I know, you’re probably thinking, “duh!” right? Of course saving money isn’t always easy, if it was…so many of us wouldn’t strive and dream of being able to do it.
There always seems to be a trade-off. Do you want to go out and have a fun night with your friends, or do you want to throw another $40 toward your current saving goal? Do you really need another pair of shoes? Is that new blu-ray really more important than building up an emergency fund?
These things come up all the time when you decide to start saving money. Even after years (6 for me) of working on it and slowly building up momentum, I’m still faced with the same “this or that” scenarios almost daily.
Practice makes perfect, right? With saving money, it’s more of a persistence keeps me going kind of deal. I want to be able to save and save, then save some more…but things come up and make me question my priorities.
What am I giving up and is it really worth it? Hmmm. Right now, we’re working on saving up enough to pay cash for a second car later this year. After being stuck at home everyday, for like 3 years, I NEED a car.
How many opportunities have I missed out on because I had no transportation? How would my life be different if I had a car these last 3 years? Would I have gone back to college and finished the last few classes I needed? Would I have caved in and gotten a job to bring in some extra income? I just don’t know.
More than anything, it feels like the last 3 years of my life have been spent just living. Doing the same day to day things, just to maintain and get by. Granted I have been blogging for most of that time, so I have accomplished something. But it’s just kind of sad to see 3 years go by with nothing substantial to show for them.
So, is giving up the little extra purchases here and there worth it this year? Definitely! Will overcoming the urge to spend dramatically improve the quality of my life? Hell yeah!
So why can’t I look the other way when I walk by the creepy tub, wishing I could take a bath?
Why can’t I be happy with a ridiculously old, over-sized wardrobe (due to weight loss) that makes looking halfway decent almost impossible.
Why can’t I resist turning the heat up when I’m wearing a jacket and socks while stuck at home all day freezing my butt off?
Why can’t I not spend so much time wishing I could buy the things that could make my everyday life easier?
Because it’s hard. Anything worth achieving is going to take hard work. Plus there’s the whole instant gratification versus delayed gratification dilemma.
You can either have something now, or you can have something later. Waiting is really hard for me since I’m like the most impatient person in the world. Seriously, you can ask anybody who knows me…it irritates them all.
All I can do is to keep trying each day to remember how important this saving goal is to me and how awesome things will be once I get there.
What things distract you from your saving goals?
Do you have a tip or trick that keeps you focused?
Good post Jen. This is why I use a whiteboard to help me visualize my goals. I might get distracted, but seeing what I am aiming for helps.
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..Budget Fail: Unrealistic Expectations While Shopping
I’ve always wanted to have a entire wall whiteboard, I swear I would be so much more productive.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Are You Saving Money With Online Coupons?
Nice post. I use to take public transportation to get to work. It saved me a ton of money and kept me away from a car payment when I was in debt. Glad I discovered your blog!
Kyle recently posted..10 Must-Follow Twitter Feeds for Thrifty Moms
My trick is real simple, I set up a payroll deduction for savings and live on what is left.
krantcents recently posted..The case against paying off your mortgage!
Saving money definitely isn’t always easy. I do think my blog helps because if I ever get off track, I tend to get yelled at by a reader 😛 So now I am always thinking “will I get yelled at for this?”
Michelle recently posted..$1,121 in Extra Income and Life Updates
Haha, I know what you mean. I haven’t been posting our weekly spending since we bought our house, but I can remember the comments and emails.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Are You Saving Money With Online Coupons?
We are just getting ourselves back on track, but in the motel room, it was VERY hard to convince ourselves to stay in and cook in the microwave instead of walking across the street to Denny’s or Waffle House.
Edward Antrobus recently posted..How 100 feet is Saving Me $100 Per Year in Utility Costs
I can imagine. I don’t think I would do too well resisting.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Money & Goals: Weekly Update #1
There is always a fine line between living life, which is meant to be enjoyed, and overdoing it, at the expense of long time goals. I used to calculate everything in terms of how much would I have to work to buy that, and $40 for a night out would means a week of grocery I don’t have to work for because it is saved. Now I try to set savings goals and anything that delays it is carefully considered. One more month of saving or this item? Usually it is not worth the extra effort.
Pauline recently posted..About money, time, and doing the right thing
There is such a fine line between having fun while saving money at the same time. We do things like have money transferred to savings automatically as well as budget for fun money so we don’t go overboard.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..5 Investing Mistakes That Are Easy to Make
Yeah, we haven’t really spent any money on having fun for quite some time. I’m hoping that we can do something this next month to hold us over for a while.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Double Awesome Way To Save On Your Taxes
We like to balance as much as we can so we don’t feel we are missing out. Is it worth it? Sure it is, for us at least. We may be giving up “stuff” but who cares and we may miss the odd festive outing with our mates “oh well” but life goes on. We have to look out for ourselves and the end goal of debt freedom, mortgage paid, paying cash for a vehicle whatever it is, sounds like something I’m willing to wait for. Cheers
Canadian Budget Binder recently posted..The Grocery Game Challenge #9 Feb 25-Mar 3,2013-No-Shop Week, No Means No!
Great post. As Dave Ramsey says: “Live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else”. Good luck and keep on trucking.
Nick @ ayoungpro.com recently posted..Blog Roundup #2
I agree, Jen, it is hard. There are two things I would like to point out though. First, you are still young (are you in the spring of your life meaning less than 30) and sometime ago I wrote an article about the seasons of life and our personal finances (yep, the rules are different) and one point that needs to be emphasised is that in Spring people need to spend on creating opportunities. These opportunities are what increases their capacity to save and invest aggresively when they are in their Autumn (50 to 70).
Second, life is an ultra-run and any ultra runner will tell you that what is important in to follow a pattern. Translated to saving this means – save what you have comfortably decided to save and enjoy life with the rest. It is important to save a bit as a habit rather than want to save a bit more, and a bit more…The only value of money comes through sustaining life!
maria@moneyprinciple recently posted..Should there be an Option to Bet on War between Syria and Turkey?
It’s hard but that’s why coming up with a good system to save is important. I agree with what others have said, while saving is important you can’t totally put off life in order to do it. Sometimes we all need to spend money on a car or a new refrigerator even if it may not be our ideal use for our money.
The First Million is the Hardest recently posted..Five Dumb Ways To Spend Your Tax Refund
I can get distracted by impulsive purchases, often centered around dining out or entertainment. What keeps me in line is thinking about what it would be like to be old and broke. I don’t want that to be me.
Digital Personal Finance recently posted..I’m Cool With “The Joneses” Looking More Successful
Heck yeah! We constantly have things distracting us from our goals, I write a lot about keeping up with the Jones but that doesn’t mean I’m not tempted from time to time. In order to eliminate this urge we have funds automatically taken out of our accounts.
It definitely takes lots of inner strength to stop the spending. I’m pretty bad with the App store, I usually leak like $20/month into that. Doesn’t sound like much but it’s more than Netflix!
Good luck with your car savings, every drop counts!
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Yep, it all adds up!
Jen Perkins recently posted..Money & Goals: Weekly Update #1
It is called sacrifice and it never feels good until later. You are on the right track here. The problem is that our media and society send out a lot of contradictory noise that really creates dissonance in our brain. Keep at this stuff and when you are 62 like me you will then know that it has paid off.