Just wondering what motivational tricks people use for general savings.
So I am currently saving up for a few things, holidays, birthdays etc and the motivation for me there is
I don’t have to stress about money when it comes to the birthday event so it will make my life easier and
Siame fricking Park (twice!!!)
But I am also trying to build up enough savings as a fall-back between 3 - 6 months of wages. However this is proving to be slightly more difficult to motivate myself for as I want to buy books and new football gear and shoes and clothes and a PS4 etc etc.
I imagine once I actually build up quite a bit the motivation will then be there to keep it going but when starting out with just £60 so far…I’m finding it tough.
So, my question to this fantastic community. What tricks do you have to keep the savings going?
I’ve had £60 in my Nationwide account to try and do out of sight and out of mind. But in the back of my head it was there, ready to be spent on football gear.
Just transferred £50 to my eldest’s birthday pot. The other £10 is a buffer.
I think I’m going to have to lock pot it. Once I have enough then open up a savings account and deposit in the max for 12 months and then re-assess.
The added friction to go on the website and withdraw is enough to make me mentally tell myself to cut it out and leave it as is unless its for something worthwhile
Do not marry and do not have kids. If you skip those, you do not need a house, a simple apartment, or shared accommodation should do. That is essentially the biggest saving you could do in life. People forget, but marriage costs a lot financially, and I am not talking about divorce. I am talking about rent/mortgage, setting up your house, recurring expenditure (council tax, utility bills). Once you have married you will want a kid (especially your other half). Here you are faced with a choice:
Does my wife earn more than daycare/nursery costs? If yes, the child can go to nursery.
If not, wife stays at home, and looks after the child.
Either way, you lose out on your wife’s salary, or the nursery fees. Don’t get me started on all the baby stuff, food, child seats, pram etc. Finally after 4 years, you get a breather. School is free. And you have a second kid. God forbid lol.
You might think I am a monster, but I like kids. I have nothing against them. I dearly love my wife. But do not for a second let it fool you that it will not have a significant financial impact.
Since I have chosen to accept this mission in life, I ask myself 2 questions before I spend:
Do I need it? If yes, I save for it and buy it. At most I would stretch myself to 0% finance within reason.
If I want it, I try not to buy it. This is something I have learnt with experience. Like gadgets. Eventually you get bored of using them, so now everytime a new iphone is launched, or a Macbook, I just do not feel the urge to splash out. I look at my existing phone, which is happily doing what I need, and I give the new one a pass.
Speaking of saving, my Coin Jar paid for some dental work today. Saved me because I didn’t have enough in my account to cover it. Considering the round-up pot is effectively written off money (in terms of my budget) I’m classing that as free.
My motivation is a) hating my flat b) thing the area I live in c) desire for somewhere to live where I don’t have to store my 4 bikes in the lounge d) having somewhere with storage so I can have a steering wheels setup for my console…
If the above isn’t enough of a clue, I’m saving for a mortgage deposit!
No need to be nasty. I have zero problems staying at home if my wife earns more. However she is without a doubt better cut out to look after the little one than I am. So if you are talking “equality”, it’s all rubbish. We both play to our strengths and make up for each other’s weaknesses.
I tend to siphon off all the money I’ve budgeted to save in a month as soon as I’m paid. So for instance when I get paid I put £x straight into my LISA (this is locked effectively so that money is completely gone) and I put the remaining £x of my budgeted savings into a nationwide account with a decent interest percentage.
This gives me the total money I have to play with for the month - but I allow myself to spend on some things - I think if you try and save cold turkey you’ll always end up dipping into the accounts (I know I used to. So by giving yourself a treat every month whilst also putting some money away you are feeding both beasts!
It may seem obvious, but for me it was a massive game changer to realise that if I don’t put my finances in order right now, I might very realistically have to work literally my entire life, and never be really financially free.
Basically I want my money to work for me, not the other way round Which, in practical terms, means that I would rather not buy something that feels so necessary right now, which I know it really isn’t, and miss out on the momentary gratification knowing that in the long term I’m building my freedom.
I think with myself it’s what I want to do but I am finding that, once I’m putting away money for different events throughout the year, there isn’t a lot left to save long term and immediately I think, screw it, I’ll just spend it.
That however is a great perspective and I’m going to put that somewhere on my phone as a reminder!
This is also really important – let’s not forget to live a little right now, making sure we allow ourselves to have some ‘play money’ and not be completely obsessed with saving, which could have a detrimental effect on the quality of our life now.
I just think that if you are treating yourself and saving (even if you can’t save as much because you are treating yourself) you’ll feel rewarded in both senses.
If all you’re doing is spending just enough to live and then putting everything else in savings you’ll miss out on so much because “I needed to save”. Just my 2 cents anyway!
Which, in practical terms, means that I would rather not buy something that feels so necessary right now, which I know it really isn’t, and miss out on the momentary gratification knowing that in the long term I’m building my freedom.