So, I’m a natural over-spender who recently made my first strides at really starting to save. I thought I’d share my tips and progress (I use that term loosely) with you just in case you’ve been faced with saving struggles too.
For starters, I’m not one of those who can’t really gauge why I can’t save, because I’m doing all of the right things and can’t seem to catch a break.
I’m actually quite the opposite. I consistently, habitually, do all the wrong things, hence why I can’t save. I’ve been trying a little something lately, though, and I have to tell you, so far, so good—or just alright. Listen, things are better than they were so I take a bow.
Check out what I have going on:
- Acorns. Acorns is a financial service that helps you to save and invest your money by rounding up each of your debit card transactions to the nearest dollar, and investing the change into a diversified portfolio. This app is my golden goose. Why? Because I’m saving when I have no idea! Acorns single-handedly proved to me that saving is NOT my problem so much as KNOWING that I’m saving. The fact that there is money being incrementally taken away and invested for me while I make purchases shows me that somebody out there loves and understands me dearly. Here’s some full disclosure in hopes of inspiring you—I started Acorns in July 2015 with a deposit of $25. I opted for the Aggressive portfolio as I figure I have nothing to lose and today, 9 months later, my Acorns account is sitting pretty at a whopping $516. Want to hear another upside? I haven’t a clue how to withdraw my money from Acorns so it’ll likely continue to accumulate until I figure out how to cash out. You’re welcome.
- Digit. I just started Digit last week and I’m already in love! Here’s how this works. Digit is an automatic savings service that checks your spending patterns and moves a few dollars from your checking account to your Digit account, if you can afford it. Again with the passive savings. I started last week and my account is still at $0, namely because I ain’t really got it right now to give them. Oh, but when I do…
- Abstinence. Here is where I may lose some of you and I understand, but hear me out. For 30 days I assessed my one non-necessity expense (for me this is dining out and cocktails) that I spend the most on and I stopped. I’m not asking you to quit spending on what you love, but I am asking you to take necessity into account and fall back if what you love comes up short. Eliminating restaurants and cocktails saved me an embarrassing $438.88 in ONE MONTH (drops head). Spare me your judgement. You decide: that cocktail, or pair of shoes, or that extra money saved in your account? The choice is yours.
Again, I’m new to this but excited to be taking small steps towards savings as we celebrate Financial Literacy Month. What steps are you taking to save? Please share, as I am obviously crying out for help.