Most of us have been there: filled with excitement while looking at the store receipt that says: “You save 80% off your purchase today.” However, week after week goes by and our bank accounts are not going up by the same percentage. This is a question I see asked often: How do I translate the savings my grocery receipt shows into money in my savings account? The answer resides in yourSELF.
Let’s face it, most of us lack it. Personally I can’t trust myself to make sure I stash the $100 I am supposed to have leftover from my budget at the end of the month into my savings account. Chances are very good that I will find “something” to spend it on. This is why I rely on automatic savings. Instead of saving left over money from my budget, I put away money as soon as a paycheck hits my account and live on the leftover money. Backwards thinking huh? This is also the fastest way to start living below your means because you learn to live on less than what you make and save money. So, how do yo get there? You do it in baby steps. Start with an amount you feel you won’t miss at all or only a little bit. Start with $25 or $50 every paycheck. The secret is to start. Then you move on to the next step.
Once you have created the habit of putting aside a set amount of money every paycheck, challenge yourself! Start with $25 but don’t keep that amount forever. Push yourself to even higher amounts. Challenge yourself to start saving for multiple purposes: emergency fund, retirement, college savings, car fund, etc.
I am a bargain shopper. But I use coupons and shop bargains not just so that I can say “Look, I saved 70% or $x.xx, my receipt says so” I am a bargain shopper so that I can say: “Look I saved $xx my bank account says so.” If you have been looking for a way to translate your coupon savings into actual savings in your bank account I highly encourage you to give automatic savings a try. Start small but challenge yourself big.