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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Managing personal expenses during recession

Managing your own expenses sound very simple or you may have got several advices and most of the persons thinks he/she is good in managing their expenses but what happens is they do not consider what is going in the market, how are the conditions in the country or globally. These scenarios can also affect you, like in the current case of recession or when oil prices fluctuates from $70 to $150 and then again to less than $40. So if you will plan your expenses by considering the ongoing trends, it will help you in case some unexpected happens.

Someone may lose his/her job, may be you were planning to sell some of your property or investment in equity market to have some extra cash or to meet some unavoidable expenses but suddenly you found property prices started falling steeply and the market is behaving quite badly. So it is always better to check the current market trend, and control and manage your personal expenses to have some extra cash in your bank account. Also make a habit to invest some part of your savings in some plans/instruments which offers guaranteed returns.

Now what happens is most of us thinks that we do not spend on un-necessary things, so how we can reduce our expenses. But there are various ways in which we can save some significant amount of money. Do not spend much on outings, reduce your dinner outings, and prepare food at home. You can reduce your long drives that are meant for fun only. Reduce time of outgoing calls to your friends, talk to the point. You can also change your mobile postpaid plans as per your current needs.

Shop less and buy only what you really need, do not buy un-necessary items. Buy limited clothes and jewellery. Always search on internet before shopping to know what all offers are there in the market and from where you can get that product/service with better prices.

Suppose if you go to office in your car, and if you have some of your colleagues from the same or near-by area, you can go with option of car-pooling. It will save your fuel cost to some extent and also the maintenance cost of your car will be reduced. Switch on less number of lights in the day time, better to open windows, you will get fresh air and light and also will save on electricity bill cost and this habit should be used in general also, as it saves the environment too from getting polluted.

If you are living in a rented flat or apartment, then do not rent a lavish apartment, get a smaller one as per your needs and not as per your guests needs. After all it is your money that will be saved and can be used during hard times. So if you will peep inside your expenses, you may get some more loop-holes and extra ways to reduce the expenses and live a happy and consistent life forever.