Saving regularly is the only key to ensure future financial security, but people come up with all sorts of excuses for not saving: I don’t have any surplus to save, My expenses are too high, I don’t know how and where to start etc.

Your ability to save money is not dependent on your earnings but your mindset. If you just change your attitude a bit and start seeing things from a new perspective, you will start finding ways to increase your savings corpus with your current income easily.

There are plenty of ways to save money, many are easy to follow and don’t require big sacrifices on your part. In this article I am going to share few of such tips, figure out how many of the following techniques work for you, start incorporating them into your daily life, and begin your journey of great riches.

1. Know what you are saving for
   One of the best way to save money is by visualizing what you are saving for. Saving just for the sake of saving will never work. Like I said it’s all about your mindset, until you see the clear purpose of saving you will not be motivated or driven enough to start saving. So understand what you are saving for. Is it for an emergency fund? Or a short-term goal like buying a car? Or for a long-term goal like retirement. Having a clear picture and goal in mind will play a major role in how successful you are at saving regularly, as compared to saving in an ad-hoc manner.
2. Start Small
   Always start by setting small attainable targets, instead of one big number. The biggest reason why so many people find saving difficult and tiresome is because they start by setting too high a target for themselves and end up quitting midway. Therefore, always start with small and realistic numbers, like start with ₹50 or ₹100 daily. This way you will be positively motivated when you reach your desired goal. Success begets success, you will start finding more ways to save and increasing you target as well.
3. Avoid becoming a victim of small regular expenses
   If a drop by drop can fill a bucket, a drop by drop leak can empty that same bucket. So never ignore or take lightly your daily unnecessary expenses like bottled water or coffee. They are one of the major hindrances in your path of becoming rich. Making your lunch at home and taking it with you to office would be much cheaper and healthier than anything you buy outside. To understand more read my earlier post: Debunked #1: Small Lifestyle Changes Make No Difference
4. Get out of bad spending habits
   Bad spending habits have a huge impact on your financial well being. They are a blow to your budget & can increase your debt. It is the undisciplined and spendthrift who finds saving an uphill task. But it’s possible to get out of bad spending habits and start saving instead. For more details check out this post: 6 Ways To Get Out of Bad Spending Habits
5. Take the 52 week money challenge
   One of the hardest things about saving money is being consistent. The 52-week Money Challenge helps you get into the habit and mindset of saving each week. It also helps you build on your small successes to save more and more money over time. Start by saving just ₹100 in first week of the year, and then gradually increase your saving by ₹100 a week throughout the year. By the time you finish, you would be saving ₹5200 a week. Also, your total savings would be ₹1,37,800.
   
   

   Week	Weekly Savings	Accumulated Savings
   1	100	100
   2	200	300
   3	300	600
   4	400	1000
   5	500	1500
   6	600	2100
   7	700	2800
   8	800	3600
   9	900	4500
   10	1000	5500
   11	1100	6600
   12	1200	7800
   13	1300	9100
   14	1400	10500
   15	1500	12000
   16	1600	13600
   17	1700	15300
   18	1800	17100
   19	1900	19000
   20	2000	21000
   21	2100	23100
   22	2200	25300
   23	2300	27600
   24	2400	30000
   25	2500	32500
   26	2600	35100
   27	2700	37800
   28	2800	40600
   29	2900	43500
   30	3000	46500
   31	3100	49600
   32	3200	52800
   33	3300	56100
   34	3400	59500
   35	3500	63000
   36	3600	66600
   37	3700	70300
   38	3800	74100
   39	3900	78000
   40	4000	82000
   41	4100	86100
   42	4200	90300
   43	4300	94600
   44	4400	99000
   45	4500	103500
   46	4600	108100
   47	4700	112800
   48	4800	117600
   49	4900	122500
   50	5000	127500
   51	5100	132600
   52	5200	137800

6. Save currency notes of a particular denomination
   Select a particular denomination like ₹50, or ₹20 and at the end of the day, go through your wallet and take out all the banknotes of that denomination and put them away. Deposit the entire collection in your savings bank account on monthly basis.
7. Save your increment, windfalls and tax refunds
   People tend to spend more if they have a fatter bank balance and gradually start getting used to higher expenses. Don’t give yourself time to adjust to the higher surplus, put the extra as savings by default.
8. Unsubscribe
   Avoid the temptation by unsubscribing from all the marketing emails. Stores you buy from might be sending promotional and sales alerts, unsubscribe from all of them so that you don’t spend money on unnecessary purchases.
9. Start having fun with No Spend Days
   Start by dedicating some days as No Spend Days with family and friends. Cook at home, spend time with loved ones, be innovative and creative and plan free activities like game nights. Also, connect with nature. It’s free. Plan a walk or picnic at a nearby park. There are a number of options available to enjoy yourself without spending big bucks. So let that creative mind of yours create magic and become the hero of your family.
10. Do a price comparison
    Always shop around, do a thorough price comparison before you buy anything, especially those big important purchases.
11. Cancel unused memberships
    Stop paying dues to clubs that you seldom or infrequently use, like gym memberships, club memberships, or even magazine subscriptions. Cancel them now, you will be amazed to find out how much this simple exercise will increase your annual savings.

These are just a few tips, there are many many more ways to save money, just get into right mindset and you will start figuring out more ways for yourself. Every time you are about to make a purchase ask yourself: Do I really need this? There is a difference between wanting something and needing something.

When you reach your savings goal, start investing the extra savings. Saving and investing go hand in hand but for investing you need to have enough savings available.