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Trying to save money can be a daunting prospect. The hardest part is actually getting the ball rolling because once you see your savings start stacking up it can become a little addictive.

There’s a day for everything it seems, with October 31 being World Savings Day.

Don’t beat yourself up if you missed it. These things will happen.

What is important is taking those first steps, however minor, to build up some funds for a rainy day.

Once you have a little something to play with, you partner with the experts who can help you with a tailor-made financial plan designed to help you reach your long-term financial goals.

Writing for Moneyweb, Susan Steward has put together a list of tips (or “money habits”) to follow to kick things into gear:

Budget: Drawing up a budget is the holy grail of smart money management. To draw up a budget, start with a list of fixed expenditures and other monthly deductions. Have a careful look at what you are spending your money on and identify where you might be “leaking” cash on non-essentials…

Once you have pinpointed areas where you could be spending less, start cutting back.

Set a savings goal for yourself and consider saving as a non-negotiable, essential ‘expense’ on your monthly budget. Whether your goal is to put away R150 or R1 000 a month, put it in your budget and stick to it.

Put away your credit cards. Don’t carry them around in your purse or wallet as you might be tempted to spend. Rather carry a debit card for everyday purchases and save-up for the more expensive things you want.

That last one is tough if you’re the sort who loves to dabble in some online retail therapy from time to time. But if you saved the money instead, it would appreciate over time, whereas whatever you’ve purchased is unlikely to.

Get creative when looking for ways to cut back on costs. For instance, you could establish lift-clubs to save money on petrol and encourage your family to switch off lights in unoccupied rooms to save cutback on electricity costs.

By the way, the petrol price will be hiked again tomorrow, up another R1,21 per litre. Diesel is also set to increase by R1,48 a litre.

It never ends.

Those are four tips above, and our fifth would be that you don’t have to go it alone. Draw up your budgets, and find creative ways to save money, but then get on board with someone who makes that money work for you.

The team over at Consequence Private Wealth are big believers in the fact that decisions made today will bear fruit over the years based on the sound principles applied at their inception.

You do the legwork of saving the funds, and they can help you put them to good use.

When it comes to planning for your financial future, there’s no better time to start than today.

[source:moneyweb]