Have no fear! You aren’t the only one who has a hard time saving money. Some of us aren’t as smart nor as self-disciplined as the rest of the responsible people in the world. It takes a lot of self-discipline to not even spend anything on Pay Day. We need help. So help shall arrive.
What to do?
First, record you expenses
List down all the things that you spend for. Things like groceries, bills and whatnot. Doing so makes things easier to budget from here on out. I do this sometimes too so I don’t accidentally spend my money on something else. Especially if that money was supposed to be for the bills. Setting the money aside is also a good thing.
Second, make a budget
Yeah, this is where you set aside the money and maybe divide them. For example, the money that goes into your bills? Since you now have an idea on how much that costs, set that aside. Do the same for the rest of the much-needed expenses. This way, there is no chance of you accidentally spending the important money on something stupid.
Third, plan on saving money
Assuming that you still have a percentage of money left after you budgeted, plan to actually save the money. My dad told me, before I started working, to save your money first before you spend on anything. So as soon as you got your pay, take about 10 to 15 percent of the entire thing and save that. The rest of the 85 to 90 percent goes into the budget or the things you want to buy.
Fourth, choose something to save for
This one’s important, because without a clear goal on what to buy, you start to feel like saving money isn’t worth it. It happens to me most of the time, since I sometimes don’t even have the motivation to buy the expensive stuff I need to save. If you knew what you were saving money for, then you wouldn’t be more inclined to spend the savings.
Fifth, decide on your priorities
Prioritising is a little easy. For example, if you ask yourself “what would you rather have, your kids going to college in the future or that nice-looking new golfing set?” then it would slap you right back into prioritising.
Sixth, make saving automatic
Make it a habit to save every time you have money. Force it into your brain that you need to save first before doing anything else. It gets easier over time, don’t worry. As long as you force yourself to turn it into a habit, then you would be fine in the long run.
Seventh, watch your savings grow
Check the progress regularly. Watch the savings grow. Once you’re finally at the part where you are at your goal, then (depending on what you saved up for) go buy or spend it on the thing or things that you were aiming at. Afterwards, save money again.
