Time is money! Optimization of cash expenses (conversion to hours and back) Time and most importantly money

Extra spending of money is natural with high incomes, but they are no exception when analyzed in detail for families with small budgets. Constantly making spontaneous, thoughtless purchases is common to everyone. The question of how to save money in the family worries many, and to do this you will have to learn how to correctly distribute your budget according to the income received.

How to learn to save money

To learn how to save your family budget, you don’t need to limit your needs, but you just need to develop the ability to competently manage your available funds. To save money you should:

Keep detailed records of expenses and do analysis. Develop useful habits of highlighting priority areas that you cannot do without and refuse unnecessary spending.
Plan spending money according to the funds received.
Learn to save for unexpected expenses so as not to take out loans during a crisis in the family - if you lose your job or need treatment.

Rules

Eliminating unnecessary expenses does not reduce your quality of life. Saving money in the family is possible if the following rules are observed:

Do not visit stores hungry or after receiving a salary, but spend money after planning your budget.
Go to the supermarket with a prepared list of products and, in order not to buy unnecessary little things, visit only those departments where the necessary goods are located.
For payments in stores, refuse plastic cards and use cash. After making purchases, make a total count of them.
When deciding to make a large purchase, it is better to postpone the acquisition time for a certain period and carefully weigh the need for this item.
enjoy discount cards and cashback opportunities to receive discounts.
It is wise to approach ongoing promotions and beware of the temptation to purchase products that are irrelevant to yourself.
Regularly get examined by a doctor so as not to buy medications if an advanced disease is detected.

Methods

You can start saving money in your family using the following methods:

Five envelope method for four weeks of the month. The entire salary is divided into five parts. Control over the spending of money occurs by following the rule - the contents of only one envelope are allowed to be used per week. The fifth is provided for the remaining last days of the month and for accumulation.
Keeping records of purchases and payments for services with subsequent analysis of expenses. You can record expenses in a notebook, in an Excel spreadsheet, or use programs downloaded from the Internet for this. Analyze your spending monthly. This method helps to identify unnecessary costs, and after analysis they can be reduced or completely eliminated.
Waiver of loans. Borrowing for a vacation, to buy household appliances or a telephone, when you still have old ones, is an unwise decision. It is better to save money and use the saved funds to relax or buy the desired item, so as not to spend money on bank interest.

How to save money in the family - table

When planning a family budget, it is necessary to distribute all expected expenses in descending order of their importance and include the first ones on the list in future expenses. All family needs are shown in the table:

What can you save on?

Wise use of the opportunities provided means savings. You can reduce costs by:

Utilities. It is necessary to install water and gas meters.
Wardrobe. Buy clothes at the end of the season at sales. Don't try to buy a lot of clothes - you can create new outfits using a combination of several things.
Household appliances. There is no need to buy a product with a large set of functions - this increases the cost of the purchase. You can select only the required options.

Food expenses

Vegetables and fruits are necessary for proper nutrition, so you can’t save on them. Savings can be achieved by:

Reducing meat consumption. This will not reduce the quality of food.
Reducing the amount of sweet desserts in your diet. This will improve your health.
Purchasing products by favorable prices on the market before it closes.

How to save energy

To save you need:

Buy energy-saving lamps.
When leaving the room, turn off the electricity.
Purchase household appliances that consume less electricity - class A, AA, A+.
Do not place the refrigerator near a heating radiator or stove; defrost it regularly.
Unplug electrical appliances after use.

Bad habits

When analyzing costs, you can find that the cost of smoking and buying beer eats up several thousand rubles. A lot of money is spent on purchasing chips, carbonated drinks, and alcohol. By eliminating these costs, you can not only save money in your family, but also maintain your health. Giving up on them will help compensate for the lack of funds or use the savings to save.

Cheap analogues

Large sums of money are spent on purchasing new products or branded items. There is no need to strive to buy expensive products or acquire new equipment and communications equipment if the old ones still work. Promoted brands of dairy products and cosmetics can be replaced with similar cheap products from a local manufacturer. To do this, you need to compare their composition.

How to save money with a small salary

Small income is not a death sentence, but an incentive to streamline your expenses. How to save money in a family on a limited budget? It is necessary to learn how to plan expenses according to the funds received. To save money you should:

Refuse loans, as paying off bank debt increases the burden on the family budget.
Determine the priority needs of the family and bring them into line with income - this way you can reduce expenses.

