Why You're Crap at Saving (and How Not To Be)
So many of us struggle to save money. We start the month with the best of intentions. ‘Right, no takeaways this month, that’ll save X amount.’ Or, you do manage to save, but BAM, the boiler breaks down, or your pet needs a trip to the vets and there’s those savings gone. Either of these sound familiar? Read on!
My theory is the reason you struggle to save in the first place, or to hang on to those savings once they’re tucked away, is because you don’t know what you’re saving for! Money likes to have a purpose. If you just lock your money away into a vault forever, it feels stagnant and like it’s not contributing to your life in any way. If you’re saving just because you ‘should’, then that takeaway on a Friday night looks waaaay more inviting, or something else will take its place. If you don’t have a purpose for your savings, then they get mixed up with your emergency money, and so it disappears into the ether of life.
So one of the things I teach in Making The Most of Your Money is this idea of giving your money a purpose. Ask yourself ‘What is it that I want to be saving for?’ It could be anything. That dream holiday, a new car, or so that you can spend as much as you want on glorious food at Christmas without worrying about breaking the bank! Whatever it is, your savings need a purpose.
There are different types of savings. There are those long term savings that are for our future when we might want to slow down (I don’t like the word ‘retirement’!). Then we have the medium term savings for within the next couple of years. Then there are the savings that could be for next week, or next month. Each of these pots need to have a purpose! What are they for, and how much do you need in them?
You need to get clear on how the things you are saving for are going to impact your life. How are they going to make a difference? Are they going to bring you joy, freedom, peace, relaxation, knowledge? It’s important to connect with not only the things you want, but how they align with your values. Not just what you are saving for, but what difference that is going to make in your life. How will you feel when you have that available to you?
People say that saving is hard. There are 5 steps to saving.
Decide what you want to save for.
Connect with the difference that will make in your life.
Open a savings account. - You can do that right now, whether you have money to put in there or not!
Pay in £1. - There you go, you’ve started saving!
Repeat. Pay in some more. Even if again it’s only £1, your savings are growing!
It’s all about the habit. If you save £1 a month for a few months, I bet you’ll find that you could start putting away £5 a month. Then (if you implement some other techniques I’ve taught you) you may decide to up that to £25 a month. And there you have it - your money begins to grow!
SO to recap -
You can save.
Your savings need a purpose that will make a difference in your life.
Saving is a repetitive habit that you can start TODAY!
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Hi there I’m Gail Bainbridge. I have taken my 20 years of experience as a Chartered Accountant working with small businesses and their owners and become a money mentor.
I am on a mission to transform your relationship to money. I can teach you how to find money that you didn’t know you had so you can spend it on living a life you love.
Need some help with your money take a look at how you can work with me.