Prevent impulse buying
Make sure you have shopping list handy when grocery shopping and try not to deviate from it, if you don't know exactly what you need to buy chances are you'll buy things you don't need and obviously not the things you need. Never do grocery shopping when you're hungry.
When buying anything else do research beforehand and decide exactly what you want and can afford, so there is no temptation of impulsively buying something too expensive.
Connect a time switch to your geyser
Decide at what times you need large amounts of hot water and then make sure your geyser only get switched on about an hour before you need hot water every day, simple and cheap electric time switches should be available at any good hardware store.
For small amounts of hot water a kettle is more economic as it only heats a bit of water once where a geyser keeps a mass of water hot constantly.
Save in the beginning of each month
If you don't put away money in the beginning of the month all the relatively small impulse buys and other insignificant and mostly unnecessary expenses will eat up everything you need to be saving.
Know your prices
If you have an idea what every product your buying should cost you will be almost immune to getting ripped off and you'll easily spot a bargain. You can use the internet to get a basic idea of reasonable market prices, or just shop around a bit.
If you don't need it, it's not cheap
Never buy anything you don't need because it's cheap, doing that is like throwing small amounts of money away and justifying it by saying that its just small amounts.
Buy all your groceries once a month
Buying once a month makes sense because it enables you to buy cheaper bulk quantities and to buy from a larger, cheaper and maybe even further away store.
Look beyond the tip of your nose when shopping
Many times the cheaper products in the grocery stores are those above and below eye level, always remember to also look higher and lower than eye level when buying groceries. When buying other things shop around; there is always a cheaper alternative somewhere but take all expenses into account, for example: the extra fuel used to get to a cheaper but further away store.
When you can't afford it without making dept you really can't afford it
Borrowing money is never free and consequently products bought on credit are much more expensive. In this case look for second hand options or be patient.
Buy online
Online stores usually don't have extra expenses like rent and other expenses you normally associate with a physical shop, they also have more competition. Consequently they are able and obliged to ask lower prices. Other benefits include: it's easier to find the cheapest product and fuel savings.
Now save the money you've saved
It will feel strange to have more money than usual but don't immediately spend the surplus money you've accumulated. Rather look at new options like investment and build yourself a nice extra nest egg.
Please feel free to comment and add your own great way's of saving.
