Why is it that I can save up my vacation hours at work, I can scrimp, save and argue with myself not to "spend" my vacation time because I'd really like to take a week or more off early next year but I can't save money at all? I don't argue with myself to save, put away, let those dollars add up. Why? Why why why?
Someday I'd like to own my own house. I'd like to be debt free. I'd like to have 3-6 months of savings in the bank that I don't touch unless it's an emergency, like all the experts say to do.
Why can't I do this? I really want to save money. What is wrong with me? Can anyone help? Any resources, tips, tricks, ideas? Seriously. I need help.
I think that you seriously have to do something that will make it fun. For me, I have to see how much my savings are building up each month or else it doesn't register when I'm at the grocery store deciding whether I *really* need another home and garden magazine.
Good luck!
Posted by: ro | October 14, 2005 at 01:59 PM
Hmm, this one's hard. First off, there's nothing wrong with you. As a generalization, Americans are consumers and we don't make it easy on ourselves to save.
I know that those sage financial advisors who say you should have 3-6 months emergency cash saved up also say that you should pay yourself first. However, I always found that I ended up doing that, and then adding onto my debt though credit cards. So I was then fighting with the other mantra of paying off your high interest debt first before you start putting money away into a much lower interest rate savings account. It's a vicious cycle.
I think it's the spending that gets most people. I have a friend who just snipped up all of her credit cards and went strictly cashless. I have issues with it because I don't find cash to be terribly convenient, but then again, convenience=impulse buying. Also, have you tried the write down every last penny you spend thing to see where it all goes and figure out what you're okay with? Probably all things that you've heard before, but they're worth repeating since they do really work for some people.
Posted by: Jen | October 17, 2005 at 10:36 AM
You just have to make the decision to do it. There are no tricks! Do you have direct deposit at work? Can you allocate a portion to go to checking and another portion to go to savings? That's the way I did it and was eventually able to pay off credit cards and debts and make some small investments. I'm debt-free today and it's the greatest feeling on earth. JUST DO IT (in the words of Nike)...
Posted by: BunnyNutz | October 27, 2005 at 10:10 AM