how to save fast!

We have compiled several useful strategies here not only to help you with saving money fast but hopefully you will be using these tips to make long term financial changes for the better.

1. Understand Your Finances by Keeping Track of Your Spending

Financially successful and stable people all have one thing in common – they know where every cent goes. Keeping track of your spending, big or small, is crucial in the fight against whatever economic turbulence is coming creeping over the horizon. If you aren’t regularly tracking your spending, you don’t know where your money is going. Which makes it impossible to how and where to save money.

First thing you need to do is to learn to budget. If you’re in control of your budget, you’re in control of your finances. If you don’t know where to begin, start small by keeping track of all your income and expenses over a 30-day period – that means every household item, every cup of coffee and other relatively miscellaneous, insignificant spending.

After you have gathered all your data, compare your monthly income to your monthly expenditures to evaluate how much you’re currently managing to save, or how much you’re overspending each month. With that knowledge, you can organize your spending categorise them into fixed and variable costs. Your fixed costs are expenses that are usually difficult to adjust, such as your rent and utility bills. Your variable costs include more readily-adjustable expenditures such as groceries, entertainment, and subscription services. Now, you can start saving more money, faster by cutting back on the variable costs.

2. Pay Off Your Debt

It makes sense to pay off debt first before saving because the longer you delay paying off a debt, the larger it becomes due to accumulating interest over time. The majority of the people pay only the minimums on their debts each month without ever taking the time to work out what their debts cost over time, which unfortunately leads them to paying hundreds or even thousands of Ringgit in interest each month.

If you want to save money fast, pay off your debt faster!

One of the methods you can employ to clear your debt is the Snowball Method in which you begin by tackling your smallest debts first, subsequently roll the amount used to pay your first debts into paying off your bigger ones similar to rolling a snowball down a hill. Seeing you debt eliminated will keep you engage and in the momentum to keep on rolling!

3. Automate Your Savings to Your Designated Savings Accounts

Create a separate savings account for each different savings goal you have and you’ll reap many benefits and the biggest of them all is to avoid the temptation of dipping into your savings for non-essential items and daily expenses. Also, it will keep you motivated to follow your daily budget.

Better yet, you can automate transfers of a fixed amount of money to each different savings account each month just to make sure you’re on track to achieve all your savings goals. This could be transferring RM200 a month to your emergency fund account; RM 300 to your house deposit account, so on and so forth. By automating your savings, you further reduce the risk of overspending or using these funds to cover your non-essential expenses.

4. Stop Buying, Start Selling

Impulsively buying random thing we want but don’t need is the number one challenger to saving money fast. Before you succumb yourself to instant gratification of online shopping and wasting all your hard-earned money instead of saving them, always give yourself three to four days to mull over your purchase decision. Most of the time, you will realize you don’t really need those latest pair sneakers or that dress you’ll wear only once.

Plus, most of us have more than what we need. Look around your house, there are plenty of unused stuff just lying around, gathering dust. You can sell them on Facebook Marketplace, Carousell, or even on Instagram, not only it will help you to de-clutter your house, you can also make a quick buck and put those earnings into your savings accounts. It’s a win-win for the new buyer and you!

5. Starting A Side Hustle

I know what you are thinking. More work? Listen, if you don’t want to cut your expenses hard, then you got to work harder! When you earn more money, you can boost your savings significantly and quickly and you will have less stress in terms of budgeting.

Here are some side hustle ideas you can explore for example securing a few freelance gigs, becoming a virtual assistant, pet sitting, becoming a Grab driver or delivery-partner, starting a Shopee or Lazada e-commerce business just to name a few.

Furthermore, a side hustle can help you to create a second income stream which puts you in a better position to be prepared if one source of income fails.

Always Remember Don’t Be Too Harsh on Yourself

Oftentimes, we are our own worst critic. Don’t not beat yourself up or think any less of who you are as a person if you are unable to hit your savings target for the month as unexpected financial setbacks happen to the best of us.

It comes down to having the right mindset and discipline to focus on what is important. Hit the reset button and try again next month. Remember that your mental health is more important than trying to achieve any savings goals!

Avex Credit is a licensed money lender in Malaysia under the purview of Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and governed through Money Lenders Act 1951 and Money Lenders Act (Amended) 2003. We provide a variety of personal and business loans that are tailored to meet your specific needs.

Apply for funding and find out if you qualify today.