Saving Money Without Stressing Out About It

Saving money can be challenging, especially since we live in a consumer-driven world, but it’s important to start saving your money now.

The Importance of Saving Money

Whether you choose to open a savings account or prefer to keep your savings at home in a safe, is entirely up to you, but having money set aside for emergencies or the future is a good financial habit to start building, so you’re not caught off guard when you find yourself having to shell out funds unexpectedly.

Automate Savings

This is the easiest way to start building your savings, and you don’t have to think about it every day. If you choose to keep your savings in a separate account at your bank, you can automate transfers from your checking to your savings. These automated transfers can occur as often as you want them. A good rule of thumb is to save 20 percent of your paycheck, so start there, and automate your transfer each time your paycheck clears.

That may be weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. If you make $500 every two weeks, set up your transfer to your savings to occur every two weeks for $100. By the end of the year, you’ll have $2,600 without even trying. If you can save more than 20 percent per paycheck, definitely save as much as you can.

Track Spending & Set Budgets

Tracking your spending habits and setting budgets sound time-consuming, but even the busiest people are able to find time to manage their spending. There are many free apps that help you do this from Mint.com to Clarity Money and many more. The apps connect with your bank accounts and credit cards and compile all the transactions together, so you can see what you spend your money on and see where you can cut back.

Budgeting goes hand in hand with tracking your spending. If you find yourself spending $50 on eating fast food each month, set a budget to spend $35. Start small when making habit changes. This will give you a chance to see that you do not need to spend so much money eating out. You can save so much money by making your own food at home.

Eating out is just one spending category you can start with and then move onto different categories like personal care and house supplies. Take the same approach with each category: assess your spending, set budgets, and find ways to cut back to stay within your budgets.

Use Cash, Not Cards for Saving Money

Credit cards are great because they give you rewards in the form of cashback or points, but they can be dangerous with their fees and high-interest rates. If you find yourself swiping your credit card and not thinking about how much you’re spending, it may be a good idea to try giving yourself a cash limit and only spending the cash you have on hand and not rely on your credit cards for purchases.

For example, if your grocery budget is $50 for the week, then withdraw that much for the week and only use it on groceries. This will help you shop smarter and fill your cart with things that can make multiple meals versus throwing chips in your cart that will be gone in two days.

Baby Steps to Saving Money

Habits aren’t changed overnight, but when you start today and make those small changes to better your financial self and start building up your savings, then you’re on the right track. Yes, saving money will require some planning, but the planning doesn’t need to stress you out.

Chances are, you’re already under stress from worrying about your lack of savings, so once you start taking control of your spending and savings, then you’ll stress less about your finances.