I have been at home for the past three days because of home improvements and repairs. That’s 72 hours being indoors (thankfully with Wi-Fi) and monitoring work being done on our home. I find it interesting how being indoors has actually led to me spending less. It’s as though, the minute I step outside my eyes suddenly gets caught on all kinds of distractions and expenditures, and it those small expenses that can be make the biggest change in your goal. The Barclays Savings Calculator shows you exactly how much you can save from cutting back on those expenses.
But I can’t stay at home forever and neither can you. It’s not the best way to resist the temptation of spending especially when you have set a savings goal. It’s never easy resisting the temptation to spend on unnecessary expenses like sweets, biscuits, chocolates, junk food, an extra-pair of shoes to add to the existing 20 pairs. Or buying another bag accessory because it’s a trend.
As I have started my journey towards travelling within the country with my husband, our savings goal which was on track up until last week Friday run into a hitch. We had an emergency expenditure to make and buy a new battery for the car. That was unavoidable but we still continue on the path taken.
We all have dreams and aspirations which need finances to achieve but the road towards that dream is not always smooth.
Take a few seconds and watch the video below on how to resist temptation to spend.
You are most likely to run into a few hitches along the way towards your savings goal. A difficult hitch could be overcoming the temptation to spend on those unnecessary expenditures.
There will be voices in your head that tell you that whatever you are spending on is ‘okay to spend, after all you have worked hard for it’ and another is ‘that’s a great discount, you should get it before its gone.’ That’s temptation for you.
Here’s what to do to overcome the temptation:
1. Inspire yourself daily
Keep a photo of your dream tucked into your wallet or stick it on a fridge at home, to remind yourself daily. The wallet will be effective so that every time you are about to take money out to spend unnecessarily the photo will remind you.
2. Keep a spending journal
This can either be an app on your phone as well as a hardcopy notebook which is small enough to fit in your pocket or handbag. Instead of waiting till the end of the day to enter details of what you have spent in a day, enter the details as and when you spend. Trust me, your brain can fail you when you need it most to remember activities of the day. For me, I will be using my Expenses app on my iPad to track, it’s much easier for me to sum up everything at the end of the day.
3. Don’t do it alone
Ask your friends and family members to be part of your savings goal journey.
The second video which you must at all cost watch is
· In anything you want to achieve you need to clearly outline your objective. What is your saving objective? Is it for the iPhone7? Or perhaps the Note7?
· Set a date for when you want to achieve your goal. It will give you a visual idea of how to get there.
· State how much you need to save in a month or year to get to your goal. Add this figure to your budget for the month. As you achieve each small saving goal, give yourself a hi-five and congratulate yourself.
All three tips must be put together to work effectively.
This next video can be a cringy experience we all want to avoid; expense tracking. Yayy!! Trust me, once you start it and commit to it you are really on your way to saving more.
Keeping receipts, budgeting and having a Barclays card with you which can make payments and track automatically using bank statements are three guaranteed ways to definitely help you and I save more. It’s crucial to know where your money always is.
What are you doing to save more? Please do share in the comments below.
This article is the forth in a series of sponsored posts for the BARCLAYS SAVINGS CHALLENGE. I hope the challenge has been as interesting for you as it has been for me. You can follow the discussion on Twitter and Facebook and share your own experience by using the hashtag #AFRICASAVES.
Visit https://goo.gl/nPVDLE for useful savings calculators, tips and more information on savings accounts.