Start Small to Build the Habit
Lesson 8 from: How to Budget and Save MoneyErin Lowry/Broke Millennial
Start Small to Build the Habit
Lesson 8 from: How to Budget and Save MoneyErin Lowry/Broke Millennial
Lesson Info
8. Start Small to Build the Habit
Lessons
Class Introduction
06:00 2Budget 101 & 201
19:08 3Dealing with Unpredictable Income
06:24 4Creating Your Own Budget Style
16:15 5Pay Yourself First
10:43 6Tricking Yourself Into Saving
10:32 7How to Save When You are Strapped for Cash
12:26 8Start Small to Build the Habit
04:28Lesson Info
Start Small to Build the Habit
Now at the end of this, to me the big part here, is this idea of starting small to build a habit. I do want you to have this idea of starting small because I understand and I've definitely been in the position where the most I could put away was maybe about $5 in a month. And I live in a city where $5 can barely buy you a crappy beer, let alone like a good craft beer at a bar. So it felt like why would I just put away an amount of money that like I can't even go out and enjoy this at Happy Hour. That just feels stupid. The point is building the habit. And I will make the perhaps tired correlation to fitness here, but it's this idea that hey, if you wanna go out and run a 5K tomorrow and you've just been like Netflixing and chilling for the last six months of your life, you are not going to be able to get off the couch and go run a 5K. Same with your money. I think sometimes we come up with excuses and think to ourselves, "Well, when I make more, "I'll just double-down on savings. "It w...
on't be a big deal. "I'll just worry about it then." But what makes you think it's gonna be so easy for you to just automatically start saving just because you're earning more, because the past decade or so of experience you've had has been you not saving. You're not focusing on that. So lifestyle creep can come in and it can be very easy to justify why that's not necessarily an important thing in your life. So that's why I encourage you no matter how small the amount put something aside every time you get paid. And another thing to think about, is inching up little by little, how much you're putting aside. Maybe you just start with half a percent of every paycheck is going into savings. I don't care what the dollar amount of that is, but just half a percent. And then every six months inch it up a little bit. Then you go to one percent, two percent, three percent until you finally get close to your goal. The other advantage of this is you're barely feeling the pinch when it comes to your paycheck. So if you do such a small amount it's not gonna feel like this overwhelming sensation and it won't cause you to maybe even over index how much you're putting into savings in a way that you're gonna be pulling money out. It's a way to kina protect yourself and ease in. And then of course, unexpected money that you come into if that's tax refund, birthday check from grandma, a bonus that you weren't expecting, any money like that, that's also a very easy way of course, to be funding and getting a kinava jumpstart on hitting your savings goals. I like the idea cause you brought up debt already. So, for me when I think about something like a tax refund, I like the idea of putting about 25% into savings, and then 75% of it towards your debts and goals. Because it's a way to make sure that you're putting some money away but that you're still aggressively paying off your debt because you're right, if the financial, especially mental part of getting rid of high-interest, particularly credit card debt is important. But I do still advocate for you having that buffer, cause if and when something goes wrong, you're just gonna be refinancing it on a credit card and continue the cycle. Alright, any other questions as we wrap up today and this conversation about savings? Yes. We had a question that came in online about do you have any recommendations for sort of celebrating some of these wins, when you are hitting your budget or you are hitting some of these milestones? Other than a big ol' pat on the back? Ya know that's a great question because I think it can be very easy for us to then go splurge in a way that might disrupt some of these financial goals. That's one reason I like the idea of still having a fun fund no matter what you're financial situation is. And so maybe you're thinking, "Alright, I want to go get a massage." We were talking about that earlier. And maybe to you that is a way that you can celebrate and so perhaps you set a goal of it being $1100 you put in emergency savings so that you have that little extra money when you hit it, you can go and spend it on your splurge item. I think it's also rethinking what you consider a splurge. And doing something that you find enjoyable but maybe doesn't necessarily cost of a lot of money. Depending on where you live, there's a lot of opportunities to go out and do things for free or for fun or just maybe you even just blast it out on social media and get some positive reinforcement there. Because people are definitely happy to applaud you for achieving those kind of milestones. And I know that sounds kind of silly but there are a bunch of communities on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram where if you share your debt repayment stories or your journeys and your goals, your gonna get a lot of great, positive reinforcement online. Then you don't have to spend a dime.
Ratings and Reviews
user-f8acdc
Great ideas and easy to follow class. I'm excited to get started on my savings habit.
dario-lentini-adventhealth-com
It was a very quick and easy way of breaking down the complexities and intimidating connotations of personal finance topics like savings, budgeting, and debt. But, for the short=attention spanned, willing learners, seeking out financial freedom? This is the best course to help understand that,
Manuele Santoro
Student Work
Related Classes
Money & Finance