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How to Improve Your Money Saving Habits

Everyone understands the need and wants to save money, but not everyone understands that it requires conscious deliberate efforts. If you want to get better at saving money, you must be more conscious of your day-to-day financial life. There are undoubtedly countless ways to save money; every individual has his or her unique method of saving. For some, it is to deny oneself that cup of latte; for some, it is putting off a family vacation. Your idea of money saving regardless, one thing rings true for everyone: you can get better at it. We can all improve our financial lives, but the desire to save alone is not enough to achieve this.

Whether you just want to start or are looking to improve, you must be willing to put in the effort. That sounds like hard work, and we wish we could say it isn’t, but saving money is hard work. Nevertheless, below are tips that can make you more disciplined in saving and also help you enjoy the process.

1. Have a Written Budget

The first tip here is that you create a written budget, with emphasis on “written.” All your expenses and financial decisions should be based on this written budget. With a budget, you know how much to use to buy Bitcoin with credit card, for instance, and how much to save. In other words, every decision related to your finances that you make, including planning a vacation or investing, should start with the budget. If you create a realistic and well-constructed budget you will have sufficient information needed to make credible financial decisions. Also, you will be held accountable when you start feeling like spending money on something you shouldn’t.

2. Saving Before Spending

Here is something you don’t hear every day: before you start spending that money, put some into your savings. This is where zero-based budgeting comes in: this is where you create a plan for every penny you earn. With zero budgeting, you know how much you can save before you put your hand into your income to spend. Thus, after creating your budget, remove the amount you have allocated for your savings account first before anything else.

By “anything else,” we mean even the compulsory expenses like utility bills, mortgages, groceries, and the rest. Save what you planned to save, give what you planned to give, and spend what you budgeted to spend. Once you’ve removed the amount you intend to save, you can use whatever’s left for other expenses. Thankfully, there are several budgeting apps that can download for accountability and a more streamlined budgeting system.

3. Identify Your Triggers

Next, you need to identify those emotions, places, situations, and people that trigger you to spend money when you shouldn’t. This can be an invitation to party with friends on a weekend or a retail store with that dress you’ve been eyeing. If you want to develop better saving habits, identifying and avoiding these spending triggers is non-negotiable. Moreover, no matter the steps you take towards saving more every month, if you don’t identify these triggers, you’ll struggle.

4. Set Financial Goals

Sometimes, people struggle with saving because they have not set a specific financial goal. That is, you’re not saving for anything in particular; you’re just saving because, well, it’s the right thing to do. It will be hard to be committed to saving if you don’t have something to inspire you. While saving because you should is great, it is not enough to sustain your desire to save.

Thus, if you’re looking to improve on how to save money, you should assess certain financial needs you have. Then, set these needs as goals; you will find yourself getting excited at the idea of saving. More so, you will prioritize saving above anything else financially-related, and this will make saving much easier.

5. Avoid Debts

If you want peace of mind in your finances, then you want to avoid debts as much as possible. Living debt-free doesn’t only improve your money-saving abilities; it also ensures you are able to save a significant amount of money. Consider how much money you will have in your savings account or how much you can invest when you don’t have debts. Now, we understand that you cannot totally escape debt, especially when you take loans, but you can reduce the extent.

6. Put Your Savings to a Good Use

If you don’t have a particular reason for saving, it might be time to invest that money. There are many investment ventures you can go into, including cryptocurrency investing and stock investing, among others. First off, investing helps you earn interest in your savings, which is how you will build wealth. Also, as your money grows, you will be inspired to save and invest more. We especially recommend investing if you are feeling overwhelmed about putting more money into an already-funded savings account.

Conclusion

Saving money and maintaining discipline requires hard work, but nothing says you cannot enjoy the process. Enjoying the process of saving is even more important if you want to become better at money saving. These tips can help you improve your money-saving habits, thus, drastically improving your savings.

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