Creating Barriers
I am going to teach you the biggest secret ever in saving money like never before. The trick is to create barriers between your money and yourself. There are several ways to do this. First let me give you an example. When I deliver pizza, I usually walk out with money at the end of every shift. It used to sit in my wallet for a week or two, until I finally found the time to drive to the bank and deposit it. It was always a hassle because I was either working during banking hours or I was too busy doing something else to find the time to run an errand that was in the vicinity of the bank. In the meantime that money burned a hole in my pocket. I would usually blow it on junk I didn’t need or burn it on a night out on the town.
I learned from those mistakes. Now after every shift the first place I stop is at an ATM where my money is promptly deposited. This takes the temptation of spending that money away. I also make it difficult to spend with my credit card by keeping it out of my wallet and stored away in my safe. This makes it so all I have is my debit cards on me at any given time. No credit cards, no cash, no problem. This makes me less liquid and less likely to blow my money on something unless I really think about it. We can do even one better though.
New Tricks
In the present day and age we have wonderful access to better interest rates at large banking establishments such as HSBC and ING. Personally I use HSBC and have never had any issues. Now after I deposit my cash into an ATM, I immediately send that money to my savings account. This makes it difficult for me to access this cash. I budget for what I need and send the excess to my savings. This money usually takes 5 days to reach my HSBC account. If I want to pull money from this account, it takes even longer, sometimes up to a week.
Saving money isn’t about numbers. It’s simply a mind game. You need to trick yourself into spending less and saving more. I drive my friends crazy when I do this. I frequently get phone calls after a busy shift asking me if I want to play a game of cards or hang out at the bar. I always sheepishly reply that I have no money. This gets my friends torqued because they know full well I left work an hour ago flush with cash after a night of deliveries. Granted it may not bode well for my social life but I pick the nights I want to go out and do something well in advance. I don’t let others peer pressure me into spending when I haven’t planned for it. While they sit broke and miserable the rest of the week, I am boosting my emergency savings account and building funds for a house, car, or wedding that I know could possibly be in the future.
I am sure you can think of some extra ways to put distance in between yourself and your hard earned cash. I encourage you to try this method of using barriers on your next payday. You would be surprised how quickly you can build your wealth.
You’re a great writer. That was an interesting post.