很多人說節儉是美德(Frugality is the mother of all virtues)，但能堅持儲蓄(to pinch pennies)習慣的人不多。香港人每天都生活在金錢壓力下，買樓要付的首期(down payment)已是一大重擔，加上其他雜費開支(miscellaneous expenses )，每月不得不透支銀行戶口 (to overdraw your bank account)，月底時會感到手頭拮据(to feel the pinch)，最後只好攤長使用身上僅餘的積蓄(to stretch their savings)。以下十種方法可以為你提供儲蓄建議︰
方法一: Kill your debt first so that the money can easily be (1) re-purposed to savings
(1) To purpose: 企圖用作/ 打算用作/ 有意做 (have as one’s intention or objective) {Oxford Online}
God has allowed suffering, even purposed it {Oxford Online}
方法二: (2) Kick-start (3) a rainy day fund as a financial buffer
(2) To kick-start: 使…重新啟動 (provide an impetus to start or resume)
The President has chosen to kick-start the economy by slashing interest rates. {iciba}
總統選擇通過大幅降低利率來重新拉動經濟增長。
The housing market needs a kick-start. {iciba}
房地產市場需要刺激。
(3) A rainy day: 艱難時刻/ 不備之時 (used in reference to a possible time in the future when money will be needed) {Oxford Online}
Putting money by for a rainy day. {Oxford Online}
方法三: Establish an attainable time-frame to (4) knock your finances (finance 加s解作財政狀況) into shape.
(4) To knock ( = get/ lick/ whip) someone/ thing into shape (act forcefully to bring someone or something into a fitter, more efficient, or better-organized state) {Oxford Online}
It took him just two weeks to whip the new recruits into shape. {Oxford Ame.}
It shouldn't take long to get the company back into shape. {Oxford Ame.}
方法四: Do not wait till the end of the month to (5) stash your (6) take-home pay.
(5) To stash: 存放，儲藏，藏匿 (store safely in a secret place)
Their wealth had been stashed away in Swiss banks {Oxford}
(6) take-home pay: (扣除稅款等之後的)實發工資 (the amount of your wages or salary that is left after income tax and other payments have been subtracted) {Iciba}
He was earning £215 a week before tax: take-home pay, £170.
他稅前的週薪是215英鎊，實發170英鎊。{iciba}
方法五: (7) Get into the habit of recording every expense and saving the receipts. (Opening a financial ledger or journal is not (8) rocket science!)
(7) Habit 可跟動詞acquire/ develop/ fall into/ form/ get into/ make一起用 {Ozdic}
(8) rocket science: 高深的事/ 難做的事/ 考驗智力的事 (something very difficult to understand) {Oxford Online}
We want you to get out and vote—it’s not exactly rocket science. {Oxford Online}
方法六: (9) Trim your expenses in order to free up (騰出) some funds for (10) big-ticket items
(9) To trim: to reduce the size, amount, number, or cost of {Oxford}
American companies looked at ways they could trim these costs... {Iciba}
美國公司研究了能夠削減這些成本的方法。
(10) big-ticket: 高價的；昂貴的(constituting a major expense) {Oxford online}
Supercomputers are big-ticket items. {iciba}
超級電腦價格昂貴。
方法七: (11) Bundle up the predetermined amount of cash (12) allocated for each expense with separate jars or piggy banks (豬仔錢罌).
(11) To bundle up:紮成一捆處理(to make or tie something into a bundle) (Oxford Ame.)
He bundled up the dirty clothes and stuffed them into the bag.
(12) To allocate: 分配/分派 (to give something officially to someone or something for a particular purpose) {Oxford Ame.}
The 1985 federal budget allocated $7.3 billion for development programmes... {ICIBA}
1985年的聯邦預算將73億美元撥給了開發項目。
They intend to allocate more places for older students this year.
方法八: (13) Sock your (14) hard-earned cash in an interest-bearing savings account
(13) To sock (away): 儲蓄 (to save money)
She already has $5,000 socked away for college.
(14) Hard-earned: 辛苦得到的/ 來之不易的 (having taken a great deal of effort to earn or acquire)
Her hard-earned money
她辛苦掙來的錢
方法九: (15) Clip high-value coupons from advertising circular (即flyer/ 傳單) for store purchases.
(15) To clip: 剪下 (to cut something out of a newspaper or magazine.) {ICIBA}
Kids in his neighborhood clipped his picture from the newspaper and carried it around. {ICIBA}
附近的孩子們從報紙上剪下他的照片，到哪兒都帶著。
方法十: Start investing to (16) ramp up enough savings to (17) weather a financial crisis
(16) To ramp up: 加強/ 加大/ 斜坡上升(to make something increase in amount) {Oxford Ame.}
The factory doesn't have that capacity to ramp up production. {ICIBA}
這家工廠沒有能力加速生產。
(17) to weather: 平安渡過/ 挨過 (to come safely through a difficult period or experience) {Oxford Ame.}
The company has weathered the recession... {Iciba}
這家公司從經濟蕭條中挺了過來。
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