When it comes to saving extra money on the side of your regular expenses, it’s very difficult to start somewhere. People often seem to forget how time-consuming and difficult it is to reach your savings goal, so often time they give up. Here are some ways to help saving money feel exciting and less stressful.
Having The Right Mindset
Having the right mindset is the only way to start your journey to saving money. You need to feel motivated and dedicated to saving a goal amount in order to thrive in the process. If you don’t feel driven to save, you’re not going to put your all into it in the long run. To build up this feeling of inspiration, think of the rewarding feeling you will have in the future for whatever it is that you’re saving for. Whether it’s college, a car, vacation, or even just for your future in general…the feeling of working towards your goal and starting early will make you want to keep saving.
Start Relying On What You Have, Not What You Want
Every human desires and craves something appealing, and although it seems nice in the moment, you’ll realize you don’t need it. This typically applies to foods, materials, and clothing. To change this habit, you need to realize what’s in front of you. Start relying on the clothing you already have, and the materials you already have. Don’t go and purchase the same product from a more expensive brand just because that’s what everyone else is doing. If you have food at home, come up with something to create yourself. You could grab 4 ingredients in your fridge and look up a recipe for those 4 products. Mess around and make something fun! Whenever you see yourself wanting to buy something very inconvenient, put your foot down. Tell yourself you don’t need it and it’s pointless in the long run. Self-discipline will help you get closer to your goal, and learn what you need vs. what you want.
Budget Your Weekly Spendings
Start to cut down on your weekly spending. If you’re spending around $200 a week, try to bring it down $50 in the first week. This would cut your spending to $150. Then, go lower the next week and try $100. If you’re doing better with it, go down lower and you’ll begin to realize that less can get you far as well! Until you enjoy the number you’re at, you can keep going lower. Slowly you will start to realize that you’re long-term saving hundreds of dollars. Even saving just $10 in the beginning is still a for of saving, so you should be proud of yourself even for small accomplishments. Treat yourself every once in a while, as long as the spending is reasonable. You deserve an award for saving!
Coin Jar
Coin jars are the typical go-to savings method. Americans throw away about 62 million dollars worth of coins every year. The majority of which end up in landfills and trash bins. If Americans throw away that much money every year, imagine how many coins you could save in that one year. Every time you see any type of coin on the ground, on a table, or in the car, pick it up and put it in a jar. This jar can be really big, or even small. If you need a quicker and more rewarding feeling, go for a normal-sized jar. However, if you prefer to save more and you’re okay with making the process longer, a bigger jar is for you. Any chance you get, no matter if it’s a penny or a quarter. Pick it up, and put it right in the jar. When you start saving coins, you will start to realize how much loose change is everywhere.
100-envelope savings challenge
100 envelope savings challenge is my favorite way of saving cash and growing my savings. In just a few weeks, I have found this method to be the quickest and most effective. Each envelope is labeled 1-100. For each slot number, that’s the amount of cash you put in it. So for the slot labeled “10,” you put $10, for “76” you put $76, etc. This works for all the numbers 1-100. After you fill all 100 slots, you will have $5,050 in cash saved. Although the process may take a year or more for most, the feeling when you get to cash it all in will be extremely rewarding and satisfying. Even better is the envelope is reusable. So once you finish it, you can cash the money in and start again! It’s a fun and unique way of saving that will become your new hobby whenever you get any sort of cash.
Watch your savings grow
Watching your savings slowly grow over time will be the best and most rewarding feeling for you. Keep counting your cash, and your coins, and do the math for how much you are saving weekly. When you start to see the results, you will feel proud and overjoyed, which will hopefully inspire you to keep going!