Budget distribution

With a reasonable approach to the use of family finances, it is possible to identify reserves even with a small budget. To balance income and expenses, you can use the following recommendations:

Plan your needs for the month.
Make a meal plan for the week and make purchases according to the compiled list. This way you can avoid purchasing unnecessary food products and prevent them from spoiling.
Necessary products that are consumed by the family in large quantities and do not spoil (sugar, flour) can be bought for future use at wholesale prices and thus save.

Financial accounting

Registration of all expenses will help to analyze them and detect unnecessary or harmful expenses. How can you save money in a family with little income? There are options for this:

Avoid going to restaurants and cafes, and cook home-cooked meals for family members and guests.
Replace visits to spas with home treatments, and paid fitness classes with morning jogging and exercise.
Give up unhealthy foods (chips, carbonated drinks) and habits (smoking).
Replace vacations at exotic resorts with excursions to neighboring region, visiting exhibitions and museums, going on a picnic.
Do not buy ready-made food and semi-finished products in supermarkets, but cook yourself. Instead of packaged goods and cuts, purchase cheaper food products by weight.
Periodically review your cellular tariff plans and choose only favorable tariffs that include the necessary options.
Buy cheap things from online stores.

How to start saving and saving money

In order to understand how you can save money in your family and learn how to save, you need to define financial goals for yourself and strive to achieve them. You can save money every month for: buying a car, vacation, home renovation. Real estate capital does not benefit its owner, so savings should be used to generate additional income through investments in investments. Money can be deposited in a bank on favorable terms with interest capitalization.

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Money and time. What do you spend your time on? What will you choose: a material purchase or spending time and money looking for experiences? Spending money and a short excerpt from the book “Which Will You Choose”, plus an invitation to a discussion about: should we pursue material acquisitions or pay for impressions and experiences? Let's discuss how to spend money correctly?

Money and time: the rule of four things

Is time money? Or is money time? How will you answer these two questions?

If you sell your time for money and spend money to buy some time for yourself, then you have made a choice in favor of money.
While money is a renewable resource and it doesn’t always take much time to earn money, time is priceless and once lost it leaves us forever.

That’s why it’s so difficult for many of us to make a choice on what to spend our free time on, and it’s very easy to spend the money we earn, buying more and more. often unnecessary things.

Look at the picture and apply the rules of the 4 things to better organize your free time.

TIME and MONEY: the rule of 4 things a day

The rule of 4 things a day says - do 1 thing from each 25% of the sector - and the day will not be wasted.

Activity

And if you tell me that you do this, I will not believe you, since most of us spend most of our time in one of 4 sectors, for example, activities (work) or contacts (relationships).

Money and time: choose 2 sectors in which you live almost all the time

Try it on next week redistribute your time and spend it in the 2 least used sectors - share your discoveries in the comments to this article.

Share this chart and survey with your friends.

Spending money: how to spend money correctly

Let me give you an excerpt from the book that the publishing house “MYTH” sent me for review.

Cover of the book "Which Will You Choose?"

The book is called “What will you choose? Decisions on which your life depends" and it was written by my colleague, happiness expert and psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar. He collected 101 tips in the book, formulated in the form of choice questions.

Download the book “Which Will You Choose?” on the website of the MIF >>>

Today I will give an answer to the question about how to spend money correctly: Should I chase material acquisitions or pay for impressions and experiences?

Proper spending of money: should you pursue material acquisitions or pay for impressions and experiences?

By the way, from the right choice It depends whether you live in tension and stress, or experience constant happiness.

“Happiness is not in what we have, but in what we enjoy.” Charles Spurgeon.

Many people believe that the secret to happiness is to have big house, a powerful car, the latest gadgets and a growing bank account. The advertising industry inspires and inflates the cult of materialism, promising eternal bliss with every new acquisition.

In reality, if our basic needs are satisfied, then increasing the number of things - better, newer, more beautiful - does not make us . The most it gives is a temporary buzz.
Acquisition is akin to a dose of a drug. The source of lasting happiness is not in the possession of material things, but in receiving pleasant impressions - this could be a game of ball with a child, a good dinner with a friend, the taste of the salty wind on the coast.

