I could sit here and tell you how to save your money all day long. However you are not me. You do not have the same needs as I do nor the same wants. I could tell you to clip coupons, buy in bulk, shop on line, walk to the store, shop at thrifts..and eventually I will hit all those topics in other articles. This one however is about how to STICK to a savings plan.
I am 23. I live alone. I work from home and do part time nanny work. I had a full time job. It paid decent and I had health insurance. I however was not happy. I felt that I was doing too much work and not seeing enough savings just enough to cover the bills.
So I opened a quicken account and started working on it. EVERY PENNY I spend that is on DEBIT or CASH I log in, even the .67 I spent on taxes on free items at the pet store. I then have logs for every credit account as well. I do not include a purchase on credit as a spending habit purchase. Spending habits is what I also named this quicken file.
I can track it each month and see what I spent on my dog, my dining, my entertainment, my bills, (this includes seeing what I paid against those credit cards that I used when I should have used cash or debit), clothing, and having fun. Once you have 2-3 months down you can see where you are spending too much, where you could cut back, and where you can find that extra savings.
I personally am with Bank of America. They have a KEEP THE CHANGE program. For the first three months all additional change on your debit purchases go into your savings and they match that 100%. After the three month period they match it 5% a year. The other option for you if you do not use Bank of America and want to make your own KEEP THE CHANGE savings is to move the change to your savings after each day of shopping. It does add up. $20 a month I was averaging in change via my debit account.
You have to be diligent in tracking your spending habits. The cash you pulled out of the change jar and bought McDonald’s? Yep track that too…I do not track what cash I have available and see the amounts go down, I just track the spending. I graph it, I do the mathematics, and I save.
If you can focus on one step at a time and see the potential you have to make a better lifestyle for yourself by saving in small forms to lead to bigger savings you might not be so scared to splurge on star-bucks next time!