I have been quite a frugal person. Ever since I can remember, I have always been this way – saving greater part of my monthly income. I perhaps have a saving gene in my DNA, or maybe I have just learned this from my grandma who was a very good saver too. I used to live with my grandparents often when I was a kid.
But, I am not a cheap person who always tries to pay the lowest possible price to buy products of the lowest quality. I try spend money in the rational way (most of the time). I will never go with the lowest-priced goods or services as I do not ever want to compromise on the quality because I think that high-quality products are magical. I love value for money products which give maximum benefits within the resources which I have at my disposal at the current moment.
Below, I make public my saving strategy from 2013 when me and my wife used to live in Beijing, China right after our graduations from the university. In total, we were able to save RMB181,850 (around USD30,000 at that time) in just 1 year. Pretty good result, I guess. What do you think?
If you want to save aggressively, here is the list of proven ways how to quickly save a lot of money. The amount of savings mentioned at the end of each paragraph is in one year.
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Lived on suburbs. My wife and I moved out from the downtown Beijing, where we used to live for a few years to the suburbs. We did not like in the central part of the city that much because of constant noise, traffic jams and never-ending crowds on the streets. We rented a small apartment of around 50 m2 in a really nice housing community with lots of trees and plants for around RMB2,000 / month plus utilities. If we wanted to continue renting in the downtown, we would have to spend roughly three times more. Commuting to work every day by subway took each of us around 70 minutes one way including 30 minutes of walking. How much I saved? RMB48,000
Rented the apartment directly from the owner. In Beijing, many people rent apartments through the real estate agencies. The agencies charge a fee in the amount of equivalent to one month rent for ‘assistance’ in finding the apartment. We found the apartment online by ourselves, therefore avoided paying any fees to the real estate agency. How much I saved? RMB2,000
Did house chores by myself. Many families in China hire ‘a cleaning lady’ (ayi) to take care of their apartments: cleaning, washing dishes, cooking, doing laundry, grocery shopping, running simple errands like paying bills, etc. I have never hired maid services because I like to do things by myself to ensure high quality of my daily life. How much I saved? RMB2,000
Paid the Internet fee in advance. I paid for the whole year worth of Internet at once instead of paying monthly. Got the discount around 10%. How much I saved? RMB200
Used less hot water. I tried to have shorter and cooler showers. How much I saved? RMB200
Used less electricity. I had unplugged almost all of the electronic devices except the fridge before I went to bed in order reduce energy consumption and save money on utilities. In the summer, I tried not to use the air conditioner which is a real electricity guzzler. How much I saved? RMB500
Almost never took TAXI. Instead, I took the public transportation like subway or buses, or just walked to save money on transportation. Taking a cab once a week would cost around RMB80 per person per month. How much I saved? RMB1,920
Did not party. I avoided going out to the clubs, pubs or restaurants as much as possible. I am not a party animal in nature though, so it helped. In Beijing, fancy alcoholic drinks are really expensive: a small beer would cost around RMB50 and eating would cost RMB100-200 per dish. If me and my wife wanted to go out once a week for a fine dining experience, we would have spent around RMB1,200 a month. Instead, we cooked at home. How much I saved? RMB14,400
Cooked at home. I ate dinner at home almost every day to save money on food. Sometimes, maybe twice a month, I ate out something simple with my wife. The cost of an average lunch in a local Chinese restaurant is around RMB30. The cost of cooking the average dinner for two people at home is up to RMB20 depending on how expensive the protein is. We also shopped responsibly at the local supermarket to save money on shopping for groceries. How much I saved? RMB14,600
Entered tourist attractions for free. I chose tourist attractions which were free of charge to do sightseeing. It is a great way of saving on entertainment. Instead of visiting The Forbidden City or The Summer Palace over and over again, I brought my wife to explore other places around the city, for example, mountains, antique markets, forest parks. How much I saved? RMB1,200
Did not buy newspapers. I did not buy printed versions of China Daily and other Chinese and international newspapers. I read lots of blogs and other interesting Internet portals. On my website, In Business Press you can check what happens in business news from around the world. How much I saved RMB845
