Tips for saving money without a budget

Just because the rest of the world has a complicated life doesn’t necessarily mean you have to as well. Simplified living can be sustainable according to June, 2010 report in USA Today. Moreover, budgets are not an absolute necessity when it comes to saving money because something more important underlies the capacity to save, specifically personal cash flow.

If cash flow is consistently negative, having no budget isn’t the problem, spending too much is. With material goods comes responsibility, and responsibility costs money. The following non-budget saving tips may be of utility. Moreover, in addition to saving money, you may find yourself saving time with the following methods as budgets often require account entries in financial software or a financial record keeping system.

• Reassess expenditures

Reassessing expenditures can help save money without a budget. This involves reviewing your financial profile and seeing where the money pits and vacuums are. If there’s something like a low mileage vehicle, or high credit card debt using up most of your cash, it may be possible to approach the debt in a different way in order to increase savings. For example, with a high credit card debt, you could refinance at a lower rate, and reduce monthly payments in order to save more.

• Calculate mentally

If you can add, subtract and multiply, you can probably calculate mentally as well. Keeping a mental tally of accounts and expenditures isn’t that much different from remembering how many eggs are in your fridge, or when the milk expires. Similarly, knowing which bills are paid and which aren’t will help avoid late fees and save unnecessary charges.

• Minimize numbers

Remembering a lot of numbers takes mental capacity. Minimizing mental calculations, account balances and transactions can be helpful to the overall goal of saving money without a budget. For example, the one number method just uses a single number, the balance of your checking account. By remembering what the balance is, you will be aware of how much extra money you have for saving after all expenses are paid.

• Time finances

Another way to save money without a budget is to pre-pay your savings account. This is also referred to as paying yourself first. For example, before you spend money on anything, transfer money to your savings account, and you’re done. The reason why this method works is timing. By transferring money before paying bills, buying things or investing, savings can consistently increase if this practice is periodically continued without withdrawals.

By reducing the amount of goods and services in your life, costs go down regardless of whether or not you have a budget. For example, more expensive cars can cost more in property insurance, and too many paid memberships or services lower balances. To save money without a budget it can help to avoid overspending and increase savings.