The key to building a better wealthier future is to be able to set aside a little money to invest each month. Unexpected windfalls can help increase your net worth and your investment portfolio but you should never trust your future on luck. Your financial future rest in your hands and everyone has the keys to a better future. The key to being able to save and invest money is discipline. The discipline to save money each and every month and the discipline to invest it wisely and maturely.
It is very easy to trick oneself into believing that you are unable to save any money. That you need every penny to survive. There is simply never any money left at the end of the month. This is an illusion. For most of us it does not matter how much money we earn. There will never be any money left at the end of the month. It does not matter if you get a raise. In a month or two your expenses will have grown and there will once again be no money left to save at the end of the month. The key to saving and investing money is to set aside money for investing at the beginning of the month. To make your savings a fixed expense that you pay early in the month. By doing this you will be able to save money. This is due to the fact that most of us spend a lot of money each month on useless crap that we wont really miss if we don’t get it. When we have money we spend the money. When we don’t we save on a lot of things without even noticing it. By saving the money at the beginning of the month you force yourself to cut back on a lot expenses without even realizing it. A chocolate bar here and a beer there can make a big difference at the end of the month. Most people, regardless of their income, can save at least 10% of their monthly paycheck while still maintaining the same lifestyle. If you do not believe me. Keep a detailed list of your expenses for month and you will see that you do waste a lot more money than you think.
We all spend our money a little bit differently and it is hard for me to suggest where you might be able to save money. You will have to decide what is important for you and what you might be willing to give up in exchange for a better future. Below I have listed a number of different areas where most of us have unnecessary expenses and where most of us can cut costs with very little affect on our lifes. You will have to decide in which areas you can cut costs.
Alcohol
Most of us spend a lot more money on alcohol than we need to and most of us can save a lot of money by adjusting our drinking habits. I am not suggesting that you should stop going out drinking with your friends. I do not even suggest that you should cut back on your party nights. There are ways to go out partying just as often and have just as much fun and still save a lot of money. This is due to the fact that you will have just as much fun drinking one drink or beer less a night as you have drinking it. You will have just as much fun after 5 drinks as you will after 6. Drinking a little slower 
or replacing one drink each night with water will allow you the save a significant amount each month without reducing the amount of fun in your life. Starting the party at someones house and drinking a few drinks there can also be a good way to save money. The drinks you drinks at the pre-party at someones house will be a lot cheaper than the ones you drink in a bar. A couple of drinks with your friends before you go out will also allow you to have a lot of fun before you hit the bars and start pulling.
With that said. It might be good to write down your alcohol intake during one month to see how much you really drink. A lot of us drink a lot more than we thinking and cutting down on alcohol all together might be good for both your health and your wallet.
Lunch
There is a lot of money to be saved by bringing lunch to work each day rather than eating out. Home made meals can be tasty, healthy and cheap. By bringing your own lunch to work you can save hundreds of pounds a month and thousands a year.
Eating Out
Eating out with friends can be one of life’s large pleasures. I will therefore not recommend that you cut down on socializing with your friends. This does however not mean that you cant save money and cut your monthly expenses. First of all you should avoid eating out by yourself. Sometimes it feels tempting to order in or going out instead of preparing a meal for yourself at home. Fight this impulse and cook something. It is cheaper and often healthier.
I also recommend that you talk to your friends. Often you will find that they also want to cut back on expenses and save some money. If this is the case, as it often is, you can start hosting dinners at your homes instead. Hosting dinners at home is cheaper and more intimate that eating out. Rotate the dinner so that each of you take turns hosting. You will get the same pleasure that you used to get from eating out and you will all be able to save a lot of money. You can still go out occasionally. If you want to you can use some of the money you save by hosting your dinners at home to visiting better more fancy restaurants when you do go out. Improving your experiences even further.
Candy
Candy is not only bad for your health. It is also expensive. Many of us can reduce our expenses a lot by reducing our candy consumption. If you have a sweat tooth you might think that the candy give you too much pleasure to cut down on. The truth is however often that we derive even more pleasure from the candy we do eat if we cut down on our total consumption. By limit your candy intake to special days or special occasions we can save money and increase our pleasure at the same time.
TV
Many of us spend a lot more on TV than we need to. The first question you should ask your self is if you even need a cable or TV subscription at all. With all the media that is available through Internet and other services such as Netflix most of us do not really need a conventional TV subscription. Many of us just keep it due to habit even though we do not use it much. Do you really use your TV subscription enough to warrant the cost. If you only pay for TV to watch sport you should consider canceling the subscription and watch live streams of the games instead. Many sport betting sites offer a very large selection of live streamed games that is available to their members completely free. It is usually possible to set it up so that you can watch the live streamed games on your TV.
Gambling
Gambling is a fools pursuit. We all dream about the big jackpot but for must of us gambling will be nothing more than an expense. Consider if you really enjoy gambling enough to warrant the expensive. If you feel you do enjoy it you might still be able to cut down on how much money you spend each month. Try to reduce your expenses by taking advantage of the bonus offered by different online casinos. You might also consider switching over to a more skill based type of gambling such as poker.
Insurance
Most of us spend more money than we need to on insurance. It is usually possible to get the same coverage for a lower cost by shopping around and calling different companies. You should also make sure that you is not over insured. If you are over insured you are paying for protection that you do not need and that you can not use if something happens. Do not have insurance that is worth more than what you own.
Gasoline
Most of us use the car more then we need to. We use it to go very short distances. Going short distances in urban area uses a lot of gasoline. A lot more than you would use going the same distance on the high way. Avoiding to use the car short distances can reduce your monthly gasoline bill a lot. By walking instead of taking the car you can save money and improve your health. If you want to you can also park the car and use public transport. Public transport is better than its reputation and is a lot cheaper than driving. Using public transport also allow you to use the time of your commute for something more pleasurable than driving such as reading a good book.
Public Transport
If you use public transport there is a lot of money to be saved by buying a year pass instead of single tickets or monthly passes. Buying a yearly pass for public transport can be an large expense. It is however more than worth buying a yearly pass. A yearly pass is a lot cheaper than what you would spend during a year on monthly passes. This is an easy way to save a lot of money every year.