In a perfect world, you would have started saving with the first dollar that you ever received, i.e. birthday money, paper route money, graduation money.
You would have gone to the bank – or your parent would have taken you – to the bank and you would have opened an account. Then you would have deposited that dollar before you’d had a chance to spend it. Everyone seems to know that the sooner you start saving, the better. However, there appears to be a disconnect between knowing and doing.
You’re the only person who can bridge the chasm between knowing what to do and then actually doing it. The truth is that it is quite simple to open a savings account in today’s world of online banking. It’s another very easy and straightforward matter to put an automatic transfer in place, thereby eliminating the need for you to manually transfer money into your savings account. The automatic transfer kicks in every time you’re paid – easy peasy lemon squeezy!
The very next best time to start saving money is immediately. I cannot stress this enough! Savings work best if you take steps to save money. Step one – save. Step two – don’t spend your savings. If you’re not yet accomplishing these two things, then you’re only dreaming about saving… which is all fine and good but it won’t help you very much since you can’t use dreams to acquire what you want. Dreaming about saving is not the same as actually starting to save.
I love dreams as much as the next lady, but dreams don’t put the cream in cupcake. You need to actually start saving – the sooner, the better. I speak from experience. One of the reasons that I’m able to seriously consider an early retirement is because I started saving a portion of my first paycheque when I was 15 years old. I’ve made many stupid decisions with my money over the years, but starting my savings plan in my teens is not one of them.
Now, let’s say there’s a good reason why you can’t start saving today. If this is your situation, then I want you to start saving money on any day that ends in the letter “y”. That leaves you with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each of these is a very fine day to start saving your money.
Whatever else you do, please don’t start saving tomorrow. First of all, tomorrow is promised to no one. Further, it is not a day ending in “y” so it’s not a suitable day on which to start saving. And while I hesitate to state the obvious, I feel that it’s best to articulate the fact that everyone eventually runs out of tomorrow’s. No one ever runs out of today’s – go back to my first point. Today is the very best time to start saving money.
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Weekly Tip: Practice delayed gratification. Wait a day or a week or a month before buying what you want. It gives you a chance to assess if you really want to make the purchase. It also gives the retailer a chance to put the item on sale. This is good because the whatever-it-is-that-you-want will be cheaper if you decide to make the purchase after a prescribed waiting period.