Saving money doesn’t have to be super difficult; it just requires a little bit of self-awareness and a quick look at your finances.
I have gotten a ton of questions/comments from people about how they wish that they could save more money, either to shore up their finances or to be able to afford something that they really want, like a trip or a new computer. The way that I always explain it is that you want to figure out how to maximize the enjoyment that you get out of each dollar that you spend. This means that you’ll have to understand what you really enjoy, what is sort of “meh” to you, and what you really dislike, and then cut your spending to the latter two categories.
Once you have this list, you can figure out how to better allocate your spending so that your money is going to the things that you love, rather than the things that you don’t. For instance, if you are a huge foodie but you don’t care too much about the gym that you go to, get a Planet Fitness membership instead of Equinox. I personally am the opposite; I have approximately 3 taste buds, and they all love beef, so I usually get “The Burger” at every restaurant that I go to (the most standard hamburger that they offer, no BS that’s going to cost me extra), with a side of fries and a tall glass of ice water because if I want a beer, I’d rather get one for $2 from the store instead of $9 from the restaurant. This may not sound like it adds up, but when you go out for dinner once a week, that $15 or so that I save comes out to almost $800/year. I also make my coffee at home instead of going to Starbucks, which saves me another $1,300/year or so. I can then take that $2,100 and blow on new workout equipment for my home gym.
So how do you know what you’re spending your money on?
Chances are, you already know at least a few of the things that you should cut your spending on. It might your daily “coffee and a sandwich” stop, it might be the random stuff that you buy on Amazon but don’t really need, or it might be the Stitch-fix membership that is filling your closet with clothes that you really want to love but don’t quite compare to yoga/sweat pants and a hoodie. If you aren’t sure, keep track of all of your spending for a month. If you pay for everything on your credit card, you can check your statement for all of this info. Go through that list and categorize everything based on how you feel about it.
Whether or not you spend money on something also does not have to be a black-and-white answer; if you can find a cheaper alternative to something, that is great too. For instance, I rarely go to Starbucks, but I found that getting the cheapest coffee I could find at the grocery store made me feel a bit dead inside. So what did I do? I started switching up the coffee that I buy so that I can still feel like I’m treating myself. I buy big bags of Black Rifle coffee that I use during the week because I want to have a higher quality coffee, but I usually don’t have the time to savor my weekday coffee. For the weekends, I buy specialty coffees like Drive coffee and try different blends because I tend to have more time to savor and appreciate the taste. I also get whole beans when I buy the specialty coffees and grind them by hand so that I get the full experience of the coffee (as well as getting some forearm work in because the grind never stops *pun absolutely intended*). Is it a bit more expensive than buying Maxwell House? Absolutely. But 75¢ per day is a heck of a lot cheaper than $5 per day.
My point isn’t that you should obsessively track your spending; you just want to be aware of it so that you can prioritize the things that you love the most. Once you get some practice at this, it becomes a lot easier to do, and you can quickly figure out whether or not you should buy something.
Seaotter Fitness 