Saving money can be difficult to do when single, much less when you have a household to run and children to feed, clothe and diaper. As much as I’d like to say I’m disciplined at maintaining a savings, after I got married I found we both began spending a little more frivolously because we had more income at our disposal. We quickly realized that this was not going to benefit us in the long run and implemented some saving tips in our home that, although small, have proved helpful for us.
Break a Dollar, Save a Coin
This one is as straight forward as it gets. Every time we break a dollar, we take care not to spend the change throughout the day. When we get home, Ray and I take the change and put it in an empty Birchbox box. Any small box will do, I just try to re-use or recycle the boxes I get from my monthly subscription. It’s small enough to fit in my filing draw, but large enough to add up to a decent sum at the end of each month. At the end of each month we bring the change to our bank or local Coin-Star and exchange it for cash to be set aside for savings. If it is a larger sum, say $150, we’ll save $100 and treat ourselves with $50. Trust me – Every penny adds up!
DIGIT
Words cannot express how much I LURVEEE me some DIGIT. Digit is a savings tool that is connected to your bank account and stashes away money for you after assessing how you normally spend your funds. I kid you not, I rarely notice when digit takes out money from my account, because most of the time it’s so minuscule in comparison to the things I would typically spend for. It also gives you the option to save more if you have more funds at your disposal, say around tax time or after depositing your last check. The first month of trying Digit, I believe I was able to save around $28 or $30 bucks. By the second month I had $80.
Conscious Saving
At a certain point you realize that although you really want to buy that new gadget or outfit, you’d better start a rainy day fund before something crazy happens – like the car breaking down, or the sitter getting sick and you have to pay someone to fill in, or your great Aunt Poppy is coming to town and only eats caviar and eggs for breakfast. It’s hard to put away that money, but in the long run it can save you big-time. Try putting away as little as $10 a week in a mason jar. Slowly watching that money grow can be very rewarding. Surprisingly, Ray and I have found that when we have a lot more money at our disposal, we have less incentive to spend it!
What are your tried and true saving tips?
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