I can’t emphasise enough on how important it is to save money. I have seen people draw incredible salaries north of $6,000 but save only less than $500 every month and there are those who earn half the amount at $3,000 but can save almost $1,000 monthly. It is pretty clear on which group can reach financial freedom much faster. Many finance websites have advocated/supported the notion of maintaining a budget and recording your every single expense. However, I beg to differ. In all honesty, how many people really do keep all the receipts and tally them up religiously at the end of the month? I tried it out for 1 month and that’s probably the max I can adhere to. As such, we came up with 3 simple tips which look more plausible in action:

“Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving” ~Warren Buffet~

I saw a remarkable increase in my savings after I took up the above advice. When 10% of your monthly paycheck goes into the savings’ portion automatically, you are “forced” to spend only the remaining 90%. There are two inherent advantages for this:

• Setting goals would be much easier since you know the fixed savings coming in
• You will unknowingly curb on your spending slowly but surely (I now think twice when I want to get a cup of Starbucks now!)

This is also the core principle - "Pay Yourself First" advocated by David Bach, author of ‘The Automatic Millionaire’. Basically, he suggests setting aside a fixed, monthly sum of money automatically before considering what is left for living expenses; so as to avoid the temptation of using the money to pay today's bills.

• Get the best deals online

Looking to eat out with your family this weekend or a vacation sometime down the road? Check out daily deals at websites such as http://deals.bigsale.com.my/ and http://www.deals-malaysia.com/MyDEAL. They share the latest deals for dining, entertainment, shopping, travel and more. In my opinion, buying something online is the optimal solution for saving money in the long term. I always tend to get 10-50% discount when I buy something online versus at a retail store. You can even get pre-loved items for up to 90% discount online!

• Utilize your credit cards for rebates

Yes, we have said that you should get rid of any consumer debt and you think that we should shun credit cards altogether. On the contrary, if you are able to pay your bills promptly, getting credit cards makes a lot of sense as they offer many benefits such as cash rebates or airmiles which can offset your expenses. You can turn to https://www.imoney.my/credit-card/ or https://ringgitplus.com/en/credit-card/to find the credit card suitable for you. Some of them even offer a cashback of 10%! That’s RM100 saved for every RM1000 spending! For more money saving tips, check out this “66 ways to save more” guide here!