Saving money is a hideous task for many, even though it's already known to be best and surest step to gaining financial freedom; in his book, the 100 absolutely unbreakable laws of business sucess, Brian Tracy said "Allow your expenses to increase at a slower rate than your income, and you save or invest the difference, then you will be financially independent in your lifetime." But I do tell my friend when I'm out of spending cash, that money is a bastard, it just doesn't stay - there's just always something to spend the money on. Then what do you do to make it stay, I'll put you through some things to do to cut your spendings and allow you to save more. Many of these tips are things I personally practice in other to save more, and it has helped me. Here...

1. Plan your income
The first step I took while I was seeking to hold more cash in the bank was to plan my salary each month. I have a certain percentage that goes into savings every month, then the rest is broken down for my expenditure. And at no time do I spend any much than what was planned (in that case, my pocket money suffers for the extra). Taking your time to plan how to spend your income is the first step to saving more. For starters, I encourage you to start by putting away 10% of your income permanently, then budget on the remaining 90%, and gradually build up to 20%, 30%, 40%... saving can be thrilling! Try it.

2. Withdraw in bulk from the ATM
ATM charges, SMS charges are little money suckers. In Nigeria, after three withdrawals from an ATM that ain't your bank, you get charged #65, on the other withdrawals, calculate withdrawing from other bank's ATM 5 - 10 more times, that's your hard earned money slipping away to people who didn't do no work for the money. After planning your income, make a bulk withdrawal of what you need for let's say 2 weeks, this will reduce your bank charges, thus making you save more.

3. Stop eating out
Yes, this is why most bachelors go broke at the end of the month, quite funny I'm seeing ladies get addicted to eating out these days too. Back then in school, in the first week of collecting my pocket money, most of my eating is always done at the restaurant. Little wonder I'm always broke after about two weeks. Stocking your kitchen is the best if you must save more, imagine buying a plate of food for #300, twice a day, in a week, thats #4,200; in a month, thats roughly 20Gs, a little bit more than half of that will get your kitchen well stocked, and that's more money to save. Oh, wait, do you even get filled eating out?

4. Go cash only
Ok, it sounds very crude, because we are going cashless right? I noticed a up in some extra cash I could put away when I deleted the banking app for my major savings account on my tab. Credit (recharge cards) transfers, money transfers are at your finger tips when you have these apps, yes, it makes life a lot easier, and so it makes the banks more money off you that you could save - that #105 you get charged for inter-bank transfers. Try holding your cash, keep your ATM far - just in case of 'overnecessity' - this will help you tune down your spendings. Once the cash finishes, you got almost no hopes. You will save more.

5. Wise Subscriptions
A lot of subscriptions is taking away your hard earned money - Dstv, PHCN, Data e.tc - are all sucking hard on your money. Imagine your Dstv full subscription that you watch for just 2hours in a day (that's if there's light when you come back from work), how wise is that? Reduce your spendings on these subscriptions, get the basics that is just enough for you to get the most important updates. For individuals using prepaid PHCN meters, make sure to always unplug any gadget that is not in use, do not leave any device plugged, don't use for hours devices that consume much power - most importantly, iron, water pump, cooking plates, boiling ring. This will help you cut down your spending in this area.

Overall, the Idea is not to live a stingy life, it is to live within your means, and to be smart about how you spend your hard earned money, trimming down unnecessary spendings will help you save more in the end. Don't forget, saving and investing is the key to financial freedom.
Do you know there's this confidence you get in knowing that you've got some bucks stashed up somewhere in the bank?

What other ways can help in saving more money, lets know in the comment box.
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