Do you use weird saving tricks? We’ve heard of all the normal ones: automatic deduction from your paychecks, setting aside 10% of your income for retirement, putting your tax refund into your savings account, blah blah blah. I’m not talking about those. I’m talking about the idiosyncratic and really strange little mental tricks you play on yourself so you can squeeze out a few extra dollars of savings here and there. In fact, I have a specially named sub-account for savings from these weird tricks - I call it my Funny Money account.
Here are some of my weird saving tricks:
- When I make brunch at home, I put away $15-20 (what it would have cost us to go out to eat). Last weekend, we somehow managed to cook at home not once but twice, so $40 went from my bank account to the Funny Money Fund on Monday. We eat out at brunch way too often, and the funny thing is that brunch is my favorite meal to make, at a time -weekends- when I have time to make it.
- When I make a return (a dress that I just couldn’t make work, or shoes that don’t fit right), I take the money I get back and I put it in a savings account. Impulse buys, thou shalt not get the best of me!
- When I get a gift card as a present or as a bonus from credit cards, I try to put 1/2 of the face value into my savings account.
- When I stay at a hotel for free because of points redemption, I save $10-$40 depending on how expensive the hotel was.
- When I window-shop and I make the (frankly very difficult) decision to NOT buy that perfect pair of stacked suede heels or mirrored jewelry box with velvet lined interior, I put the money I would have spent into the Funny Money Account.
I use these little tricks because saving is just as much mental and emotional as it is mathematical. I know I am a spender trapped in a saver’s body – it’d be way too easy for me to overspend if I don’t put a few safeguards in place. So I have the big ones such as 401K deductions, but I also try to make it a fun game for myself and make sure that when I DO overcome those impulse buys or get lucky with gift cards or free stays, I put away a little something too. If the money is just swimming around in the checking account, I know I’m going to spend it.
Do you have any weird saving mind tricks you use?
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I do the exact same thing! I call it the frugal account (http://www.moneycone.com/a-powerful-technique-to-supercharge-your-savings/). I put all extra savings into it – though I avoid coupon savings and anything intangible.
These are great tricks! I need to do this.
Interesting little tricks WH – While I dont really have the problem with pumps, I know exactly what you mean. Ive found that the more difficult I make spending and the easier I make saving, the more i'll be able to save.
On paydays when it is time to add money to my food, gas and blow money envelopes I don't just add the sent amout. I refill them to the set amount and put the difference toward my debt (in the future it will go to savings).
For example: I put $125 on my gas gift card every payday. This payday there was still $80 on the card so I only added $45. Since I budgeted $125 I was able to send $80 to my student loan as an extra payment.
When I get a refund for a clothing item, I put that into my savings account instead of the chequing. All little cheques that I get, like the Canadian periodic property and utility refund (or something like that) from the government, I put into my savings.I rent out my parking spot for my condo, and have calculated my rent to be rent due to landlord – parking spot rent income. But when I feel extra frugal, I'll deposit the parking spot rent income into my savings account instead of the chequing, effectively making myself live on a lower amount than budgetted.
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Now that I think about it, I do that a little – I budget $75 for power. But power only really gets that high in the winter, so I put any difference directly into savings. And gift cards…unless to a very general store like Target or the grocery store, I tend to sell them. Unless it's my mother, who will hound me about what I got!
that is cute! however, saying funny money makes me think of a wad of cash laughing.
i put all my "extra" income into a travel fund. It feels good knowing we'll have enough for our trip!
I love your idea of saving money you get from refunded purchases. Such a great idea!
These are great ideas! I am going to borrow a couple of your ideas
I don't really do any of these.
I don't have the money automaticakly removed, but I do have a goal for moving money to my savings each month, and I check my excel spreadsheet for where things stand. I don't always get to put in my full intended amount – those are normally the months when I buy clothes – but I will still put most of it in.
I think the reason it works the way it does for you is because you're taking the money you would have otherwise spent, and put that away. I do it the opposite way. I start with a lower amount I can spend for the month (between 150 and 200), and if I end up needing to dip into the money intended for saving, at that point I do. I will never not put away money each month though. My rrsp is not counted in these savings I speak of, by the way. My savings means vacation fund, downpayment fund, emergency fund, wedding fund. I've maxed out my wedding fund though, so I don't have to do more there, so I just keep funnelling money to the other accounts.
I also automatically move any refunds or rebates over to savings.
My favorite thing to do is to pocket the money I save when I haggle somewhere. If I save $5 here and $10 there off the original sale price, I now have an extra $15 to use for fun. This really helps me not spend on my fun budget. In fact, it's gotten to the point that I don't even track my fun budget the way I track everything else which effectively dumped my fun budget into savings. My fun budget is the money I have in my wallet and that's all I can spend on fun.
The reason I like this so much is because I'm self-motivating myself to save money when I make purchases so I can have fun. This has motivated me to want to haggle everywhere I go which has saved me quite a bit of money over the past year. It has also allowed me to go have fun without messing up my budget.
I don't do this myself but I have a friend who has a separate account where he puts the money he gets back from recycling bottles. They are up $14 after 6 months and when they get to $30, they will use the money to go out to eat.
I do the same thing with my daily allowance. Whatever I didn't spend goes to SmartyPig at the end of the week.
I do similar things, especially with gift cards. If I receive gift cards over the holidays to my favorite places, I try and put away that amount into my savings. If I receive extra cash from a side job or surprise income, I put at least a third to a half or more away in our savings account. Any type of mental trick I can use to stash some cash helps!
I like your tricks, especially 1 and 2. Clever, thank you!
That's a great idea! If anything, it'll really show me how much I save by being frugal!
I never spend five dollar bills; instead I store them away and deposit them into savings about once a year. Fives are too small to be noticed but big enough to add up. I've been doing it so long, I actually get a little excited when I receive one as change.
I love the funny money fund idea! I'll definitely be adding that to my list of finance goals.
I put a "pretty savings jar" on my counter to save up all my loose change. It's a simple glass jar that holds all my coins, and I top it off with a colorful flower arrangement. It's great for decorating my apartment and savings! I use these coins to fund my frivolous spends.