by Laurie Childree

Created on: March 22, 2010

When it comes to saving money there some people that have a difficult time sticking to their savings plans especially when it comes to big purchases. Big purchases can be anything from new furniture, a new car or a home. Purchases as large as a home would require saving money for a down payment unless you can figure out how to save anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 or more to pay for your home in full; few people manage to do that but there are some things that you can do to save money for a big purchase.

Goals

When you want to make a big purchase you need to give yourself a time frame to purchase it in. Hopefully it’s a big purchase that you want and not one that comes up as an emergency. When it comes up as an emergency you have to hope that your emergency fund is already in place. The idea is to avoid dipping into emergency funds to pay for the big purchase that you wish to make.  Cutting out a picture of the item or items that you want to purchase will help to keep you focused. Whether you plan to make the purchase in six months or a year you can make a few adjustments and make the purchase a reality.

Examine the Budget                                                                             

When you take a second look at your budget you’ll find a number of places that you’re spending money you don’t have to. There are a number of things that you pay for that you don’t actually use enough to keep. Are you paying for a gym membership when you never go to the gym? Cancel it and move that amount to savings for the big purchase you want to make. Reexamine the cable, Internet, phones and insurance premiums that you pay. If you look closely you’ll be able to reduce the amounts that you spend on at least one of these items to increase the amount of money that you’re saving.

Reduce Spending

How much do you spend in an average week? If you spend $60 during the week try taking $50 with you. You’ll save $10 a week by not having that extra money on you. When it comes to entertainment try your local library for books and videos. You can also use coupons for rentals and other activities to reduce the amount that you spend for entertainment.

Recycle and Reuse

Saving money is simple when you reuse and recycle the items in your home. There are a number of things that can be recycled for money. It may only be a small amount but it all adds up. Reusing items in the home will prevent you from having to spend more money to buy items that you can make yourself by finding new uses for items already in your home.

Saving Change

Every time you get change back from a purchase put it in a jar. Even the smallest amounts of change will add up to larger amounts given enough time. While you don’t want to rely solely on change when saving money for a big purchase it can help a lot more than you think when you take it out of the jar and put it with the rest of the money that you have managed to save.

When it comes to saving the money that you need to make a big purchase you have to focus on your goals. You may have to get creative at times to meet your goal but with a little dedication and determination you can do it.

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