How to Transition from Spender to Saver
Sometimes spending money is a whole lot easier than saving money! Spending money often gives us what we want in the moment, but it can derail us from our financial goals or debt payoff plans. Today we're talking about strategies to move from spending to saving so that we can get the most out of budgets!
Sponsors:
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- Restraint: when your mind is telling you ‘no’, but your body is telling you ‘yes’ practice restraint! When you pass that perfect little bowl with all the right colors and contours in the aisle of your favorite store and your body fills with excitement starting from your belly and radiating to your fingertips and somehow causing your jaw to clench out of cuteness, and your mind interrupts with a ‘what are you even gonna do with that bowl?!’ - listen to the voice of reason! You don’t need that bowl; don’t spend the money! Restraint: deadening all the feels to save some money
Notable Notes:
What the Internet has to say:
This article from Get Rich Slowly gives us some tangible tips on how to move from being a spender to being a saver.
What Jen+Jill have to say:
- Open a high yield savings account
- Save your windfalls
- Consider alternatives to buying new stuff
- Set a medium term savings goal
- saving for goals 18 months to five years in the future has been a great way for me to get excited about saving
- Avoid situations that lead you to spend - remove yourself from temptation!
- Don't spend your time looking for ways to spend your money - spend it looking for ways to save/invest (i.e. saving does not mean sitting at home twiddling your thumbs)
More from the Internet:
This article from our very own, Modern Frugality (Jen's blog!) breaks down for us how to do a no spend challenge and the ways this helps to detox our spending habits.
More from Jen+Jill:
- What is a no-spend challenge? A no-spend challenge is a commitment to not spend money on certain things for a predetermined length of time.
- What CAN you spend on? You decide what you don’t spend on. You’ll obviously pay your bills and the necessary expenses to live and get to work. There’s no need to cancel subscriptions or gym memberships if you use and enjoy them. The true lessons in a NSC come from everyday spending situations. Saying no to the “I want it now” mentality and the lie of “it’s such a good deal.”
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How do you do a no spend challenge?
- First you need to prepare
- Second you should determine a time frame (i.e. day, weekend, week, month, year)
- Third, decide what you need to spend on
- Lastly, find ways to fill your time.
- Examples: friends, pantry party, exercise, read, movie night
BILL OF THE WEEK - Thanks Leslie for sharing with us your last debt payment for your cat's vet bill! So glad to hear your cat is doing better!
- If you want to submit your bill of the week visit frugalfriendspodcast.com/bill to leave us a bill
Lightning Round
Our spending fails and saving wins, 2020 edition
- Jen- My latest spending flub was on a planner I didn’t need (but it looked cute!)
- Jill- spending fail: uh January...
- Jen- My latest saving win was opening a 529 for Kai! We talked about 529 plans in episode 56.
- visit https://go.collegebacker.com/frugalfriends/ for a $10 credit!
- Jill- savings win:investing in vanguard Roth IRA (also because I got $20 amazon gift card for linking account to personal capital)
Wrap-Up:
We've got a new way to enter our monthly giveaway!
- Share this episode on facebook or social media, tag us in it and you'll be entered to win a $10 amazon gift card! We’ll pick 1 winner for every 5 tags at the end of the month.
- ALSO you can still enter by leaving us a review on iTunes or Stitcher, screenshot the review and send it to frugalfriendspodcast@gmail.com. We’re just adding a new way to win!