Saving money can often feel like a daunting and overwhelming task. It’s far too easy to overcomplicate finances in our minds, making it next to impossible for us to successfully build up our savings accounts. Simplifying your finances can help you breathe easier and, little by little, help you feel like you’re in control of your money (instead of the other way around). Make a plan and start small. You’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish! This week, we asked the women in our Simplicity Series to share their best money-saving tip with us. Here’s what they said:
“Execute a “cash only” policy. It challenges you to plan out your spending and cut down on spontaneous, usually unnecessary purchases.” – Lacoya Heggie, wife, mama, and founder of Hello Love Events
“Pay cash for everything. It is a surefire way to keep from overspending. If you don’t have the money for it you aren’t able to buy it. You also enjoy purchases and experiences like vacations so much more this way because you aren’t left paying for it for months after!” – Shay Cochrane, wife, mama to two sweet girls, and photographer extraordinaire
“Setting up automatic withdrawals toward accounts that are separate from our checking and savings (in our case, we use Capital One savings accounts) helps us with the majority of our savings needs. Having it separate from our main checking is a great “out of sight, out of mind” option for us.” – Beth Gebhard, wife, mama to 2, and co-founder of Choice Publicity
“Track every penny. It’s amazing how quickly money goes, and I find it important to track even the small things.”- Kerry Gardner, wife, dog mama, and publicist extraordinaire
“Make sure you are monitoring the individual fees on your bank statement. There may be monthly fees that you agreed to for subscriptions or services that you aren’t using now. Those small fees add up, and you could be using that money for something else.” – Maggie Rheney, Samford grad, avid book reader, and associate publicist at Choice Media and Communications
“You need to make a plan for your money. People often think of the budget as a bad thing, but it’s not! A budget is just a plan for your money. When you budget, you’re telling your money where to go, instead of looking up at the end of the month and wondering what happened to it. If you’re going to take control of your money, a budget is key. The budget allows you to be proactive with your money rather than reactive. And most people find that a budget actually gives them freedom and permission to spend!” – Rachel Cruze, wife, mama, author, and finance guru
“Just because you have the money doesn’t mean you must spend it. I know this sounds so obvious, but I lived half of my life spending money just because I had it. It never occurred to me that it could stay in my wallet or bank account and just sit there. Once I understood that basic idea, I actually had some money!” – Christy Wright, wife, boy mama, speaker, and author of Business Boutique
“Pay yourself first. When you get paid, the first thing that we pull out is for savings. Because I own a small business, we need to account for taxes as well. So I pull all of this out first before I pay a single bill. Also, my husband has a designated amount pulled automatically from his paycheck every pay period that goes into a separate savings account that we don’t use regularly. Because we don’t ever see that money, we don’t spend it, so it’s able to build up over time and we have some cushion for when an unexpected cost occurs (new tires for the car, a damaged roof, etc.).” Heather Adams, wife, mama, and co-founder of Choice Media and Communications