Saving For Fun
Saving is fun. Oh, wait – for most people, it is more of a chore and something that we struggle to do. And that’s the problem with building a savings habit. If something isn’t alluring, we generally don’t give it much thought.
We all know that we are supposed to save money for emergencies, so we can make big purchases without credit cards, and for the future in general. However, saving money doesn’t usually feel fun or glamorous.
But what if you could make saving exciting? What if you could develop a strong desire to save extra cash? Here are a few ways to gamify and automate saving more so it’s easier – and maybe even fun.
Goal Specific Accounts:
Open goal specific accounts and give them compelling names. With most banks you can open multiple accounts and give a name to each – all the accounts can be monitored on one dashboard. This helps you visualize the end goal so much easier, therefore every time you make a contribution to your “Ultimate Europe Vacation with my Best Friends” account, you’ll feel more motivated and encouraged to keep working towards what you want to save for.
Setting goals is fun and motivational. Saving is more fun when there is an end result in mind.
Save without realizing it:
It is the generation of DYIs and the world of personal finance is automated thanks to the apps and technology. There is free tools galore to help you start saving more.
There are apps that help track your spending habits and help you save your money. These apps are a quick, painless way to save without having to think about how much you think you can move to savings and when you should do it.
Automating your savings is the best way to consistently save more, because it takes the emotional decision making out of it. There is no room for excuses about how you forgot to make a transfer or needed the money for something else instead. Automating your savings can help make saving a priority.
Play A Game:
Turn saving into a game. How? Use your friends – peer pressure can be used for a good this time. Get a group of your friends or family members together and make savings a challenge or a game. Look at this way – most people spend to impress their friends, which results in little savings, but what if you flipped it around?
Each person can make a savings goal public to the group and you can do weekly or monthly check-ins to make sure everyone is on track.
Look over your bills and ask yourself if there are any that can be reduced. Question everything and don’t be afraid to call and ask questions. Service providers can reduce your fees and although some may not have anything to offer – but you never know unless you ask. And trust that making those calls is well worth it when you get the answer you are looking for, and you are able to free up cash to save more at the same time.
Get Passionate:
You are only going to be good at something you are passionate about. Can you get passionate about saving money?
Begin by incorporating just one or two of these suggestions into your life and pretty soon you will be doing the happy money dancing around the extra cash savings you’ve created. Although most of the cash will be digital, so you will probably have to dance around your computer or cellphone. But either way – it should be a fantastic time.
