Saving Hacks: Automate Your Wealth

Saving money is hard because spending is fun. If you rely on willpower ("I will try to save this month"), you will fail. The secret is to remove willpower from the equation.

1. Pay Yourself First (The Golden Rule)

Most people do: Income - Expenses = Savings Rich people do: Income - Savings = Expenses

Hack: Set up a Standing Instruction (SI) on your salary day.

• Salary Date: 1st of month.
• SIP Date: 2nd of month.
• Money is gone before you can touch it. You are forced to survive on the rest.

2. The "Sleep on It" Rule (30-Day Rule)

Impulse buying kills budgets. Hack: If you want to buy something > ₹2,000 (that is not a necessity):

1. Add it to cart.
2. Wait 30 days.
3. If you still want it after 30 days, buy it.
4. 90% of the time, the urge will pass.

3. The "Round Up" Method

Apps like Jar or Spenny do this.

• You spend ₹195 on coffee.
• App rounds it up to ₹200.
• Invests the difference (₹5) in Digital Gold.
• It feels painless, but adds up to thousands over a year.

4. No-Spend Days

Gamify your savings. Hack: Designate one day a week (e.g., Wednesday) as a "No-Spend Day."

• You bring lunch from home.
• You don't take a cab.
• You spend ₹0.

5. Cancel the "Zombie" Subscriptions

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Spotify, Gym membership. Are you using ALL of them? Hack: Cancel everything. See what you actually miss. Resubscribe only to that.

6. The 24-Hour Rule for Emails

Unsubscribe from marketing emails (Zomato, Myntra, Amazon). They are designed to trigger FOMO ("Sale ends in 2 hours!"). Hack: Unsubscribe. If you don't see the offer, you won't buy it.

7-Day Action Plan

Day 1: Set up an auto-debit (SIP or RD) for the 2nd of next month.
Day 2: Unsubscribe from 5 marketing newsletters.
Day 3: Check your bank statement for recurring subscriptions. Cancel one.
Day 4: Try a "No-Spend Day" tomorrow. Plan for it.
Day 5: Install a "Round Up" app or manually transfer "change" to a savings pot.
Day 6: Apply the 30-Day rule to one item in your Amazon wishlist.
Day 7: Calculate how much these hacks saved you this week.

Quiz

💡 Final Wisdom: You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Automate your savings.