6 Tips on How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution to Save Money

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Aside from losing weight, quitting smoking and getting organized, I believe that saving money is also a very popular New Year’s resolution.

“I will start saving money as my New Year’s resolution.”

“My New Year’s resolution is to save money so I can get rid of my credit card debt.”

“Building an emergency fund will be my New Year’s resolution.”

You can say it any way you want, but the challenge remains the same – and that is how do you keep your New Year’s resolution to save money last all throughout the year?

Making that positive and permanent change in your financial life need not be difficult. All it takes is the proper mindset, a healthy amount of discipline and some of these simple tips that will help you save money easier.

Write It Down
Write your New Year’s resolutions down on paper. Writing down your goals on paper increases the likelihood that you’ll accomplish it.

Pay Yourself First
Always pay yourself first. It’s easier to immediately save a portion of your income and spend the rest freely, rather than controlling your spending all month just to have money left in the end for your savings. Try it and you’ll feel less guilty shopping.

Automate Your Saving
Make saving automatic. If you’re an employee, ask your HR department or your bank if they can automatically allot a portion of your salary to a special savings account. I have friends who do this and they attest that it helps a lot specially when you’re building an emergency fund.

Make A Game Out of Saving
Make it fun and simple. How? Just be creative about it. Perhaps you could try keeping a picky piggy bank. My cousin started doing 10-peso coins last summer and when I visited her a few days ago, her piggy bank is already half full with an estimated amount of P8,000.00 – an amount she was able to “effortlessly” save.

Change Your Mindset
People hate saving money because it triggers feelings of self-pity and inadequacy. Change your mindset and believe that saving money is actually an empowering experience. Whenever you save money, congratulate yourself for being smart, disciplined and in control of your finances.

Don’t Quit
Lastly, there may be some days, weeks or even months when you’ll spend recklessly and not be able to save a single centavo. Don’t berate yourself, it does happen. The important thing is you’re aware of what you did and then go back to keeping your resolution as soon as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s only February or if this happens somewhere in August, a New Year’s resolution is something you carry out for the whole year and that’s what you should do.

I hope these tips are able to help you with your New Year’s resolution to start saving money next year. Check out the articles in the Money Saving Tips category to find out more ways on how you can save money.

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Photo courtesy of Daniel Y. Go

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This entry was posted by Fitz Villafuerte on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Money Saving Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. If it's your first time to comment here, they will be held for moderation. Off-topic responses may be deleted.