How to save when you have no money
Shocking news warning: according to a survey in the United States, the less money you earn, the less likely you are to have a savings account.
I’m shocked. No, really. I could never have predicted that result. I honestly am slightly bewildered that anyone could feel the need to ask 1,000 Americans on the issue to get that result. Cynicism aside, the truth of the matter is that some people are not earning enough to set up an automatic deduction into a savings account every week.
Kara McGuire, with the Star Tribune, investigates how to save in tight times. She points out that lower interest rates are the positive province of borrowers, not savers, and that our economies are increasingly generated around spending and debt, as opposed to saving.
So how can you start saving when you’re living pretty close to the bone of a paycheck anyway? Here are a couple of tips.
Start
It’s the simplest way to get a savings system happening. It’ll probably never get much easier to start, and there will probably never be a point of your life where you are swimming in cash. Just start. Don’t set up to starve yourself next week, start toda and put aside $2. That is actually the most recent suggestion for the chief economist of the Social Security Administration. Other people suggest setting aside $5 a week. It may seem like a drop in the ocean, but it’ll get you into a savings routine.
Automate, if you can
If you are likely to be derailed by money consistently disappearing from your account into savings, then think about not listening to this part. Or conversely, make the deductions small but automatic. It’s easier if you don’t have to be the one responsible for moving the money.
Save your tax refund
Around the end of June, I start to get desperate for my tax return. It can pay off my credit card, it can cover my telephone expenses, it can fund a week in Melbourne. This year, my tax return will be relied upon for nothing more than a bolster to savings. Not that I’m suggesting recklessly saving the money- if you need it, you need it. But think about paying off your bills in the lead up to tax time through budgeting, which will leave you free to save you refund and use it on something you really need further down the track.
Save a daily expense
I’m not suggesting the cup of coffee, necessarily. Look at what you are spending money on, and try and cut one daily expense out and save the money instead. If you are feeling pretty skint, there may not be much to cut. Certainly, don’t sacrifice your one tiny luxury and submit to a life of total misery. Track your spending and see if there’s anything that’s not entirely necessary. Eliminate on ATM fees, and save that $2 every time. Budget as much as possible to pay your bills on time, and avoid late fees.
It’s no easy thing to start saving money when there are so many demands on your income, and it never was that huge to begin with. Rest easy, however, that any saving- no matter how small- is a step in the right direction.
How do you save when you have no money?
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