Beyond Budgeting: 3 Tricks to Save You Money

Almost every article on saving money will tell you that you need to know where your money goes and plan your spending ahead of time.

Yes, it’s called budgeting and it’s the process that has spawned hundreds of apps and resulted in multitudes of headaches when people find they’ve already cut their budgets to the bone.

If this is you, it’s time to take things to the next level. See if these tricks can help you to save beyond the budget.

1. Landed With a Crazy Tax Bill? Maybe There’s a Way to Reduce That

Asking questions can lead to beyond-budget savings, and those who have been landed with tricky tax commitments may well benefit from asking for tax relief.

Unfortunately, just knocking on the door of the nearest tax office and declaring that you can’t possibly meet your obligations isn’t going to cut it, so it’s one of those times when spending money might actually save you money. It needn’t even be much, to begin with.

All you need is an expert opinion on whether applying for some form of tax relief is likely to succeed, and for that, you need a tax lawyer. Checking this one out means a consultation – after that, it’s up to you and your lawyer to decide whether it’s worth pursuing the matter.

2. Consolidate Your Debt

Making debt to settle debt may seem like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it can result in serious savings. If you can get a low-interest loan and use the proceeds to settle high-interest ones, you not only have fewer people you owe money to, but a lower cost of overall debt to deal with.

Remember, owing money actually costs you even more money, so if you can reduce the cost of being indebted, you’ll be able to dig your way out of the hole a lot more easily.

Going through your liabilities and looking for lower-cost alternatives to finance them costs you nothing but time – and it could be well worth it in the end. Not sure if you’ll get the desired result? There’s an app for that!

3. Adopt a Frugal Mindset

There are things that are necessary, and things that are nice. While we all need a few little luxuries, unnecessary costs can quickly soar. Marketers may tell us that getting new things is a must – that’s their job – but when it becomes your job to save money, you need to question some norms.

For example, if you’re updating your wardrobe every season, or are buying new instead of checking out the cost of repairs first, you may have fallen into a money trap that doesn’t benefit you. A frugal mindset doesn’t mean you have to be a skinflint, but it does mean you aren’t going to buy things just because other people think that you should.

Do check out your favourite “little” luxuries too. Fan of Starbucks? That could be costing you $2,300 a year. Maybe you’ll be as happy with a thermos of coffee and a packed lunch that costs you a fraction of that. If you decide that you’re going to keep your expensive latte, at least you know you made that decision consciously instead of just letting the money trickle away.

The Basics Hold True

To sum all of this up, we can say that basics hold true: don’t spend unthinkingly and count pennies to save dollars. Even when it comes to the big things that you thought you couldn’t do anything about, ask questions. The answers may just lead to reduced expenses that you’ll be thankful for both now and in the future.