For almost everyone £1000 is no small feat – and to manage to save it is a big achievement! The trick to puttting away larger amounts and keeping sight of why is setting a goal.
Sure, the £1000 sounds great as a goal, but breaking it down gives it more purpose.
Set smaller goals
If you are aiming to save up a thousand pounds, then you have something in mind that you want to pay for, pay off, or enjoy. For most people setting big goals like that coincide with saving for a house deposit, having a baby and thinking about the cost of a crib, or getting married and thinking about costs from cars and flowers to favours and venues.
Set a stack of smaller goals. For example, what would £100 pay for? What about £250? These smaller incremental points make the large goal seem smaller and more manageable.
Understand your spending
Setting saving goals isn’t going to work unless you know what you have. How much are you spending on things you don’t need but you do want? If you cut that out for a month or two – how much extra would you have? The answer is a lot more!
Understand what your spending triggers are, and then consider how you can avoid them. For millions of people, it is takeout that quickly adds up. Who doesn’t enjoy a treat where there is no cooking or washing up involved? But if you are serious about your savings, you’ll need to kick it to the curb for a while.
Needs Vs. Wants
Because we are marketed so heavily, it gets really easy to start confusing needs with wants – do we need the newest item, or do we just want it? Take a look at where you are spending your money most often – where do the wants come into play? And, further to that, could you cut back for a while?
Automatic
Take the fuss out of saving – one of the reasons it can be difficult is that when you need to do it manually, you like to see the total of your money together. However, when the saving is automatic – and automatically calculated for you, you will be saving your maximum.
There are many saving options for automatic savings; you can find the right one for you, and make sure to read the small print.
Snowball
The last few weeks of the snowball challenge can be very tough! But you can also do it backward if you find that more helpful. The 52-week strategy means you will put in a dollar or pound per week of the year. So, for example, week 3 of the year is £3, week 33 is £ and week 52 is £52. So even if you skip a few of the last weeks here, you will still make the goal of £1000!
Sell Stuff!
We are sitting on a lot of stuff, and most of it we just don’t use at all. Get to selling with the view that every penny you make goes straight into your savings. Every little bit counts!
For many people spending on things they don’t need causes the biggest problem; getting that under control can make a significant difference: How to Cut Out Your Frivolous Spending – Emma and 3 Saves.
Source: Mums Savvy Savings