Tricking yourself for Creative Ways to Save Money

It's like what a boxer says about training for a major bout - it's certainly about raw strength; but more so than that, it's about the mind. Getting behind the idea that you'll be making sacrifices in life to succeed at saving money, is more about psyching yourself than anything else. It's all about getting mentally ready. What you need is to find ways to save money within the limits of your life - to find the best attitude possible that could support your need to be fiscally responsible; with this and a few simple tricks of the saving game that you learn, there's no reason why you can't take baby steps towards a better financial tomorrow.

To begin with, you need to understand that most ways to save money are unpleasant in the here and now; of course your mind will want to protest and put it off, or say that it's too hard with the money you make at this time. The fact that life can be difficult is an obvious truth though - not a free ticket out of having to accept it; if you allow yourself this, it's only a matter of time before you are tempted to say something like, "I can't save money; that will mean less money to have fun with today" , and to think it actually makes sense as a reason. The very reason you recognize the need to save money is that you acknowledge that life is less than perfect - that when you're old and out of work, you will starve if you aren't careful. The fact that you'll have to take the money you make now and spread out over your whole life, is just an unpleasant fact of life and there's no point refusing to accept it.

So now that you are mentally prepared, let's see how it is done. Most ways to save money, as with anything else, would start with a detailed plan for how you ae to go about it. You'll need to map out all the money that comes in, and every single way it goes out for the first couple of months. Once you have information to arm your march forward with, you'll have your chance to actually make adjustments. If you need a little inspiration to help you make those adjustments, look for a short-term goal. Writing down your plans for the next year in getting together money for the down payment on a house or putting together a little kitty for travel plans could help you cut back on a few things you found out in your budgeting were not entirely useful. The thing about saving money is that you are not to think that you aren't getting to use your own money. It isn't like you are giving it away to someone. If you save money, you just put off spending it on yourself, another day.

The best goals in the short term are ones that are actually within reach. If you lay down plans for a trip around the world, you could end up a little disappointed. It isn't enough to just throw into the savings piggy bank whatever happens to be left over at the end of the month. You'll need to do it in the beginning of the month, based on what would match your short-term goals. Life isn't kind at all; you will need to start an emergency fund to help tide you over when someone's seriously ill, or loses a job. If you have a tax refund check coming in, you can use that as seed money for your emergency fund plan. You need to aim for at least $5000 in the bank to help with an emergency.

Everyone knows that one of the best ways to save money, is to pay off your credit card debt as soon as possible. The best way to go about it, would be to pay off the credit card that has the highest interest rate, or the one that's easiest to pay off because you carry the lowest debt on that. Apart from that, you need to pay off the credit card that seems to be nearing its spending limit. Maxing your card out will often look bad on your credit score. Set aside as much as you can afford towards paying off the first credit card debt; when that is done, take the amount you were paying there, and use that as the minimum you'll pay for the next credit card debt, and add something to it. Once you're done with paying off your credit cards, make sure you don't use them anymore unless absolutely necessary.

There are lots of money wasting habits we pick up in this culture of ours; finding ways to tackle them, you'll find great ways to save money. Packing a lunch for work instead of stopping by at the caf is a great way to start. When you go shopping, don't be tempted into buying bulk quantities to save a few dollars. It never works in your favor. And give up buying the hype that would have you believe that baying the store's in-house brand isn't as good. There are a lots of little psychological tricks you can use to convince your mind that saving is an attractive thing.

The mind just needs a gimmick or two to get hooked onto something. Try it this way - you could create a tax system in your family. There could be a family piggy bank that every family member drops spare change into everyday. It all adds up to something you can use for the whole family at Christmas. Or try this - anytime a colorful $20 bill comes your way, you don't spend it, you save it instead. You just need to use your imagination. There are any number of ways to save money that way.