Painless Savings

Ways To Save

Part of being a grown up is saving. In high school I took a Personal Finance class and there were core principles introduced in the first weeks of that semester. The very FIRST thing you should do is pay yourself then pay others. Right when you get your paycheck, tuck away some for yourself. The rule of thumb in that class was that you need at least six months worth of expenses stashed away so that if anything were to happen, you were safe for a little while. Pay Yourself, Pay Others, then you may Splurge!

PAY YOURSELF-

This can be tricky for people like us, we stumble around expenses and desires and small paychecks. Having physical savings versus just saving at the store are different, except for when being a twenty-something….the difference: there isn’t a positive balance in your savings jar/account.

Always, always, always ALWAYS keep a list of expenses. ANYWHERE! A binder, a notebook, a piece of paper on the refrigerator or a cork board in the kitchen. Even on a Google Doc or something! I keep my list of expenses in three of these, I also keep a date right next to them then I can see when the bill comes out for which paycheck. EX: If my cable/internet comes out around the 18th or whatever, which is right after the second paycheck of the month, I keep schedule my budget right around it. THEN I can pay myself first by taking out $25,50, 75- anything we can manage. Every bit counts.

Additionally, I use Cartwheel and Target Card, sometimes coupons, and keep an eye on the deals when I see that they are around- sometimes. I also don’t always go for the store’s bargain brand. I look all around for the item I want and compare the prices right in front of me before I just mindlessly grab for the bargain brand because it’s said to be the cheapest in the store.

One time there was a carton of eggs that were usually more expensive than the store brand and they were organic but one day they were significantly cheaper than the store brand.

PAY OTHERS-

Like I said just above, pay others first. Keep that schedule of your bills somewhere that you can get them so that the next time you want to buy a big ticket item, you know that your card won’t get declined at the store or that you don’t go under and end up getting charged fees- our bank charges a fee of $30 after we make a deposit when we’ve gone under.

Credit Cards- Kyler and I got a credit card only because they were able to verify my identity through the college I went to when I first got it; my husband could get one under his name too if he wanted to because he and his mom have co-signed on our Honda. But we only use the credit card if we have the money. We use it almost like a debit card, we barely ever spend more than our allotted credit line, and I pay almost weekly. That way, I build credit and get Cashback Bonuses that I just put towards the bill. THEN if between paychecks, there are almost always those four little days between paychecks that we need a little crutch and that’s when our handy-dandy credit card comes in.

PHYSICAL SAVINGS-

On the side, when we actually use cash- which I guess is pretty rare, especially nowadays- I ALWAYS toss the change into our Savings Jar. Kyler even just hands me the change if we are together, without a second thought, he gives it to me for me to pour it into my purse, to be fished out later. This year, we have also started this savings jar that grows weekly and we’ve been pretty good about it, our jar should have like almost $00(?) or more PLUS the change!

See, these are painless habits that can be made, even without doing that Savings Jar regimen, you can just only toss loose change in a jar instead of the practice my husband and I started for our New Year’s Resolution.

~Happy Painless Saving!