Saving money in this expensive and competitive society is not easy. It’s not rare to see a young man make a lot of money. But to see someone save a lot of money? That will be a feat.

As a guy, I know it’s hard to resist temptation to spend money. We were born into this materialistic world, and shopping malls and websites are filled with the things we want to get our hands on. Then there are always those friends who love to flash their new toys in front of us, making us so jealous that we can’t fight the urge to get the same stuff, or something better.

But still, it’s always possible for young men to save money without sophisticated financial knowledge.

1. Don’t upgrade your gadgets every year
You don’t have to be an MBA to understand the basic market rule: demand and supply. When there’s no demand, there won’t be any supply. But manufacturers won’t be happy to see that, so they create demand.

You will always see advertisements about how much better the new version of some gadget is, with a load of adjectives being pumped into your head: faster, thinner, lighter. (The new trend now is “bigger”.)

Take the smartphone as an example, the gadget that guys are always fascinated with. iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S series phones have both moved into the 8th generation. The version numbers grow by one each year to remind you: The old version of your phone is outdated.

What these advertisements fail to tell you is that the new version is also more expensive. Have you ever seen the new iPhone or Galaxy S phone being sold at a cheaper price than the previous version?

The truth is: You would be just fine even if you don’t upgrade your phone every year. The old version of your phone would be able to do the job for another year. The manufacturers know it and you know it.

2. Don’t try too hard to impress women
As a man, you pay for the date and girls expect you to. I’m not telling you to stop, because you would end up being called “cheap”, and your ego would be hurt so bad that you’d probably think you are not good enough for the girl you have been dating.

But you don’t have to go too far. For starters, you need to make up your mind if the girl is the one you’d settle with. Dating more than one girl is a pretty expensive affair. You would end up regretting it when you get a few years wiser.

Secondly, you can bring your girlfriend to fancy restaurants, high-end pubs and make her feel she’s well taken care of, but you don’t have to do it on a daily basis. Yes, girls do appreciate it when you treat them well, but if that’s the only way she knows how to appreciate you, you would end up having as much trouble with your relationship as with your wallet.

Here is a less expensive option that most nice girls will appreciate: Go buy some fresh ingredients from the supermarket and cook a nice meal for her at home. That’ll be romantic too and it can help you build a stronger relationship with your girlfriend.

Come on, ladies! You know how hard it is to find a guy who can cook a nice meal for you these days?

3. Unsubscribe from promotional newsletters
For those who like doing shopping online, whether you admit it or not, you could get addicted to it. A Singapore Polytechnic survey in 2015 showed that Singaporean men spend more shopping online than women, while a PwC survey in 2016 showed that 60% of consumers in Singapore buy products online at least once a month.

When you sign up for a membership at almost any shopping website, you automatically subscribe to their newsletters. You get certain discounts when you become a member, so you kind of have to sign up. Then every day, you receive newsletters about this and that promotion. There are literally “promotions” online every day.

You see how this goes? You wouldn’t want to miss some big promotions, so you click them open with the thought that you will just browse through the catalogue. Now when you see the flashing signs screaming at you: “discount”, “rebate”, you could get click-happy and order that item. Before you realize it, you might have settled on one already.

You may think you just saved some money because you got a big discount on the  item. The chance is in a few days, you may realize that you don’t actually need that thing.

You can always log on to shopping websites for your favorite things, but only when you really need to buy them. Don’t let the newsletters work your mind.

 

This article previously appeared on Yahoo.