20. Save your money reading online newspapers
The daily newspaper, a faithful companion during those short pauses of relax that we take to detach from the hectic day due to work commitments, family and problems of the moment. The newspaper, with all those little black and white letters and advertisements for promotions and products, updates us daily on the events of the world. It is usually used by those who are never at home are not able to see the news on TV, but also from those who have used it for years. If we go to a bar many people sip a coffee while they are you mean to read the news in the local newspaper or on the “Gazzetta dello Sport”. There are those who then among their habits have that of buying the newspaper just left the house, before going to work, or who are subscribers and receives it directly at home in the morning.
This little moment of relaxation and information is going to affect our wallet, and a bit like coffee in the morning could make us lose some useful savings for a project or for a savings fund.
A daily newspaper in Italy costs on average €1.30, this means that monthly we would spend about €40. This money may seem little, but accumulated will make a high amount of money, almost as much as that of coffee at the bar. If our goal is saving, then it is clear that maybe buying the newspaper every morning could be a luxury to be no longer allowed. But this does not mean that we can no longer follow the news or that we can no longer indulge in moments of relaxation during the day as once. Today the Web offers many alternatives and among these there are also online newspapers. There are so many sites on which you can follow news, on which you can read what happened in the world while you were seeing your lives.
We could read the newspaper everywhere, even during our coffee breaks, through our smartphone or as we are doing now reading this ebook. Nowadays almost all of us are equipped with laptops and we all have a mobile phone that allows us to go on the Internet, offers for Giga consumption are cheaper and cheaper. Moreover you don’t need to go on the internet, but you can read your favorite newspapers or keep in touch with what happens in the world, like the situation of the stock exchange, sports and much more, downloading apps from the store of your operating system. Some of these are ansa.it, TGcom24, “Gazzetta dello Sport”, Il Giornale.
With these apps we can keep in touch with reality without having to spend a Euro, staying up to date on our favorite team, reading interesting articles and learning new things.
Another completely free way to read the news and to be aware of what happens around us, are the social. Every newspapers listed above has a Facebook page and update its bulletin board with new news every day.
For more curious people and for those who want to learn or improve a new language, there is also an app, created directly by the BBC, with which to learn English while listening to the news of the day.
In conclusion we can see that even without the paper we can continue to learn news and to document us while we have a break during the day.
THIS ADVICE WILL
ALLOW YOU TO SAVE €40 PER MONTH.
21. Save your money on Christmas presents
Perhaps the first thought that might come reading the title of this chapter is to not want to save on gifts, as it would seem a bad deed for the recipient, but it is absolutely not so. We must see the action to save on gifts as a gesture to be able to succeed in our intent, and above all we must think that the gift we are going to do in order to save money is not equal to the love that we want to show but that it symbolizes this love. You don’t have to make expensive gifts to show that you love someone, but you need to do them lovingly. They are just a symbol, a through between us and those who receive the gift. We do not have to worry if someone will think that the gift is not at its height, that is not quite expensive or similar things, because it is not on this base that you evaluate the relationship between two people. Our friend who will receive the gift will understand that our gift is a symbol of affection, especially if it is done with our hands. An object produced by us is the symbol of what we want to convey to another person. These notions are valid all year round and not only at Christmas.
Every Christmas in the world 25 billion dollars are spent for gifts, which are often not appreciated. A huge amount with which we could really do much more, such as something that could help others, that would be a nice Christmas present.
Often in the choice of the gift we are not very careful and this leads to a waste, the gift itself and the money with which we buy it. The race to presents is a period of fire and stress for each of us, especially in the last days preceding Christmas.
The gifts that every year we try to buy cost to each of us €165 on average, according to data from Confcommercio. An important amount of money, since it is spent in just less than a month, sometimes in a week. Let’s see what precautions can be put into practice to avoid a waste of Christmas gifts.
The list is always there each time we have to organize something. The list of people to which we must buy a gift and what items to buy these people, for example, can be a good start.
Purchases in the dark confuse and tend to make you spending more money.
After making our list, instead of slingshot headlong between the streets, traffic and crowded shops, let’s look at the e-commerce sites. These offer many products at very low prices compared to the store. By buying our gifts online, we could save 10 to 20%.
Another advice is to give away something you can share, for example to couples of friends, families, avoid making individual gifts for each member of the nucleus, for example, you can offer a Christmas basket with food, sweets and drinks. This will save a lot of money compared to what it would entail to make a single gift for every single person. It often happens to us to not like a gift received, so let’s not be ashamed and recycle it. If it is in good condition and it has never been used there is nothing wrong with giving it to someone else.
An idea for the most creative people is to make DIY gifts, designing with your own hands what then will be the present for the person you love. Building a handmade gift will cost almost nothing, if not the material that must be purchased, saving at least a 50% compared to a gift bought.
If instead we are not creative people then we could opt for fair trade. At the Christmas markets or even in special shops you can buy these products that, in addition to having a reasonable price, will allow us to commit a good deed.
Finally remember to do not throw the receipts, this will allow us to make a budget and see how much we have really spent and maybe how we can improve even more the following year.
Coming to the practical aspect, of course this will depend on which way we choose to follow and the items we decide to buy. What we can say however, is that there will be a net savings compared to previous Christmases, at least a 20%, which on balance will be €132 instead of €165.
Deciding to shop online, instead of fight with an angry crowd in shopping malls and shops, then we will save a 10-15% and spend about €140.
Opting for do-it-yourself then the prices are lowered considerably by a good 50%, thus spending about€80 for all our friends and relatives. The idea of spending hours creating objects is much more tempting than running around in the crowd to buy gifts at the last minute.
Finally, as the last advice of this chapter, we should try not to stress ourselves and make purchases calmly. You don’t have to run or postpone your expenses to the last minute, but you just need to organize yourself in time.
THIS ADVICE WILL ALLOW YOU TO SAVE FROM €30 TO €80 EVERY CHRISTMAS.
