It’s that time of year where we’re thinking more about spending than we’re thinking about saving. Black Friday has come and gone, but retailers are still going to provide plenty of “deals” and advertisements to entice you to spend money during the holiday season. People are obsessed with getting a deal, even if it’s not really a deal but we think it is anyways. But, what if we were just as obsessed with saving our money?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that you need to save every dollar that you make. Everyone has to find a balance between spending and saving that will not only provide them with what they need and want today but will also set them up well for the future.
Life shouldn’t be 100% about spending or 100% about saving.
However, there’s plenty of evidence to show us that we’re really good at spending (and overspending) and not very good at saving. I’m a big fan of making saving as easy as possible and I think that shifting our mindset to gamify saving can lead to greater success. It’s a way to challenge yourself and make saving exciting as you try to become better at it.
One Up Your Savings
There are plenty of way that you can make savings into a game and find ways to reach your financial goals.
- Challenge yourself to save more than last month.
- Challenge yourself to a month of not spending in a certain category such as entertainment.
- If you have a significant other, then challenge each other to see who can save the most (spend the least).
- Find creative ways that you can cut back on spending. You may only save a relatively small amount by doing so, but that may be worth it to you by knowing that you’re going to reach your goal faster.
- Challenge yourself to find ways to decrease your largest expenses of housing, transportation, and food. This is where you’ll really start to make progress.
What if instead of trying to find the best deals on something to buy you tried to one up yourself each month (or each year) and save a little more? This could be as small as saving $5 more each month, but could help you to start to become more focused on being intentional with your money and weaken your “need” to spend on things that probably don’t provide long-term happiness.
Can Saving Be Exciting?
Most people think that spending is exciting. You bought something new, something cool, something that you’re really excited about. There’s instant gratification that saving doesn’t provide.
I don’t think of money and saving in the same way as most people do. I do think that saving money is exciting and I think that gamifying it can help with that. It’s exciting when you set a goal and see yourself getting closer to reaching it. Maybe you need the goal to be more concrete by stating explicitly what you’re saving for (a new car, a new house, retirement) and printing out a picture of your goal to make it more real to you.
To make saving exciting you need to set goals and actively track your progress towards reaching them
Do you want to retire as soon as possible? What will you have to do to get there? Your spending habits probably aren’t going to look like your neighbors’ who buy brand new vehicles every 5 years and take multiple big vacations every year. Retiring as soon as possible is going to mean saving as much as possible. A great way to help make sure that you’re doing so is to track your progress to see how much you are saving, what you’re spending your money on, and where you can cut back.
Would you like to purchase a home for your family? You still need to create a game plan and track your progress. Set a goal amount to save and make sure that you include all expenses that will be involved (down payment, closing costs, moving expenses, new furniture, repairs/updates, etc.) and figure out how much you need to save each month to reach that goal in a specific time. Then, each month you can try to beat that savings target to help you reach your goal faster.
Sure, you may have to sacrifice not spending money on some things that you want along the way, but if you can see yourself making progress towards your goal then you’ll continue to be motivated and happy with your savings rather than spending.
Seeing yourself getting closer to reaching your savings goal each month should excite you. If it doesn’t, then maybe you need to reevaluate your goals and what you really want your money to do for you.
Social Stigma
Sometimes, the problem with getting serious about your financial goals and becoming very serious about saving is that you feel like you’re always that person who is turning down friends and being lame. Society isn’t good at saving and delaying gratification. However, good friends should understand that you’re passionate about reaching your goals and that there are other ways to have fun with you without spending a lot of money.
Instead of your friends inviting you to dinner or drinks or another event, take the opportunity to invite your friends to your home where you can pitch in for dinner, buy your own drinks for cheap, and rent a movie or play a game. Let them know that you have goals that you’re trying to reach and how you’ve gamified saving to help you reach them faster. You may even be able to challenge them to set a goal and keep them accountable to become better at saving each month to help them accomplish it in a shorter time frame than they thought they could.
Making a game of saving and challenging yourself to continuously become better at it can make saving exciting. However, it’s important to track your progress towards your goals to see continuous improvement and to see it becoming closer to reality. Without knowing where you’re going and seeing your progress along the way, you’ll be more likely to be tempted to send money on things that don’t provide much long-term value to you and only push you farther away from accomplishing your goals.
