You Can’t Spend What you Don’t See! Save Money Fast!

My New Shoe Fund

I have a shoe fund jar that was given to me as a gift about 3 years ago. At first I just used it for coins that were left in my pockets at the end of the day. My attempt was to save enough coins to feed into my shoe addiction without feeling the pinch. After awhile, I brought the jar to the office and kept it on my desk, but it wasn’t helpful there because I kept digging in it for the vending machine! It was in my eye sight every day, and I probably dug into it daily. No BUENO!

I brought my shoe fund back home, hoping for better luck in actually saving for a pair of diva-licious shoes!! It wasn’t in my sight daily except when I threw in the occasional pocket change. When I found money in my purse, I committed to throw it in the new shoe fund, instead of going to Starbucks. Little by little the fund increased. I went from just throwing in coins to putting $1 bills. I randomly found a $10 bill and put it in the fund too!

This morning I counted the money in my shoe fund and I had an astounding $129.05 ($48.05 were coins). This doesn’t include the pennies I had stashed in there…it was all silver and bills. I can definitely afford a pair of savvy shoes now! Woo-hoo!!!!!!

This experiment confirmed my financial notion that you can’t spend what you don’t see!

Automatic Savings

I’m sure many of you have heard of automatic savings and setting up direct deposit as part of your savings strategy. Once I took my fund out of sight, I no longer consciously thought about it. Occasionally I put money in the fund, aware that it was available, but it wasn’t a part of my daily thought process. This is the same thing for automatic savings. It may be a little rough at first when you begin, but after a while you adjust to it and don’t think about it anymore!

Of course you know in the back of your mind it’s available, but it’s not right in front of you…you work with what’s right in front of you. David Bach wrote an awesome book called “The Automatic Millionaire” that dives in this subject extensively. His idea is if you make your savings automatic and are diligent you can become a millionaire!

People are starting to grasp this concept slowly but surely. Books, forums, speaking engagements, and blogs are talking about the success rate of automatic savings. I came across an article entitled “Personal Finance Automatic  Savings Plan” from my fellow blogger, Planwise Blog. Planwise recognizes the benefits of automatic savings as you are saving money in a slow and steady progression, overcoming the challenges of saving money. He touches on the same concept of “out of sight, out of mind!’.

I challenge you to set up a direct deposit for your savings TODAY. Get with your payroll department and see how you can have funds deposited into a savings account each paycheck. Start off small and work yourself up! Already saving? I challenge you to increase your savings percentage by 1% today! It will feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get use to the change…and you’ll be saving more!!!