In the last 7+ years, we have been able to save at least 75% of our post-tax income consistently. Even in 2023, in the year in which we took 3 international vacations and a 20 day road trip in the US. And over time, especially after I started posting, many of my friends and colleagues have reached out to ask about “How do we create a budget”. But they were surprised to know that we never created or lived on a budget.
How is that possible? And how can you do it?
It’s because we have a certain set of principles (discussed below) that has helped us. They will help you too.
Principles
No Debt
This is a simple one. Never take any debt, especially on depreciating assets and credit cards. Many don’t realize this but having no debt is a super power. The flexibility & freedom it provides early in your career is unparalleled.
Use the 80-20 principle and optimize the top 20%.
The idea is that a major chunk of your expenses will be coming from a handful of things. For example – your rent, car and travel might be the biggest contributor. So optimizing and reducing those categories will give you more savings than saving by giving up a cup of coffee. (If you want to read about how to use this 80-20 principle, click here)
Spend on what you like but before that squeeze the shit of things that you don’t care about
Our “don’t care” list include fancy cars, fancy hotels, ambiance of a restaurant, expensive gadgets, having a bigger home, etc. So we squeeze the shit out of it and keep our costs as low as possible in these things. For example – I drive a 2013 Passat that I bought using cash 6 years ago. And therefore I don’t have any car payments except for insurance, and that is around ~65 dollars a month. Over the last 7 years, I have at least saved over $30K by buying & using a used car.
Our “things that we like” list include travelling, cafes, food quality, socializing etc. And therefore in these categories we don’t think too hard before spending.
You can do it too. Create a list of things that you absolutely don’t care about. Calculate how much you are spending on each of these things and arrange them in descending order. And then start optimizing them from top to bottom. Check if you can eliminate the expense all together and if not, how can you reduce it. If you are doing this exercise for the first time, chances are that you will find a lot of room for improvement and you will end up saving a lot.
Wait for a week before making a major purchase
In the world of ecommerce and influencers, a lot of times we end up buying something in spur of the moment only to realize later that they don’t need it or don’t use it. It could be due to FOMO or bouts of passion. Using the strategy to wait for a week before making the purchase will help you filter out a lot of these unwanted items.
I was about to buy a saxophone once after I saw a few videos. However, in a few days I realized that I am not that interested. Thanks to this rule; it saved me some money and my neighbors from hearing me play it.
Caution
The principles discussed above will help you to form healthy spending habits. But if you are someone who is deep in debt or doesn’t live below your means then you will need a more process oriented plan beyond this set of principles.
Final Thoughts
Developing healthy spending habits without compromising on things, that are small but important to you, will lead to more sustainable and painless path. The above mentioned principles not only will help you understand your needs better but will also help you to create a structure around your needs. Therefore you will be able to save a lot more without compromising happiness & future stability.
BTW, if you are well into your journey of saving and want to figure out how to invest as per your life goals, click here
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Other interesting blogs related to investing:
Buying a dollar for 50 cents : Talks about importance of buying a stock at a discount and a case study that provided a 151% return in 1.5 years.
Bought the right company at the wrong price : One of most important mistakes investors make and don’t even realize. You might be making it too!
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