5 Ways To Force Yourself To Save Money
Saving money can be difficult at the best of times, life is expensive and in turn I find myself spending overly large sums of money on things and services I don’t really need. The reason I do this, is because I have money available in my account or wallet.
To combat this, today I will be discussing things that I have started to do in order to save more money and make my money less available, in a sense; forcing myself into savings mode.
1. Limiting the amount of cash in my wallet
When I have money in my wallet, I spend it. How many times have you had $150 or so in your wallet only to find by the end of the week it is gone, yet you still brought your lunch to work everyday? I find myself in this position all the time. What do I spend it on? Taxis, Wine, Industry magazines for work, chewing gum, mints, train tickets, parking, a few diet cokes – the list goes on and my wallet gets thinner.
So from now on, I will be limiting my wallet to only have $40 per week in it – hopefully that way this is all I will spend out of my cash reserves.
2. Leaving your credit cards and ATM cards at home
Such a simple money saving tip, yet one of the most productive. If you leave your cards at home, you will significantly decrease how much you will spend when out and about. I figure there should be no real reason to need to have access to my savings if I have a solid $40 in my wallet, my own lunch at work and my weekly train ticket already purchased. If you have ever used this method and found significant problems with using it – drop a comment at the end of this article to let us know why.
3. Ensure that your pay cheque is direct deposited into your account
Many Australians are still getting their pay cheque issued to them in cash or cheque that is redeemable for cash. If you are like me, I used to cash the cheque or pocket the cash and quite quickly I would find myself with an overly heavy wallet with a couple of hundred dollars in it.
Organise that the money gets direct deposited into your nominated everyday account and if possible, organise for a direct debit of a certain amount of money to be transferred into your savings accounts that you can’t touch. I try and do about 20% of each pay cheque; that way my savings account quickly grows and I get excited about seeing the number increase (gives me motivation to see my nest egg building).
4. Change jars or coin tins
Every day I come home, I find myself with a small handful of coins. When I was younger and my father would come home, I loved this – he would ask me if I had been good and if so, I was given a handful of silver coins (occasionally a few gold ones, which were extra exciting). So why not try and save these coins by putting them into a change jar or coin tin? They will eventually add up and give you a significant figure to bank or if you are kind hearted and generous, start a tradition with your kids.
5. Over saving techniques
Another way of forcing yourself to save money is by over saving techniques (i think I just made that term up, but I think it is rather self explanatory). The idea is that whenever you do transfer money into your savings account or perhaps your tax account if you work for yourself – why not over deposit into it so that after a year or your tax return you find yourself with an extra large sum of money to put towards your savings goals?
How do you force yourself to save money?
Tell us how you force yourself to save money, any new tips or tricks for other readers? We would love to hear them, so drop a comment below if you have a spare 5seconds.
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7 Responses for 5 Ways To Force Yourself To Save Money
I too put all my change into a “change jar” and that’s my Christmas shopping money. I also have a set amount taken out of my cheque account every month and into a high-interest investment account. If I want to buy something new (clothes, shoes, etc) I first have to sell/giveaway the old one. Usually I don’t want to give up any of my clothes or shoes, so the new items doens’t get bought. (Saves a lot of “stuff” ending up around the house, too!)
I like your point Isabella, The coin jar is a perfect way of saving money for christmas or birthdays and the like. It really does add up and by the end of the year, you can sometimes find yourself with a couple of hundred dollars to put towards the gifts.
Organise your bank accounts! I have 3 accounts which I call “Savings – DO NOT TOUCH”, “Rainey Day” and “General”. My wages go into my Rainey Day a/c and get distributed from there. $150 each week goes to the general one. Out of this comes all my everyday exspences. And another allocated lot goes to my Savings A/C. The rest stays in my rainey day which has no card links so I can only get to it when I am by a computor with internet access. – This is a great deterrent in a shopping mall and I simply can’t get any more money. If this A/C builds up to much I transfer it to my savings. Any change with at the end of the week from my general account gets put into my change jar and is used for a “Treat”. It’s great fun deciding how I am going to use it. I find that saving money doesn’t seem to be a natural instinct for humans!! It seem like it’s something you really need to disapline yourself for.
I LOVE the leaving your money and cards at home idea – I actually used to do this and it really does work a treat. Can’t remember why I stopped, but I’m certainly going to start again…thanks for the reminder of that technique!
It’s an oldie but a goodie isn’t it Corina =)
I did this the other night and left my credit card at home before going out to meet some old friends. Saved me putting $75 on the credit card to get home, as I kept that money in my wallet all night knowing full well I would need it!
Good tip Lisa! I like the idea of naming the accounts ‘Do not touch’ to remind yourself.
My St.George bank account lets me rename them which is very handy!
I find what I do is average out my pay then say ok I need 50 for fuel 30- 40 dollars for myself and say 100 dollars for other bills so what’s left goes straight into a high intrest savings account, and likei did once I had about 200 and something soi thought well don’t need the 200 hundred so off it went into the other account, restrict yourself to frivolous outings, do you need to see that movie if it’s like or death search for the cheapest option. Need a drink? Try the servo’s 3.50 vs. 5.00 or more, it’s just really a need or a want? It’s hard enough saving for a new car without having to spend money inbetween