Did not smoke. I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes every day. I quit smoking long time ago and it was one of the best money-saving decisions I could ever make. One pack of average cigarettes would cost me around RMB20 in Beijing. If both me and my wife smoked, we would have spent RMB40 a day. How much I saved? RMB14,600
Did not go to the movies. Not going to the movies saved us around RMB100 each time. I did not buy any DVDs either. In general, I rarely watch movies unless they have any educational value. I like objective documentary movies though. My wife usually watches some Chinese and Korean movies on the Internet while I watch lots of TED speeches and academic lectures on YouTube which are free of charge. Fantastic way to save money on learning and education. How much I saved? RMB1,260
Did not go to the gym. My wife and me had a gym and swimming pool membership in 2015 for which we paid RMB4,000 / each. However, after moving to the suburbs, going to the gym, which is quite far from my workplace, would have taken lots of time. So, I did not extent our gym memberships. That year, I was going to do more exercise outdoors like running, hiking and strength exercise using body weight. How much I saved? RMB8,000
Did not drink alcohol. Staying away from this addiction saved me lots of money on food and drinks. I do not really drink vodka, beer, whiskey, brandy, gin or other sweet liquors. My wife drinks occasionally when she goes on the international business trips. We drink red wine sometimes which is good for our hearts. How much I saved? RMB3,000
I was healthy, so was my wife. I try to eat healthy as much as I can, so does my wife. We walk a lot and do lots of sports in our free time. We are also very fortunate that we have never had any serious diseases. It allowed us to save a lot on health. Thanks to our healthy lifestyle, we almost never visit the doctor and the likelihood of getting the most common diseases is lowered. We obviously did go the dentist and went to the lab to do annual health check-ups. How much I saved? Around RMB4,000
Did not buy new clothes. Except a few shirts, a few pairs of underwear and socks, I did not buy any new clothes in 2013 because I wanted to save money on clothes. I tried to wear off current clothes and then throw them away once they become shabby. I usually buy one pair of sports shoes every two years and wear them every day until totally broken. I rarely hang out at the shopping malls trying to avoid crowds of the modern lifestyle. How much I saved? RMB6,000
Did not have a car. Public transportation in Beijing is quite convenient although extremely crowded during rush hours. By not owning a car, we did not have to worry about car insurance, annual inspections, gasoline or parking tickets. If we ever needed a car, we would have rent one for a few hundred RMB per day. How much I saved? Around RMB20,000
Did not drink coffee. Coffee was my soft spot for many years, it still is. I used to drink a cup of coffee every day, especially when smoking cigarettes. One cup of coffee in a local Chinese café would cost around RM40. Neither my wife drunk coffee. How much I saved? Around RMB7,300
Did not buy snacks. In 2013, I did not buy any sugary snacks. In addition to coffee and cigarettes, I had been addicted to long time ago, I also had had lots of chocolate bars almost every day. One chocolate bar would cost around RMB5. How much I saved? RMB1,825
Did not travel abroad for holidays. A week-long trip somewhere to Southeast Asia for two people would cost us around RMB15,000. It is not easy to refuse yourself great holidays in exotic Thailand, but if you want to save on tourism, it is the right thing to do. We have not been going on vacations for many years because we save money for different purposes like buying our own apartment. Once we buy our own house, we will travel to different countries around the world. How much I saved? RMB30,000
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I am aware that the above amounts will be different in each country or even between cities in the same country. Also, each of us has different wants, emergencies and expectations. But for sure, saving regularly will bring large benefits at the end of the year, no matter where you live.
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What I wanted to achieve by publishing this old breakdown is to show you how I used to save money aggressively when I was younger, and how much savings each of the aforementioned saving methods added to my household budget.
All in all, moving to the apartment on suburbs, not partying, cooking at home, quitting smoking, not owning a car and not traveling for holidays, resulted in the biggest amounts of savings. I hope that you will find the numbers useful.
