It may look like some clickbait, but stay with us. I actually saved a decent amount of money with this trick a few months ago and have been using it ever since. Saving money is very important in one’s life. Knowing how to save money, even more! Not only do you prepare yourself for any emergencies to come, but you also have a sense of confidence.

Jab Jeb me money ho, to kundli me shani hone se kuch farak nahi padta

-Harshad Mehta, Scam 1992

From intangible benefits like piece of mind, savings open a lot of alternatives for you if you are stuck somewhere. Who wants to deal with life with no choices available just because other options were too capital extensive?

We all have heard the famous saying of money making money. When I was a newbie in the world of investment, I used to ask myself, where will the initial money which would make more money come from? That is when I learnt some quick tricks from my father. Today, I am sharing one such trick on “how to save money”.

Inspiration behind the trick!

Ever since I was a kid, I would see my father bring home, fresh new bundles of cash on his payday (thanks to my grandfather who is an ex banker). He very diligently took out the currency note ending with serial number “786” from that pile and put it in an earthen pot.

My mother used to tell me that 786 is an auspicious number so we don’t spend those notes. Time passed and this activity became a routine. As I grew older, my father allowed me to do this ritual. I felt really excited to pull out 786 notes from the fresh, crisp bundles each month.

On November 8th, 2016, Modi Government announced demonetization. Amidst the total chaos, my father broke down those earthen pots of 786 notes. All 9 of them. When we counted, it amounted to a staggering ₹ 1.4Lacs. A simple habit could generate such a massive sum. I call it a trick because we all tricked our brains into doing it. We thought we are doing it for some auspicious reason, but in reality, my dad was saving. You can think of it as a feeling you have when you find a Rs. 500 note in the pocket of old stored shirt.

Tell us the Trick Already!

Okay so inspired by this and driven by the quest of how to save money, I wanted to do something similar. But I don’t have access to bundles of cash. As a matter of fact, I hardly deal in cash. So how do I do it?

As a daily routine, I paid ₹35 at a toll and got ₹65 in return. I do this twice a day while crossing Mumbai-Thane border. I always used to spend ₹100 bucks and got ₹65 in return. Eureka!

This is when I decided to save every ₹50 note that hits my wallet. It can be any denomination for you, but ₹50 suited me best. Time passed and I started looking forward to 50 buck note. I would use my newly ordered cred wallet as my storage location.

Now, I agree that I could never be as disciplined as my father (who never counted that amount until demonetization) so I took out that wallet after two months of the activity and guess what? I had ₹3050 in it. Amazing right? I never felt like I was cutting down on my expenses. I was not doing anything additional. Just constantly removing a specific denomination from my wallet.

Conclusion:

I do plan to invest such a sum in a liquid MF which would be a part of my emergency fund. Although amount of saving has come down a lot post lockdown due to lesser travelling, but this hobby is here to stay. Hope you find value in this (literally).

Until Next time..