Like most Americans, your saving account has probably seen better days! In fact, around 62% of Americans have less than $1,000 dollars in their savings account and 21% don’t even have one!I know, crazy right?!? This post seeks to change that! If you’ve tried to save money in the past but could never quite find ways to stick with it then this post is for you! I’m going to list some ideas that I hope will help you start or increase your savings while barely noticing the missing the money!It’s actually much easier than you think! Trust me! You can do this!

1. A Place to Save Your Money!

The first thing you need to do is setup a place to store your money. The important thing here is, if you struggle with self-control and spending, is setting up a place where it’s more difficult to access your cash immediately!I have never been able to have my savings account at the same bank or linked to my checking account because I spend the money if I do. Instead, I employ different techniques that make accessing my money a touch more difficult.Let me share a couple of ideas that may work for you if you’re unable to keep your savings and checking account together.

1. Use Different Banks! – My checking account and my savings account are stored at two separate banks. While it’s not extremely difficult to run down the road to a different bank to access my savings, it does stop me from being able to easily transfer money from one account to another thus stopping me from topping off my checking account without at least considering what I’m doing as I drive to the bank! If you keep your accounts together, you can transfer money from one to the other almost instantly without even giving yourself time to think about the decision you’re making!
2. A Family Member or Friend! – Another option is to let someone you trust hold on to your savings for you. This is someone you must be willing to be honest with. You’ll need to share your goals, your financial state, etc. that way this person understands what you are trying to accomplish and will help keep you on that goal.  If you simply have someone hold your money but you don’t explain to them what you want to accomplish, they’ll just give you your money without hesitation every time you ask thus defeating the purpose!
3. Exchange Your Cash! – Why does your savings have to be in the form of cash? Instead, consider purchasing stocks, bonds or even commodities like gold or silver. This process will make it a bit harder to spend your savings, however, if something happens and you need cash you can still have cash in hand within 3 business days! I can hear it right now…but what if gold or silver prices drop? You do realize cash is simply cotton paper right? At least gold and silver is something tangible!

2. Save Your Change!

This is an old method and one that you’ve probably done throughout your life at different times, however, it’s still a method that works well. Most of the time, the change we get throughout the day is negligible at best. Instead of spending that change start saving it!It adds up fast! Let me give you an example!If you take a 2 liter soda bottle and fill it with just dimes that you get, when you fill it up you’ll have about $700.00 dollars saved!The important part of saving your change is that once you fill your piggy bank, you don’t want to spend it! Instead you want to deposit it in to your savings account. I know that seems like common sense, but what most of us do is fill up our piggy bank and then decide to go splurge on something for ourselves since we just did a great job saving money!Remember the reason for starting to save your change in the first place! To add new life to your savings without really missing the money your saving!

3. Make Cuts in Spending!

There are only two ways to start saving money if you are living paycheck to paycheck.  The first would be to make more money than you currently are! The second would be to cut your spending!Most people you talk to will tell you that they can’t afford to save, but the truth is they simply can’t discipline themselves to save.In order to truly start saving you must decide that saving money is more important than that large coffee everyday instead of a medium. That instead of going out to eat 4 times a week you go out twice. It takes discipline!I’m sure most people that are living paycheck to paycheck have experienced issues like your car breaking down and having to come up or borrow money from someone to pay for repairs. Use these lessons to remind yourself that saving just a little bit on a consistent basis would put an end to you having to rely on someone else to meet your financial needs when they arise!It’s one of the most freeing feelings in the world!

4. Don’t Keep Your Savings in The Bank!

If you want to help your savings grow, don’t keep it in the bank! Do you know what your bank does with your money once you deposit it? They invest it so that they can make money off your money. That’s how they profit and supply you with the services they offer!Did you know that you can easily invest your savings in stocks for free and that it’s much easier than you think? Don’t like stocks? Then buy some bonds. Don’t like bonds? Buy silver. Don’t like silver? Buy real estate!I think you get my point!Make your money work for you!!! Not someone else!!!Why just let your money sit in a bank where they make money off it when you can use it to invest in things that will only help grow your savings?

5. Make a Goal and Stick to It!

Make a goal! Seriously! How can you expect to stick to saving money if you don’t even have a reason to save money?Maybe after you save your first $1,000 dollars you want to go buy yourself something small for about 50-100 bucks. Maybe after saving $5,000 you want to take $1,000 of that and go on a trip somewhere!Maybe, instead of spending your savings after hitting a goal, you just realize your goal is to save $10,000 dollars that way if something happens in your life you have a good solid 3 months to figure out what needs to happen…Like if you lost your job!The point is to remember that saving money doesn’t have to be a bad thing! There is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for doing a good job or hitting a goal!Creating goals will help you stick to your plans and the chance of you succeeding will increase!

Summary

Saving money doesn’t have to be hard, and the truth is, at the end of the day if you need the money use it!At least by setting up a consistent strategy for saving money every week, bi-weekly or monthly you will learn discipline and it will become habit. That’s what’s most important anyways!Good luck! I believe in you!