I have enough money to organize these experiences for myself, and I cannot afford to live without them. Their monetary value is small, but they are priceless.

HOW TO SPEND MONEY CORRECTLY: a car or a vacation?

Money and time, spending money: psychological workshop

Imagine that you just received an annual bonus that was significantly larger than you expected. You've worked hard this year and feel like you deserve a reward.

And here's your dilemma: spend money on a new one good car or go on vacation with the whole family?

You understand that a family vacation is not bad, but it will end very quickly, while the purchased car can be used for several years. And you decide to buy a car.

In fact, your argument is deeply flawed.

Research by Professor Leonardo Nicolao has shown that once a person satisfies his basic needs, it is not by acquiring new things, but by gaining new experiences.

Impressions are fleeting, and material acquisitions are much more durable, you think, forgetting that once you receive an impression, you will remember it and feel happy again and again. While the purchased item will very quickly and forever cease to be new.

The situation is somewhat different with things that give us the opportunity to experience pleasant feelings.

For example, if I like racing, then new car will give me a lot of positive emotions.

However, there is a criterion by which future spending-purchase should be assessed - the type of experience that I can have.
It's not just the unexpected income that makes it possible to consider the range of experiences available for money. Every day we make similar decisions, evaluating the advantage of impressions over material goods.

What do you choose: go to the theater or bowling with your family, or buy a new gadget? ( share your choice and justify it in the comments ).

Wasting money: conclusion

So, you still need to be able to shop correctly, if you are under time pressure, start spending on impressions, and stop blindly believing the calls of shoppers:

Sale! These trousers cost 6000₽, but now only 2000₽! I'll take it! And another butterfly for them, they are going to the wedding soon anyway.
These are the shoes of my dreams! I always wanted exactly these, but couldn't find them anywhere. So what if I already have three pairs, I need THESE! URGENTLY!
Ooooh! What a cute notebook! I’ll buy it, the notebook will always come in handy.
What, have I been hunching over all month in vain? I deserve this quadcopter!

Choose your experience now and spend your money on:

Purchasing the book described in the article Tal Ben-Shahar"What will you choose?"— the book will help you make a choice in favor of a happy time in 101 cases!
Purchasing a service 3-month subscription to correspondence with the Psychologist of Happiness(by the author of this blog) and get rid of your misfortunes in just... check it out for yourself - it looks like someone forgot to end the sale.
Acquiring experiences that you have long dreamed of, but keep putting off. For example, African soap made from natural ingredients— I assure you that your next shower will be unforgettable!
Write in the comments what you will spend the money on?

Learning how to save money correctly is important for everyone, even those who receive a small salary. In order not to borrow until payday and to be rich, you need to follow simple rules.

Most people in Russia today are financially illiterate. This is constantly used by banks, credit firms, sellers, scammers and many others. Even people who seem to receive decent salaries fall into credit bondage and are forever without money. What can we say about those who have small salaries - poor students, pensioners, young mothers...

To break the vicious circle of lack of money, it is important to use simple rules of financial management in everyday life, which will help accumulate money.

Savings will protect you from emergencies. Plus, if you save money, you won't have to turn down unexpected, exciting opportunities in life.

The basic rule of wealth is very succinct: “Spend less than you earn.” Just four words. It would seem, what could be simpler? But for some reason, the opposite always happens to many people.

How to save money even with a small salary

Let’s look at what methods will help you implement the main rule of a rich person and start actually saving money.

1. Keep track of your budget

If you are going to save money, then it is important to start maintaining a family budget. Don't spend money thoughtlessly on shopping and paying bills, but keep track of all expenses during the month.

This way, you can understand how much money was wasted, and what you can save on next month without much harm to the family.

In addition, in a couple of months you will know exactly how much money you and your family need for a normal existence, and how much you can put into a piggy bank.

2. Live on the same amount

If you have already calculated how much money your family needs on average per month for a normal life, then you need to fix this amount. It's no secret that we have easy money from time to time. Some people get a bonus, others get additional income, or maybe you finally managed to move up the career ladder and your salary increased a little.

Rest assured: as income increases, expenses will tend to increase. Does this mean you won’t be able to save money again?

