Saving Money Is Easy

NOT!

I was excited to see a frugal blog called “How to Save Money the Easy Way”.  Clearly, these people knew something I didn’t. So I clicked on it, and….I was re-directed to a page that said “This blog has been removed”.  Rats!

I’m gonna tell ya’, I have a reputation for being a good saver.  But I don’t think it’s easy at all.  So if you have a hard time with it, I completely understand. You have a hard time because it is HARD!

It’s true that saving can sort of become a routine thing, but it’s all those “un” routine occurrences that blow the budget.  For instance, this week I sliced my thumb open while chopping carrots (stupid carrots!).  2 hours, a tetanus shot, and a glued-back-together thumb later, I was out $120.  And, yes, I do have health insurance.

So, of course I had the money to cover this unexpected expense but that was $120 that was out the window all because of a little carlessness on my part (I think that is what is known as a “stupid tax”).  The good part was that the vegetables escaped the blood bath, and I was able to use them in a smoothy a couple of days later.  That was one expensive smoothy. Also, it tasted of Tragedy.

It comes down to this: spend less than you make.  It doesn’t matter if you make $10,000 per year or $100,000 per year.  That’s what you have to do.

You notice I didn’t say “It’s as simple as that,” though that’s pretty much the truth. It’s hard to do no matter how much (or little) you make.  If it were easy, we’d all be doing it, right? We’d all have comfy, fat bank balances. (Oh and we’d all be skinny thanks to all those wonderful diet books out there!).

There are lots of good tips and tricks out there to get you started, if you need a place to start.  But the problem is that we are all indviduals.  What works for me may not work for you.  For instance: I have no childern, love books, hate pork and beef, have an unFrugal spouse, like to visit my family in California quite frequently, and I’m not too handy with a sharp knife.  The Latte Factor does not help me at all because I never go to Starbucks.  Those things right there greatly affect my ability/inability to save.

So if you want to get serious about saving, the first important step is to take stock of YOU! Serious saving often entails a bit (or even a lot) of sacrifice.  Only you know what you can sacrifice. (I’m NOT giving up my books or my unFrugal spouse!).

This is Brain work, and maybe involves a pencil and paper, too.  It means you have to look at your expenses vis a vis your income, and come to some conclusions.  It means you have to have goals - those things you want to do with your money.  It means you have to have a plan - a way to reach your goals.  Brain work is the hardest work of all, but if you want to save, it has to be done.

The good news is that once it’s done, it’s done.  Yes, your conclusions will require some fine-tuning here and there, but if you’ve done a good job initially, this is pretty easy.  Which is a good thing for me, because if I can choose, I’d almost always choose Lazy.