Make spending habits in such a way that you don’t waste a single penny of your hard earned money.

I made some mistakes with my money management in the initial phase of my life (after I got my first job) but I learned a better way of saving money after losing thousands of rupees.

You can save even thousand of rupees per month if you follow these tips.

#1. Switch to Prepaid Mobile Plans

My first mobile connection was a postpaid plan. I realised that I was a fool. I was overpaying to the company.

• It was difficult to track the usage of postpaid plan until you get the bill.
• Sometimes you activate unwanted paid services
• There is no control on the upper limit
• Over usage of paid internet data can cost you as much as 5000 rupees per month.

I switched to prepaid plan, because..

• You pay no service tax on prepaid recharge and get full talk time.
• You get better deals on prepaid mobile
• If you go out of town then you don’t have to recharge prepaid
• You can keep multiple prepaid sims to avoid roaming charges if you travel in different states.

I stayed on a single prepaid plan until my data usage became 1GB per month. There was no prepaid plan that was offering me best options to stay under 500 rupees per month bill for my usage. Now I am using two sims for optimizing my expenses. One prepaid Airtel & One postpaid Idea 4G (399/- plan).

In 99% cases, you will save money in prepaid connection.

Jio plans may seem cheap at this point because they don’t charge for calls. But that will also become costly when you have to pay 999 rupees (+150 Rs tax) for 10GB data.

#2. Go Shopping With A List

Go for buying a belt and returned with a full bag of clothes. It happened with me and it often happens with everyone.

Companies spend a lot of money on marketers who decide which items have to placed on which shelves so that consumer buys more.

You might have seen big baskets near the billing counters of supermarkets which are full of materials under Rs.100 so that customer keeps buying stuff even when standing in the billing line.

I figure out an excellent way to control impulsive buying is to make a list before heading towards the market. I always buy what I need and my bills stay in my control.

Sometimes I have to politely fight with my wife to make list of groceries before we plan our visit to supermarket.

#3. Make Monthly Budget

It’s an old advice but most of us don’t follow it. Ofcouse budgeting and tracking expenses is a boring job.

We are too lazy to spend our time in making budget.

Trust me, you can save a good money if you plan ahead with a budget. Don’t spend too much time like a professional but stay as simple as possible.

Just keep the track of your cash and credit card transactions for one month. Your next month budget will be prepared automatically.

Try it. Record following expenses for the current month.

• Cash
  • Rent
  • Child’s Education
  • Travel
  • Daily Consumables (Dairy+Vegetable)
  • Local Living Expenses
• Credit Card
  • Online Shopping
  • Bills (Mobile, Internet, TV)
  • Dining (Restaurants)
  • Travel (Cabs, Train, Flight)
  • Insurance (Car, Health, Life)

#4. Shopping Online

I love shopping online because I love discounts and deals.

Here are some tips to save money while shopping

• Compare the prices before buying any product online. You can use tools like Makkhi Choose that automatically show the price of the same product on all websites at the same time.

• Check for additional cashback –  There are some cashback websites that offers additional benefits when you shop through their links. For example cashkaro and gopaisa.

• Use payment wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik, Freecharge, PayU to get additional discounts on shopping. PayUMoney gives 1% cashback on online transaction.

• Interest Free EMI on your credit card. Avail the offer to enjoy interest free debt when some companies offer zero interest EMI in peak shopping season.

• Use Free Shipping – While comparing the price also compare the shipping charges. Sometimes lesser price website charges higher shipping charges.

Amazon provides free shipping on orders above Rs 499 but Paytm charges shipping on each product separately. If you order 5 products from paytm then you have to pay 5 times the shipping. Better to shop from Amazon for multiple products.

#5. Avoid The Offer Deals ( buy 2 get 1 free)

You are going for buying a jean, you see an offer buy 2 get 1 free and return home with 3 jeans. Do you ever realise you spend double amount than you supposed to spend before going to purchase.

If each jean’s original cost is 1000 rupees then you are buying 3 jeans in 2000 rupees, means 667 for each jean.

You just got 33% discount. I would rather pick a jean with less discount and buy only one jean if that is my requirement.

In a similar way, 100% cashback deal means just 50% discount.

Also, read – Best credit card in India

#6. Make Online Booking For Travel, Hotels and Movies

I know you might be aware of all the portals for booking your online travel & hotels.

The only thing that you might not be aware is that you can combine credit cards, wallets and discount codes to get double or triple the discount.

I hacked my foreign travel to Thailand by booking accomodation on AirBnb and tickets through cleartrip + discount code + 1% wallet discount + 1% rewards on credit card. Effective cost of our 50 days family vacation was rupees 1,42,800 only.

You must save every rupees possible when booking your travel.

#7. Use Credit Card

You can save in between Rs 500- Rs 1000 per month with the credit cards depending upon your credit card and monthly shopping.

You can save up to 5% cashback on grocery & fuel and up to 20% on dining and movie ticket booking with the credit cards.

Banks allowed the credit bill pay period up to 50 days. You can also earn interest on money by paying through credit card and keep the cash into your bank account.

Also Read – Review of Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card

#8. Select a Good Saving Account

Many people keep their cash in saving account. They lose the interest that they could earn by keeping their money in fixed deposit.

The interest rate offer by majority of banks is 4% on the saving account. But there are some banks like Yes bank and Kotak Mahindra bank offer interest rate up to 6% on saving account.

I figured out one hack to earn more than 6% interest on saving account with any bank.

#9. Diversify your investments

Government employees are obsessive for investments in LIC or Fixed Deposits only. People working in IT companies invest most of their money into mutual funds.

Actually you can save money by investing in multiple investment plans.

Don’t confuse the investments with insurance linked plans. Buy a term insurance and invest rest of the money purely for the investment purpose.

Distribute your money in Fixed Deposits, PPF, Bonds, ELSS, Mutual Funds and Equity Market.

Take a little bit of risk and increase the chances of making great returns.

#10. Buy A Health Insurance Policy

A question may arise in your mind. How it is possible to save money by buying a health insurance when you have to pay premium every year?

My dear friend, it’s better to spend 10,000 per year on premium of a health insurance rather than paying a big money on treatment of unexpected hospitalization.

Money spent on premium of health insurance is the only money that I wish to get wasted. I don’t want any ROI by going to hospital.

Diseases and accidents comes without an invitation. You may save couple of lakh rupees on hospital expenses in case of emergency.

Read – Top Health Insurance Companies In India 2017

#11. Saving From Income Tax

That is the favorite way of saving money for everyone.

Everyone wants to earn more income but no one wants to pay income taxes.

Government keeps on introducing various ways of saving income tax but it becomes difficult to understand all the plans.

There are some investment options like PPF, NSC, LIC premium paid and 5 years FD with banks & post offices  are exempted from income tax upto limit of Rs 1,50,000 under sec 80C. You can also save tax on expenses like medical bill, daily travel expenses and mobile bills.

Don’t listen to the investment agent from a bank who will try to sell you an insurance policy on the name of income tax saving.

I have listed down 27 ways to save income tax in a legitimate way.

Let me know if you like the tips shared in the article.