When i landed my first real job after college i thought that i would be on the
fast track to living a financially successful life given that it was making
more money than i ever had before my options for buying things i could never
previously afford were endless however despite earning a lucrative salary i
still managed to outspend myself which got me into a ton of financial issues i
ended up becoming too stressed with my financial position that i would often
find myself up at night worrying that creditors would start calling me asking
me for money and at this point i knew i needed to make a change i needed to
start saving money in this video i'll be sharing with you five ways i tricked
myself into saving a ton of money and if you're new to the channel then hit the
subscribe button below for more life-changing content trick number one
reorganizing my wallet in adult hindsight i can trace the beginning of
my financial woes to the state of my wallet before getting a job i'd never
bothered to optimize my wallet because well why would i to me it was just a
wallet i didn't understand what benefits i would attract by systemizing a wallet
it turns out this mindset was my biggest financial mistake i came to learn that a
cluttered wallet was one of the drivers causing my overspending and the
accumulation of debt how you may ask the thing is when you're not deliberate
about the contents of your wallet you risk carrying around excess credit cards
that you don't actually need this clears a way for making impulse purchases all
of which add up at the end of the month and leave you with a huge credit card
balance for instance the first step i took was to downsize to a smaller wallet
size instead of walking around with five credit cards my minimalistic wallet only
had space for a maximum of three cards out of these i only reserved one slot
for a credit card and this was the one with the highest rewards by paying off
and getting rid of some of my other credit cards i also got rid of the
interests and credit card fees that came with using them next i reviewed my
monthly expenses and decided that my credit card would only handle fixed
costs i then replace the rest of the credit cards with a 50 bill to cater to
my everyday purchases so if i happen to deplete this build before my day ends i
had to carry over the remaining purchases to the next day secondly i
initiated the habit of cleaning out my wallet at the end of every week this
exercise involved taking out all the receipts plus other acquired coupon
cards and business cards that had no immediate use not only did this keep my
wallet lighter and more spacious but it also gave me a chance to keep an eye on
my weekly expenses while analyzing my receipts i could also identify and
follow up on inflated charges and recover a few bucks as a result trick
number two tracking my emotions the second trick that worked magic on my
finances was getting my emotions under control more than anything our emotions
are the strongest undertow that fuels most of our purchases most people spend
on different things either to distract themselves from negative feelings or to
boost positive feelings what's worse is that despite spending money these
emotions may only disappear for a fleeting moment then resurface again
after the distraction disappears whether it's anger guilt fear or
excitement emotional spending will cause a big dent in your budget why is this so
the thing is letting your emotions control your financial decisions will
only make you fork out money on unnecessary things for instance have you
ever gone out for a drink because you felt bored or made ridiculous financial
promises to other people when you were excited eventually you end up wasting a
couple bucks simply because you let your emotions reign supreme moreover
uncontrolled emotional spending could morph into a severe shopping addiction
you'll find yourself spending beyond what you can afford simply because you
crave the endorphin rush that accompanies each purchase so how can you
subdue emotional spending the first step to take is to master delayed
gratification also known as impulse control delayed gratification is a
resistance to unplanned expenses before buying anything ask yourself whether
your emotions may be driving that impulse is it a necessary expense or are
you just sad lonely or overly excited can it wait once you learn how to
postpone your wants impulse buying will cease to be a problem secondly setting
up a celebratory fund is another trick that will help you curb the effects of
emotional spending while it's true that everyone loves an occasional treat it
doesn't have to be impulsive a celebratory fund is where you save a few
hundred dollars that you spend on yourself this way if you feel the need
to congratulate yourself for securing a promotion you won't have to tamper with
your budget or borrow money to do so trick number three pushing pause in line
with emotional spending i discovered a concept known as the push pause method
the idea behind it is to breathe first and buy later especially when it comes
to big purchases notice that most advertisers know how to ignite a buying
impulse in their target customers you could just be chilling in your yard
scrolling through social media then you spot an average offering a 50 discount
for a flat screen tv of course this sounds too good to be true even if
you've never set your eyes on a tv your immediate instinct will be to grab the
insane offer while it lasts out of excitement and fear missing out of
course you may end up spending thousands of dollars on something that'll be
useless down the road frankly most of us have fallen into a similar trap
