Becoming comfortable with saving money

“Saving money is acquired skill, which can be learned at any stage of life. Saving money can be difficult because money is portrayed as reward for doing work, yet money in itself don’t do much, so to provide pleasurable sensation of being rewarded, money has to be spent. From this point, saving looks like a chore, work to reward work. Unless person draws satisfaction from having money, whether it offers feeling of security, stability or power, saving money for the purpose of rewarding the self (which means extra spending) is not easy for people living from paycheque to paycheque. In some situations, saving money requires changing of mindset, in others adopting different attitude but underneath it all lies understanding of how the process works.

Generally, when people think of savings, they go for leftovers after all expenses are met, bills paid, and food is bought. However, this may not be a suitable arrangement for those who want to get into the habit of saving, because counting on the leftovers for saving encourages people to spend more, out of fear of missing out on something. More productive way to make saving a habit, so money can be invested, or used to buy a property, secure retirement, or else, it is important to create a mind frame of ‘save first-spend second’.

For this purpose, as you get paid - daily, fortnightly or monthly, decide on the amount you can put aside, it can be in dollars or percentages. It makes no difference if you save one dollar, ten or one hundred, or if you put away two percent or seven. The only thing that really matters is that you stand by your decision for three months. If you don’t trust yourself to keep your hands out of the jar or from the ATM card, get safety deposit box in the bank. Review your position quarterly and increase, reduce or maintain your chosen amount. When you get paid, first thing you need to do is to put chosen amount away, what’s left can be budgeted. Remember that your savings are not rainy days money - if you need those, put it aside separately.

When you see how your wealth grows, you’d be more willing to continue saving, and as you draw pleasure from this activity it will become your reward. When here, you can decide if you still want to reward yourself with spending or would rather top up your savings. When there’s enough for investing in your first portfolio or to put deposit on the property you want, you can observe how making small change in your mind frame altered your lifestyle. When one area of your life changes, others follow naturally.”©️Erishka Fridman-Catt, author of self-help book Your Spiritual Dictionary: To Make Your Life Journey Easier