You need to set for yourself a fixed amount of money that you will spend on living every month, even if easy money appears. It is better to immediately save additional income, leaving only the necessary fixed amount for living.

3. Save 20 percent of your income

If difficulties arise with determining the fixed amount necessary for the normal life of a family, then you can use more in a simple way accumulation of money. Immediately after receiving any income (including easy money), put 20 percent of the funds received into a piggy bank. Moreover, it is important to do this not at the end of the month, but right away! If you postpone this important matter until later, then rest assured: the money you planned to save will probably already be spent.

How to learn to save money in order to save?

Understand a simple idea: everyone is trying to make money off of you. Even when you yourself earn money in the service, your employer profits from your work. In modern life, you are constantly being hunted by those who want to take your money. Thousands of marketers come up with cunning schemes to take your money in such a way that you will also be satisfied when you part with your hard-earned money.

To avoid this, you should try to follow the following principles.

4. Simplify your financial life

The more complex your financial life, the more time and effort it takes. Along with this, the chance of getting confused and making a financial mistake increases.

The more loans and credit cards there are, the greater the chance of not noticing missing funds or missing another payment.

Pay attention to your services mobile operator. Do you need all the connected paid functions? If not, disable the unnecessary ones.

Deal with utility bills. Calculate the feasibility and amount of savings when switching from average tariffs to metering water, gas and electricity. Buy energy-saving light bulbs. They really reduce your electricity bills.

See what other recurring “planned” expenses you can cut.

It is useful to do such general cleaning once every few months.

5. Get rid of loans with the highest interest rates

Try refinancing loans from other banks at a lower interest rate.

Take advantage of an effective way to get rid of loans. Select the loan that has the highest interest rate and start paying off this debt twice as fast, that is, in double payments. Do this until the debt is paid off. Then add the entire freed-up amount of money that was spent on repayment to the payment on the second debt until that one is paid off. And so on until all debts are eliminated.

6. Go shopping with a shopping list.

A pre-prepared shopping list with which to go shopping will help you avoid spontaneous spending. The point of shopping lists is not only to ensure you don’t forget to buy anything, but also to avoid buying too much.

The easiest way is to draw it up on a regular piece of paper. For these purposes, you can use “reminders” built into gadgets and, in general, any application where you can make a simple list.

7. Stop using a bank card

Using a credit card or even a debit bank card makes it difficult to save money. If you are in the habit of paying in stores with a bank card rather than money, then try switching to cash.

When we pay with a card, we don’t realize the value of the money we pay for goods - we enter the PIN code and we’re done. And now they have appeared bank cards, which don’t even need to be inserted into the terminal. It is becoming easier to pay, and, accordingly, saving and saving is becoming more and more difficult. In addition, the card may have more money than you would take to the store for shopping. There is a high chance of spending more than you planned.

When you go to the store with cash, do not put more money in your wallet than you need for your previously planned purchases.

8. Use the 10 Second Rule for Cheap Shopping

Did you see something inexpensive on the counter and immediately wanted to buy it? Hold this thought in your head for 10 seconds and honestly ask yourself the question: do you really need this thing? Is it really impossible to do without it? Often these 10 seconds are enough to understand whether you really need the thing.

For expensive purchases, use the 30 day rule. If you want to buy something expensive, do not rush to spend money, but think about the importance of this purchase for a month. Most likely, after 30 days there will be no trace left of your intense desire to buy this thing.

9. Estimate the cost of purchases in terms of opening hours.

To avoid making unnecessary purchases, calculate how much one hour or day of your work costs. Then, when you buy this or that product, think about whether the thing you are planning to buy is worth the few hours, or maybe even days, of your labor that you spent to earn this amount of money?

This principle works very well when purchasing household appliances or other large goods, when time is no longer calculated in hours, but in days, or even months. Such financial “sobering up” helps you not to commit stupidity in the form of buying unnecessary expensive goods.

The path to proper money management

Divide the free money that appears as a result of all your efforts into several parts.

1. Create a financial reserve in case of unforeseen situations. Free money is needed to solve unexpected problems that arise. It’s better if it’s cash, so that in case of an emergency you don’t have to urgently run to the bank.

2. Open a deposit in one of the reliable banks, for example, VTB, with the ability to replenish and partially withdraw money without losing interest. As a rule, expense deposits do not have a high interest rate, but you can put a certain amount into this account every month and withdraw part of the funds at any time.

