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.








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