Whether you are looking to follow the First Home Loan Guide and are in the process of saving for your deposit, moving and legal costs, or just wanting to put some money away regularly to build up a level of savings for a rainy day, it can be a struggle. May have already tried to save and found that your plans and expectations were not reached and gave up. Building up savings, if you are not used to it, is not an easy task. However, that is not to say it is not possible. By making a few changes and following these steps you will be able to build in ingrain some healthy changes to help you develop a healthy and doable savings habit.
Be Realistic With Your Savings Plan
It is important when starting your saving journey that you are realistic. Although your goal may seem a long way off, it is important to set achievable goals, to ensure that your savings plan can start and you don’t get demotivated by not reaching unrealistic targets. A great way to ensure that you start to see your savings grow and continue to be really motivated to continue with building up savings is to start off small. Ensure the amount you are intending to save monthly over the next 6 months is realistic and can be achieved. This will ensure that firstly, you don’t lose heart and get demotivated as the amount to save is easily achievable and secondly, it has started to become a habit, after this time the amount can be reviewed and readjusted as 6 months down the line you have established a regular savings pattern.
Use Smaller Targets
Once realistic targets are set it is also worth breaking it down into smaller goals and targets. This will help you remain motivated and see that your efforts are paying off and you are working towards your savings goal. For example, break your monthly savings target down into smaller weekly amounts to set aside. By doing this you will grow accustomed to having less weekly disposable income available to spend and building up to regular savings patterns and habits.
Reward Yourself
It is very important that you create a positive association to saving. By rewarding yourself when a goal or target is being met will really reinforce a positive mental association that comes with reaching a goal that you set. You don’t need the rewards to be huge or necessarily expensive it could be a day of open water fishing to treating yourself to a new item of clothing, but whatever the reward it will physiologically create an association between savings and a positive attached to that.
Use A Separate Account for Saving
It may not seem instantly necessary, but having a separate account purely for savings is a priority. When going ahead to set this account up, make sure you choose one that is basic and doesn’t come with a debit or ATM card. Without the ease of being able to spend on this account easily, you will find yourself being more conscious of just spending what is available in your day-to-day bank account and not using your savings. Another benefit of having a separate account is that is easier to actually differentiate between what is savings and ‘living now’ money. This way you will have a much clearer way to see if targets are being met and how much you have managed to build up as the weeks and months pass.
Keep Yourself Accountable And Motivated
One of the hardest parts of savings is maintaining enthusiasm and motivation to stick to your new routine of saving. It can become easy to lose motivation or for your current levels of motivation to dip when your savings plan will take a while to reach your overall goal. To ensure you keep mentally strong and stable it can be worthwhile and beneficial to utilize a support system to continue to keep you motivated and reignite the saving desire when it’s lacking. By opening speaking with a close friend or family member about your savings goals, successes and any difficulties will help you maintain focus. With them being close to you they will be able to help support you with any lifestyle changes needed to ensure the savings grow and celebrate the successes as they are reached.
Once these steps are implemented, over a period of time they will become unconscious and you will find yourself and your savings flourishing and your goals being met.