3. Apply for a time deposit at the most favorable interest rate. This will be useful when you have already accumulated a decent amount. You won’t be able to withdraw funds from such a deposit at any time, but you will be able to accumulate money. Open deposits in rubles, dollars and euros to get even more income if the currency rises in price.

4. Save money not for the sake of abstract wealth, but to achieve a specific goal. You can even open several accounts to save up: for repairs, for a car, for a dacha...

Not everyone thinks about how much time is wasted from life during roads to work and back. Often this is an hour or two or more a day. And over a month or a year, this simply translates into astronomical numbers. If we assume that there are 247 working days in a year (minus vacations, holidays and weekends), then it turns out that two hours spent at work per year turns into approximately 500 hours spent on the way to work. If we remember that there are only 168 hours in a week, then 500 hours of travel corresponds to three full weeks of pure time. This is more than 6% of our total time in a year. This also corresponds to 12 working weeks, if we assume that we're talking about about a 40 hour work week.

We spend money on gas/travel, travel time, and moral strength. Riding the subway or vomiting in traffic jams during rush hour is more than an acquired taste.

Of course, a lot depends on the specific city. For example, road to work place sometimes takes on wild features in Moscow, where people sometimes commute from the suburbs to the center and back for several hours a day. Things are a little better in smaller cities. For example, in my city you can get from one end of the city to the other in 20-25 minutes by car, provided there are no traffic jams, or in about an hour by bus with light traffic jams.

In small towns the issue is not so acute, but you still spend half an hour getting dressed and putting yourself in order (or even more), and for some time after work you also come to your senses, take a shower, and so on. As a result, together with work, travel to work and the assembly process, work takes up much more of our time than is usually believed.

In this sense, it is optimal to live in close proximity to your work. However, working nearby does not always provide high salaries and opportunities career growth. For example, at one time I worked in a local technology park. It was relatively close to my house. But getting there on foot was a bit far (especially in winter with severe frosts and winds). A public transport I haven’t gone there and don’t go there. Since at that time I did not have a car, I was forced to overpay a lot of money for a taxi every day.

When I was a student, I got a job that was at the other end of town. I didn’t think about how convenient it would be for me to get there. I just went there. But in the end I agreed on partially remote work. This is when I show up at work just a few times a week for a few hours and use that time to coordinate work. The rest of the time I worked at home.

Later I became take work home and from the second job. As a result, I liked working at home so much that over time I organized small business on the Internet - launched his own online magazine about economics and entrepreneurship, garagebiz.ru. However, working far from home may not always be a waste of time. For example, many of my friends listen to useful audiobooks while traveling and enjoy the view around them. As we see, a lot in our lives depends on a positive attitude and... In particular, when I had to go to the other end of the city, I chose a comfortable seat on the bus and could take a little nap. This cannot be called complete sleep. But this was enough to cheer me up a little between classes and work.

Further, no one forces you to constantly go to hell. If you are not satisfied with the long journey to work, then you can change your place of residence, you can change your job, or you can agree on more flexible conditions. For example, partially.

You can also use a technique - exchange a stressful job for an easier job, but with a flexible schedule or half a day. After all, life doesn't have to be all about work. We have already talked about this in the material about - I advise you to read it.

High income and working in a prestigious place do not always mean happiness and high quality of life. You need to be able to find a balance. For example, huge cities are characterized by poor ecology. And people here can be lonely, despite the greater number of different people around them.

I was in Moscow once and I can confidently say: I wouldn’t want to live here. Ride your own metro and stand in hours-long traffic jams.

If you ask me personally, it is more important for me to see my parents every day, and not to work from morning to night in a large prestigious company. Now I am an individual entrepreneur and work from home. Just this month I turned down two interesting job offers. Perhaps I lost something in money or in external social status. However, I have enough time for my work, my health and hobbies. Moreover, I get good sleep every day and am the master of my life, not a slave.

Of course, you have to pay for everything. There is no stability in my work. Incomes are either high or low. And I can hardly predict how things will go in a year or two or three. But I get paid in full for this justified risk. Although I am on my own, at the same time, no one is pushing me now with “kicks in the ass.” This allows me to work in accordance with my own rhythm, which is convenient for me personally.