including me to avoid wasting money on such unplanned big purchases i started
applying the push pause method whenever i thought of buying something worth more
than a hundred dollars i would place a seven day time span between me and the
item in question during this period i would completely shift my focus from the
product's superficial appeal to the inherent benefit i would attain from
buying it i found that distancing myself from the object allowed me to think more
clearly and avoid rash financial decisions once the seven days elapsed i
often found it wasn't as necessary as i originally thought it was if you're also
losing money by purchasing expensive useless stuff the push pause method will
help you save a ton of cash here's the rule when faced with a big purchase
don't add anything to the cart while you're under pressure instead allow
yourself a grace period of 7 days during this period venture into the abyss of
the internet to unearth as much information as you can about the item
you intend to purchase compare prices look at reviews and make sure you learn
its longevity based on those reviews chances are you'll discover a few dents
being hidden within the insanely cheap price tag you may also find that the
product has some more affordable alternatives that serve the exact same
purpose additionally you should use the seven day gap to assess the flexibility
of your budget can you afford a big purchase without falling into debt will
the purchase impede your short-term and long-term financial goals if the answer
to these questions is yes that should serve as a big glaring red light before
we continue many of you have been asking me what's the best way to make extra
money online and if you want to learn how myself and many of my students are
making thousands of extra dollars per month you can learn more using the link
i've left in this video's description and pin comment where you'll find a
special offer that i'll be ending very shortly trick number four using savings
goals and reminders speaking of long-term and short-term goals you can't
save a significant amount if you don't set them the moment i set my mind on
saving money i realized that doing it without a plan would be a long shot
therefore i assorted my financial goals and ensured that they fell under two
broad categories long-term and short-term goals the short-term goals
were those i intended to strike off in under a year while the long-term goals
were those that i wanted to achieve beyond the period of a year an excellent
example of a long-term goal is saving for a down payment unless you earn a
very lucrative salary and have limited financial responsibilities it will take
you more than a year to save for a down payment on the other hand short term
goals can include things like minor home repairs buying a friend a gift or a mini
vacation separating my goals in this manner gave me some context to my
savings habits depending on the time window and the urgency i could easily
allot an amount to each goal once i had a list of my savings goals i said
different reminders that would bring me back on the wagon whenever i started
losing focus specifically i made sure my reminders would beep around my pay dates
this way saving money evolved into a no-brainer for instance i had sticky
notes on my desktop plus more reminders on all my electronic devices moreover if
you have someone you can trust for example a spouse you can make them your
accountability partner however the ultimate reminder is to automate your
savings so that you don't even have to think about them and this brings me to
my final point trick number five setting up automated
savings from my paycheck to fulfill my short-term and long-term goals i
resorted to an automated savings system this type of saving plan gave my
employer authority to release a specific fraction of my monthly paycheck directly
into my savings account on the fifth day of every month 500 would automatically
flow into my savings fund without me having to even think about it and the
ensuing benefits were immense for one paying myself first ensured that i
didn't divert the money i intended to save to cater to other things since my
checking account was the final stop i had to readjust my budget to make up for
the money i was saving this compensated for my wavering financial discipline and
as a result my savings ballooned tremendously over one year secondly
automating my savings made it easier to track my savings progress with the help
of savings apps and other online financial tools i could compare where i
was to where i wanted to be i knew when i needed to pull up my socks to achieve
my financial goals this way it became easier to plan execute and analyze my
dreams actually you can automate your savings and track them in a simple excel
spreadsheet if you're interested in setting up an automated saving account
start by inquiring if your employer offers a tax-free retirement plan such
as a 401k if they do saving towards retirement is the best decision you can
make for your financial future depending on what you can afford arrange for your
employer to make recurrent deposits of a specific percentage of your salary to
your recurrent fund given that some employers match their employees
retirement contributions this is a golden chance to save money you can also
automate your savings for whatever goal you have it could be a down payment for
a mortgage emergency fund or your children's college education there you
have it those are the five ways i tricked myself into saving a ton of
money hey it looks like youtube thinks this next video is the one that will
change your financial life forever give it a watch and let's see if they're
right