Here’s a fun little statistic from a Fidelity survey: 48% of people who make money-related New Year’s resolutions say that saving money is their number one goal in life. Of course, it’s also a commonly accepted norm that nobody actually keeps to their New Year’s resolution. So how about for 2019, instead of just saying you’ll save money at a cocktail party, you actually do it? It sounds hard and scary and you don’t want to, but here’s a few tricks you can try to ease into the saving lifestyle.
- Weekend Trim: Everyone likes to go do fun things with their friends on the weekend. Unfortunately, to quote a chubby kid, anything fun costs at least eight dollars. Choose one weekend out of the month and resolve to spend little-to-nothing on that entire two-day stretch. You can still see your friends if you like, just do something simple like hanging out at a park or watching bad movies at home.
- Vice Cut: We’ve all got our vices, and when they start to multiply, they become even harder to ditch. But you don’t have to shake all of them at once. Make a list of your current vices (smoking, drinking, clubbing, etc.), and pick one to bring to a definitive end. It’s gonna be tough, but on the bright side, you’ve got whatever vices you don’t pick to ease you along.
- Round Up: Lots of banking apps these days allow you to round your purchases up to the nearest dollar, while stashing the spare change away. You’d be surprised how much that small change adds up after a few routine purchases.
- Unsubscribe: Subscription services are becoming more popular, but just because you get a lot of stuff for a monthly fee, that doesn’t mean you’re using all of it. Unless you’re making regular use of Amazon Prime or constantly watching stuff on Netflix, you don’t need ’em. Think carefully about what’s getting consistent use in your life.
- The Mantra: If absolutely nothing else, remember this mantra: Don’t save what’s left, save what’s needed. The point of saving money is to have back-up funds for when things go sour. Saving money may be hard, but cutting into your regular funds for important things is harder.