There is one thing that we never seem to have enough of and that constantly eludes us. It's time. Time is a resource that you cannot increase.

You cannot add time, only use it. Scarcity and the inability to get time back is what makes time worth money.

“Time is money,” Benjamin Franklin once said. This phrase is often repeated not only by professionals, but also by ordinary people. But what does this phrase mean?

Does it have any relevance to today's lifestyle, or has it lost its meaning? Let's consider this question and find out what “time is money” can mean for us and modern society.

What is time?

In the world we live in today, everything moves at a very fast pace. There is WWW (World Wide Web), transmitting information around the planet, seemingly at the speed of light. There are bullet trains in Asia and Europe. There are supersonic combat aircraft. There is also the John Hancock Building in Chicago, which has the world's fastest elevators. There seems to be a huge need for speed in the world. When it comes to our finances, people say that “time is money.”

We can safely say that time is the most valuable resource that we have here on earth. Much more valuable than gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, oil or natural gas.

Time is limited for all of us, of course. We are mere mortals, each of whom has a beginning and an end. Therefore, we must all do our best to make the best use of our limited time here on planet earth and in this dimension, because time is money.

But the phrase “time is money” can apply not only to the business community. It can also apply to academic and research communities. Innovations that could take humanity far ahead are now being developed in universities and laboratories around the world.

Although in the past "time is money" did not have as strong a meaning as it does today, there were, of course, wise men and women who one day understood what these two words meant and used their time wisely to achieve success .

Yes, indeed, money does not grow on trees. If we don't use our working hours In order to make money and achieve success in various areas of life, we are essentially losing money and depriving our future of meaningful success. Since time is a valuable commodity, you and I cannot just sit back and wait for success. We already know that time is money.

Time in terms of mathematics

An interesting mathematical formula was calculated by a British university professor. The professor discovered that time is, in fact, literally money.

He calculated, according to his equation, that the average British minute was worth just over 10 pence (15 cents) for men and eight pence (12 cents) for women.

The professor came up with the following formula: V=(W((100-t)/100))/C

where V - cost per hour, W - hourly wages person, t is the tax rate, and C is the local cost of living.

The formula shows that there is no such thing as a free lunch or even a free dinner. While you brush your teeth for two minutes, you'll use up to 20 pence (30 cents) of wasted time. The study found that the average cost of preparing dinner, including time and ingredients, was $15.72, while the average cost of ordering food was $7.31.

Economics professor Ian Walker at Central England says this can show people how valuable their time is in relation to whatever task they have to do, whether it's cooking, sleeping or working. He says it also allows people to decide whether it's worth spending extra money to save time. In other words, it's up to you whether to use a taxi (to save time) or a bus (to save money).

How to use your time wisely

Value your time

We are often forced to waste our precious time on things that we do not consider necessary. Remember the last time you were stuck in traffic, wasting hours on a useless project at work, filling out mountains of pointless paperwork, or waiting for a slow Internet connection? As time passed, you probably got angry and asked yourself, “why am I wasting my time on all this?”

But think about this. The fact that you are upset is good sign, which shows that you value your time, it means something to you and you are likely to look for ways to save more of it. No matter what your profession or position in life is, your time is worth money, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

If you are paid by the hour, it is quite obvious that time is money. The more hours you work, the more money you make, and vice versa. If you're an employee, you're likely paid the same no matter how many hours you work. This, in a sense, makes time even more precious.

The more efficiently and quickly you can do a job, the more likely you are to get a promotion and a higher salary. Plus, the faster you can get your work done, the more time you have for other things in your life.

Have you ever heard of popular books on, for example, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”? Why are they so popular? These bestselling books have made the authors a lot of money because people are willing to pay to learn how to make better use of their time.

Life is short

How much do you think people on their deathbed would pay for a few more healthy years of life? If it were possible to buy time with money, most people would do it, no matter the cost. (Note - you can clearly see this in the 2011 film “Time” starring Justin Timberlake).

Use your time wisely

Modern life takes a huge toll on your time. Next time, before you waste time on something you don't want to do - ask yourself, is it really worth your investment? Your best bet may be to find an alternative to it, a different way to do it, or give it up altogether.

What can you do to reclaim more of your precious time?