My 2 Golden Rules of Saving

There never seems to be a simple way to save. Life seems unfair sometimes because all the good things happen at once or the other way around. Especially with money. You better be able to cash in on your savings whenever you need the money or even otherwise.

Why save?

We always think savings is for a rainy day. According to me, the whole notion of saving for a rainy day isn't the intention that you must have while saving. It's as simple as "paying yourself first"!

RULE 1: Pay yourself first.
I love this rule.

Make sure, each time you earn money and get a cheque. Pay yourself a little amount and then forget about it. Go about your life. But religiously do this and you will get into a habit of saving. I was always tempted to put the money that remains at the end of a month,  in my savings account and it was rare that I got to doing that. Then I started paying myself religiously first as soon as I received my paycheck.This worked wonders. Its the only way we will get into the discipline of accumulating some money for yourself.
Also remember to not task yourself to save half your paycheck. Not possible for most people I guess. Start with a small step and increase it gradually. Saving is fun, don't stress yourself a lot!

RULE 2: Spend less than you earn

There are 3 ways to spend your money and this results in 3 cause and effect situations.

1. Spending all that you earn. - Results in 0 savings. Dangers - Any sudden expenses, you will fall into Category 2. 

2. Spending more than you earn. - Results in -ve balance. - Any sudden expenses or just normal expenses will make your -ve status more -ve. This is a death hole. Get out as fast as possible. Solution: Spend less or earn more.

3. Spending less than you earn. - Results in +ve balance. Hurray you have savings! Any sudden expenses you will manage. Even if your savings dont cover your sudden expenses, you will get through because you have the discipline of spending less than you earn! 

We work. We Earn. We live. We spend.

Living your life and spending always goes hand in hand. But just remember a simple rule - Spend less than you earn and when you earn, pay yourself first. These 2 rules will get your started in creating your wealth!

Virtually You

The Internet has always amazed me. As most earthlings born in the past few decades and with the literacy to type on a keyboard, the Internet has captivated me in ways I don't even realize.

The book "Virtually You" by Elias Aboujaoude, attracted my attention immediately. Its a well written book and I would also recommend it to parents, to help them know what all can happen on the internet. He clearly describes the effects of an internet associated life with both adults and children. In his career, he meets lots of people who seem to have messed up the real and online worlds. Affairs with people on second-life, Avatars that people create as perfect mates, husbands on their wives infidelity in the online world, kids who seem to enjoy the terrorizing violent games of Warcrafts! It is a screwed up world out there...thats what I felt as I closed the book.

These may seem like abnormal addictions but this is the life for many individuals caught in the web.
I read an article a few days back, where the author describes as to how much we could reduce the use of gadgets daily:
1. Schedule a e-mail viewing time or an Online Time each day. Stick to checking your emails, facebook accounts and all online activities to that 1 or 2 hours.
2. Never keep the iphone or laptop near the place where you sleep.
3. Curb the urge to check emails / facebook news updates every hour. Try to do that once everyday at the Online Time , that you set.

I can't remember the rest. But these 3 points were key. As a step towards this I even got my data subscription off because I just couldn't stop checking the mail and facebooks app every other time my mind was just drifting to the do-nothing idle time. Its working for me, but I still haven't been able to put away my phone in another room as I sleep. Working on that now :-)