The market slowdown due to COVID-19 has impacted all the developing and developed countries. A lot of people are facing pay cuts, delayed promotions, and job loss. But can you learn something from this scary experience? Yes! This is the time to master some good money-saving skills. Also, it will be a good idea to adopt some fruitful financial habits.
Here are the 8 essential money-saving habits & tips which will help you to save more money in lockdown and otherwise as well: –
1. Don’t Overstock Groceries
People tend to hoard groceries in fear of stuff being unavailable due to lockdown. But do you know that there are 2 main disadvantages of accumulating things? One is that it takes a significant amount from your money savings. Plus, it further leads to black-marketing and price hikes as hoarding of groceries brings scarcity of the stuff at the supermarket counter. So, buy only as much as you need.
2. Review Your Emergency Savings
It’s great that you are saving for a rainy day. But you must review your emergency savings from time to time. Check if you can get more interest from some other bank or savings scheme. Remember, inflation is catching up gradually. So, if you don’t invest in the plan which gets you maximum returns, you might face loss in the longer run.
3. Unsubscribe Unnecessary Memberships
Take out time to review all your memberships and subscriptions. Like sports clubs or gyms, some of them are those you can’t use in a lockdown. Are you reading your subscribed magazines? Are you going to your aerobics or yoga classes? Do you need those many OTTs? If any of the answers came as “not really”, cancel that membership and subscription without any delay.
4. Prepare Your Food at Home
Food Takeaways or ordering foods are not suitable for both your health and wealth. Although restaurants and food delivery companies are taking necessary precautions, the threat of exposure to the virus is always there. Moreover, cooking food at home is cheaper any day. Thus, it is beneficial from the money-saving point of view as well. Avoid ordering food as much as you can and prepare your food at home.
5. Ask for Refunds for Goods & Services of no Use
If you took the gym membership or restaurant coupons just before the lockdown, you have all the right to ask for a refund. You won’t be able to use them for a long time. So, the service providers are liable to give you a refund. It’s ok if a part of your total payment or fees gets deducted. But there is no point in letting a considerable amount go to waste.
6. Look Out for Financial Help
There are a lot of profitable schemes of the government to provide financial assistance to the general public. There are schemes for tax relief or fund arrangements for school fees for your kids. The government also offers relief on your EMIs for a few months. You can take advantage of these schemes and use the fund available with you for the rainy-day savings.
7. Don’t Accumulate Debt
One of the bad financial habits to avoid is not paying your credit card bills and EMIs on time. The temporary breather you get in your monthly budget comes back to haunt you in the form of massive debt with interest in the future. So, clear your debt on time and save the huge interest you need to pay on your debt.
8. Report a Faulty Product
It might happen that you bought a faulty product from a store, but the store got closed due to a lockdown. In that case, you don’t need to get stuck with the unwanted product. Send your complaint in a written email to the store or the company. And ask them to take their product from your home or take it back once the store is open.
Key Takeaway!
The Financial effects of the pandemic are devastating for the whole world. However, India is badly hurt because of being a developing economy. Thus, as an Indian, you need to be more prepared. These money-saving tips will help you survive the current slowdown and teach you how to maintain emergency saving funds for such a crisis in the future.
Author Bio:
Aatish Khanna works with the Content Marketing team at Money Club – a digital chit fund platform that makes saving, borrowing, and investing your money more efficient. He writes on topics to help his readers understand processes so they can make better financial decisions. He’s the go-to person that his family, friends, and colleagues turn to for all their money matters. He loves to play board games and aspires to one day build his one finance-related board game and app.
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