Why "strict austerity" doesn't work
Many people start saving like this: "From tomorrow — no cafés, no taxis, no shopping." Two weeks later they snap, and spending ends up higher than before. Strict bans work like crash diets: not for long.
What works is different: find 3–4 big leaks and close them, without touching the things that genuinely make you happy. Below are nine ways that are especially relevant in Uzbekistan. Pick two or three that fit you.
Before you start, look at at least a month of your spending. Without tracking you'll save pennies while the main leak goes unnoticed.
1. Check your phone and internet plan
Many people pay for years for a plan they once picked in a shop. Open your operator's app and see how many gigabytes and minutes you actually use.
- Using half your package? Switch to a smaller plan.
- Several numbers in the family? Compare family and group offers.
- Home and mobile internet often overlap — one may be unnecessary.
The saving looks modest — 30–80 thousand so‘m a month — but it's a 15-minute task that pays off every month.
2. Taxi vs metro and bus
Taxis are one of the biggest hidden costs in cities. A 20–30 thousand ride feels small, but two a day for a working month is over a million.
Example
| Option | Calculation | Per month, so‘m |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi to work and back | 2 × 25,000 × 22 workdays | 1,100,000 |
| Taxi only in the evening, metro or bus in the morning | 25,000 × 22 + fares | about 600,000 |
Even partial switching saves about 500,000 so‘m a month. Keep taxis for late trips, rain and emergencies — no need to give them up entirely.
3. Bazaar, bulk buying and a list
The bazaar is often cheaper than a supermarket for seasonal vegetables, fruit, meat and grains, especially if you shop for the week rather than daily. But it's easy to overspend there too.
- Go with a list, and after eating — hungry shoppers buy more.
- Buy grains, oil, flour and sugar in bulk if you have storage.
- Compare price per kilo, not per pack.
- Buy in season: summer tomatoes cost several times more in winter.
If a family spends 2,500,000 so‘m a month on food, even a 10% saving is 250,000 so‘m.
4. Lunches and food delivery
A café lunch near work is convenient but costly; delivery is even more with fees and markups.
- Café lunch: 45,000 × 22 days = 990,000 so‘m.
- Lunch from home: about 15,000 × 22 days = 330,000 so‘m.
The difference is 660,000 so‘m a month — almost 8 million a year. Even three home-lunch days a week make a noticeable difference.
5. Subscriptions and auto-payments
Streaming, paid apps, cloud storage, a gym you don't visit, paid channels — each is small, together they add up.
Once a quarter, go through your card statement and find every recurring charge. For each, ask: "Did I use this last month?" If not, cancel. You can always resubscribe.
6. Impulse purchases
Sales, "last day of the offer", social media ads, next-day marketplace delivery — all designed to make you buy fast without thinking.
Try the 72-hour rule: want something unplanned over 200,000 so‘m? Put it on a wish list and come back in three days. More than half of those wants fade by then.
- Remove saved card details from shopping apps — one extra step cools the urge.
- Unsubscribe from promo emails and notifications.
- Price things in work hours: a 900,000 so‘m item on a 6,000,000 salary is nearly 4 working days.
7. The installment (nasiya) temptation
Installments make anything "affordable": not 6 million, just 500 thousand a month. But there are two dangers.
- Hidden markup. "Interest-free" often means the installment price is higher than the cash price.
- A pre-spent future budget. Three or four installments at once and a big part of your salary is gone before it arrives.
Example
A phone costs 6,000,000 so‘m paid upfront. On a 12-month plan it's 580,000 a month — 6,960,000 so‘m in total. The markup is 960,000 so‘m, or 16%, even if the ad says "0% overpayment" relative to the installment price.
The alternative: save that same 500,000 a month toward a goal and buy the phone in a year with no debt — maybe even on sale.
8. Utilities
- LED bulbs use several times less electricity than incandescent ones.
- Don't leave devices on standby; switch off heaters and air conditioning when nobody's home.
- Seal windows and doors before winter to cut gas and electricity bills.
9. Weddings, gifts and keeping up
Trying to keep up with relatives and neighbours is one of the most expensive forces in a budget: pricey gifts, an expensive phone "because everyone has one", a lavish to‘y on credit.
- Decide in advance how much you give at weddings depending on closeness, and stick to it.
- Families can agree on reasonable gift amounts — often everyone is relieved.
- Plan your own to‘y as a goal with a budget and savings, not as a loan.
How much you can save
| Action | Monthly saving, so‘m |
|---|---|
| Switching phone plan | 50,000 |
| Partly replacing taxis | 500,000 |
| Bazaar with a list | 250,000 |
| Lunch from home 3 days a week | about 400,000 |
| Cancelling 2 subscriptions | 60,000 |
| Total | about 1,260,000 |
These are rough figures — yours will differ. But the scale shows you can find 1–2 million so‘m a month without giving up everything.
Where to put the money you save
Savings left on your main card almost always get spent on something else. So move them the same day to a separate goal: your emergency fund, extra debt payments or a deposit.
Next step
Open My Money on ONPUL and find your two biggest variable spending categories — they're your main candidates for cutting. Then send what you save to a goal in Goals so you can watch it grow.