When people think about saving money, they usually groan with displeasure. Who wants to save when you can spend? YOLO, baby. Right?
While you may only live once, that life won’t be as long or successful or pleasurable if you don’t learn to be more responsible with your money. Let’s take a closer look at how to make saving money fun.
Change Your Perspective
Rather than looking at saving money as a burden and something that you have to do, look on it as something that will help you in the future. Have an attitude of thankfulness for those things that you do have and look to the future rather than just the here and now.
There are several great books that you can read (or listen to) to help you change your perspective, including:
Make It a Game
Have fun with saving money. See how much money you can save each week by matching sales to coupons, using rebate apps, and just being a smart shopper. Many receipts will show how much you saved at the bottom. Shoot to save at least 50%.
Do a Savings Challenge
There are lots of different savings challenges around that can help you get motivated to save some extra money. With the 52 Week Savings Challenge, you can try it several different ways - you could start with $1 the first week and add $1 each and every week (like $2 the second week, $3 the third). You would end up saving $1,378 over the course of a year. Or, you could start with a goal in mind that you think you can achieve and then add 10% to the total. Then, divide the total goal into weekly or monthly amounts that you save.
Another challenge you could try is the $5 Savings Challenge. Every time you get a $5 bill, you put it in a savings jar (or account) and not spend it. Or, you could try to save 50% off your income for a period of time (like a week, month, or year) to make a huge impact in your savings.
Have a No Spend Month
If you want to quickly save money, you can try to do a No Spend Month, where you only spend money on the essentials (like rent/mortgage, utilities, transportation, and essential groceries). You avoid spending money on anything else and try to live off the food that you already have in your pantry.
Track Your Goals {and Add Celebrations at Milestones}
It can be really motivational to track your savings. You can do this with a sheet of paper that has a shape drawn on it and is labeled with amounts. For example, you might draw a glass and have it labeled with $100, $250, $500, and $1000. As you save the money, color in a portion of the picture. The closer you get to your goal, the harder you’ll work.
When you hit predetermined milestones, make sure you celebrate in some way. It doesn't have to be anything expensive, but just a way to stay motivated to continue saving money.
Include Fun Money in Your Budget
It's hard to stay motivated when you have no wiggle room in your budget. Make sure you budget in at least a small amount of fun money so you can do at least one small fun thing every once in awhile.
Thrift for What You Need
Instead of rushing out and buying what’s on your list, start by shopping at thrift stores. Whether you need new clothing or furniture, you can find many items in thrift stores. Sometimes you can find items new with tags for a fraction of what stores charge. This tip is especially useful for entertainment. You can find books for as low as $0.10, DVDs for a $1, and board games and puzzles for $0.50 each.
Be Creative
Want to do something fun this weekend? Don’t want to spend money? Dust off those old board games, movies, video games, sports equipment and plan a fun day. The truth is most of us have tons of items lying around our house that can entertain us without the need to spend more money.
Do Something New
Last, but not least, do something new. Join a book club or start a freezer meal group. You could go to a community concert or free play. Look through local Facebook pages to see what’s happening in your neighborhood.
Start a Side Hustle
Do you have a hobby that you're passionate about? Research and find out if there's a way to make some extra money with that hobby or interest. If you can earn money doing something you love, it's an extra bonus!
Saving money doesn’t have to be boring or irritating. There are ways to make the process fun. Whether you get creative or make it into a game, saving money can be fun.
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