by Michelle Jones, founder of BetterBudgeting
According to a recent 2017 poll of 8,000 Americans, 57 percent have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. What is even more concerning... a whopping 39 percent have no savings at all. We must do better!
* * *
While we continue using our money-saving skills daily on practically everything one can spend money on, from apples to zoo tickets, this is a golden opportunity to easily build up our emergency funds and savings accounts. It's not as difficult as you may think.
How can we save more money?
By saving the money we save on a daily basis!
Although the amount of spending money we have in our budgets will make a difference in how much we can put into savings, even the smallest amounts of money can make a difference.
All it really takes is discipline and a plan. You bring the discipline and I'll bring the plan...
Option 1
Every time you save money on something, like $2 off a bag of those apples I mentioned earlier, or $20 off a family trip to the zoo, transfer that exact amount of money you saved directly to your savings account. If you do not have a bank account and use cash only, put the extra cash wherever it is that you save it.
Not tomorrow, not next week. Do it as soon as you have saved money on a purchase.
Let's look at two examples of how to do this regardless of whether your budget is big or small:
Family #1
This family has a good budget in place. They have $60 to spend on tickets to the zoo. They save $20 on purchasing the tickets, which are normally priced at $60, for a total of $40 spent. They now essentially have $20 (money saved) to put into their savings account.
Family #2
This family is currently working with a smaller or more difficult budget. They have less money to spend on zoo tickets; $50. Thankfully, they also get in on the sale and save $20, for a total cost of $40, which enables them to visit the zoo. Instead of having $20 (the ticket discount), they actually have $10 to put in their savings account. And $10 put into savings is better than $0.
It's pretty simple; the basic idea here is many families save money on purchases because they have less money to spend to begin with, which in turn means they have less money to put into savings. While tickets to the zoo may not be the best example to use, I was just having fun thinking about everyone getting to see the new baby panda bears while saving money.
No matter what your budget size is, putting saved money into savings is possible!
Option 2
Another easy way to build your savings is to Round-Up every purchase you make and transfer that amount on a daily basis. You can also do this with bills, car loans, even your home rent or mortgage.
For example, if your electric bill is $100.01 this month, round-up and transfer .99 cents to your savings. Or better yet, round up to the next ten ($110.00) and save $9.99. This is especially easy to do with purchases and bills when they are lower than expected. You could focus on how much lower the bill is and save that amount (similar to what we did with Option 1), or simply round up to whatever you can and build your savings even faster.
Option 3
This option is great for everyone who thinks they do not have even a penny to save:
Let's say you make small purchases for something you need or enjoy on a regular basis. Maybe even daily. It could be anything really (if you're not sure, keep track of every purchase you make for 30 days and you'll find them). Now, every time you are about to make that regular purchase, try to stop and transfer the money you would have spent to your savings account instead.
Do this at least once or twice a week and before you know it you'll have money saved up for those zoo tickets, or anything else you need or want to save up for.
The best thing is, watching your savings grow so easily will build momentum to find more ways to save.
Give it a try and let me know how you're doing!
* * *
Return to Over 100 Budgeting Articles
Budgeting Index
Copyright © 2017 by Michelle Jones. All rights reserved.
