Women ask me for help to prioritise saving? They want to know why is it so darn hard to save?
The truth is it isn’t hard to save. It’s actually really simple.
But it isn’t necessarily easy to save.
Our ability to save relates to how much we earn and how much we spend.
One of two things need to happen to enable us to save:
1 – we earn the same about of money but we spend less – the excess we save.
2 – we spend the same amount of money but we earn more – the excess we save.
Depending on our situation we may not have ready ability to just magically go earn more money. Of course there are infinite ways that we can earn more money; getting a raise, doing extra hours, finding a part time job, starting a side business, or growing our existing business.
There are infinite ways we can add value, help out, be of service and earn more money. We usually have blinders on something awful and can’t see these infinite possibilities. Or we aren’t motivated enough by saving to give up our precious free time to pursue these things. Or we don’t have the confidence or motivation.
But if it is important enough to you to save towards a goal you will find a way to open up the money channels and allow more money to flow into your life.
Most of us already have the ability to save just by making smarter choices with how we spend our money.
There are ways to save money that don’t deprive us of living well.
I won’t go into detail about this except to say that you can record and reflect on your purchases and consider if there is excess you can cut out or smarter ways to get your needs met (such as shopping at a cheaper supermarket, switching mobile phone, electricity or insurance providers).
Once you have decided how to free up the money by making more aligned decisions about how you spend and/or started to bring in more money…the idea is to structure your savings for success.
Here are my top tips for structuring your savings for success.
1. Set a savings goal.
Have a look at what money you can set aside each week, fortnight, month.
It can often be easier to link the amount you save to when you most often get paid. But don’t get hung up on that. If you prefer it may make sense to save a percent – say 20% of what you earn – no matter what you earn or when you earn it.
No matter the amount know what you are saving for! Know what the goal is and how much it will cost to achieve the goal. Cost up your dreams girlfriends. It will may you way more likely to achieve them.
2. Have a bank account just for savings
Your savings account needs to be seperate to your spendings account.
Ideally you have no expense coming out of this account. If there is money going into this account (for example a portion of your pay check) it is only money going in for savings.
Don’t muddle your savings with your spendings! Keep it simple. Keep it clean.
You want this account to be sacred. Seperate. Don’t have any bank card for this account which allows easy access. You want this account to be harder to access so you have to think about it and take extra action before you can dip into your savings.
And you want this account to pay interest.
3. Have a purpose for your savings.
Keep a list which tallies the amounts you have saved and WHAT THEY ARE FOR.
I call my list “Freedom Savings”
Think about what the money you are saving will be used for. Having clarity on what the money will be used for anchors your savings to a future purpose. Without that anchoring it is much easier to sabotage the savings plan or spend the money on something else.
Commit to yourself that each and every time you add to your savings or use your savings YOU WILL update the list. Each time money goes into or out of your savings you update the list.
4. Include “slush fund” or “reward savings”
Consider allocating a portion of your current savings or building up savings for a “slush fund” or “reward savings”
This will ensure that money is there for when you have the urge to splurge. You then know you can do this without blowing out your budget or compromising your other sacred savings.
Example
If you already have $5,300 saved at the moment your “freedom savings” may look something like this:
- Peace of Mind/Financial Buffer $4,000
- Slush fund $300
- Hawaii trip $1,000
I don’t disregard that there can be other, often deeper issues at hand which cause us to sabotage our savings such as being disconnected to our goals and visions, being influenced by others, lack of commitment or even issues to do with self value and self confidence.
I am happy to write more about these there issues in future blogs. Leave me a comment and let me know what has helped you to get your savings on track and what you would like to know about how you can overcome any savings challenges you still have.
xx
Many joyful blessings,
Suzanna
