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FIXED AND VARIABLE COSTS

What Dr. Dr. Money says
Taschenrechner
You would like to save 10 euros a week: but where do you start? To decide this, you need an overview of your variable costs. Only if you know how much money you need to spend each month will you be able to find out what your potential savings could be.
Variable costs: Food
Money spent on food, beverages and snacks between meals makes up a significant portion of your variable costs. That includes everything you buy in the course of a day and need in your daily life. You can save a lot of money here! To succeed in the long run, you need a systematic approach. First you have to know how much money you spend. That may be hard to find out if you spend small sums here and there and keep forgetting about them. These little daily outlays may not seem all that important in connection with a savings goal, but they add up to substantial amounts of money. The best method is to collect all the receipts you get in the course of a week and write down EVERYTHING you spent money on during that period. A bun from the bakery, the newspaper, every supermarket shopping trip, and every coffee with friends. You don’t have to save any money this week, just continue with your usual routines. You are tired in the morning and don’t have enough time to make coffee for yourself. So you buy a cup of coffee to go for €2.50 (the price varies, of course, depending on size and bakery, but let’s take €2.50 for our example). Making your own coffee at home would cost you only about 30 cents. Buying one coffee to go every day adds up to 75 euros over 30 days. Making your own would cost you 9 euros over the same period. That’s a difference of 66 euros. You can set yourself a goal, for example saving 30 euros every month on your variable costs. With your receipts in front of you, you can consider: What is important to me? What are the things I can’t or won’t do without, and where would it be easy to save some money?
Example
You are tired in the morning and don’t have enough time to make coffee for yourself. So you buy a cup of coffee to go for €2.50 (the price varies, of course, depending on size and bakery, but let’s take €2.50 for our example). Making your own coffee at home would cost you only about 30 cents. Buying one coffee to go every day adds up to 75 euros over 30 days. Making your own would cost you 9 euros over the same period. That’s a difference of 66 euros.
Now you know how much a small thing can add up over a month. And you can make a deliberate decision for or against it.Other things you could consider are: Which brands could I swap for no-name products?
How much could I save that way in a month? No-name products are not always as good as original brands, but in many cases you won’t notice any difference at all. Have I eaten all the food I bought? Did I keep anything past the sell-by date and then throw it away? How much does that cost me? Many people buy more food than they actually eat. Make a deliberate effort not to let anything go to waste. To do that, you could plan what you want to cook and eat, and then buy only what is necessary for the planned meals. You will see how much you can save with a bit of forward planning.
SPECIAL OFFERS
Special offers can help you save money, but sometimes they may tempt you to spend more
than you planned. When you see a special offer, you should ask yourself: Do I really need this? Will I eat (use) it? Quantity discounts in particular make sense only if you are sure that you will actually use the product (detergents, for example). Or you may be offered a 20% discount on something you did not want to buy in the first place. Sometimes you will save more money by giving the special offer a miss.

Things do not cost the same everywhere

It’s a good idea to take some time and find out who offers your household staples at the lowest prices. Comparing the prices on your basic purchases can be helpful.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY CARDS
With a customer loyalty card you will be able to benefit from discounts which can help you save money. However, the vendors offering them want to know your date of birth, and after some time they “know” what your shopping habits are. With targeted offers, they can lure you into spending more money than you intended. You should only use a customer loyalty card to benefit from savings and be careful which offers you accept. Be an active user and do not passively let yourself be “persuaded”.
FIXED AND VARIABLE COSTS

What Dr. Dr. Money says

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