Why Saving Money Feels Impossible Right Now (Challenges & Answers)
I am terrible at saving money. I will wait while you reread that sentence…
I am really great at saving money on purchases and cutting back on things to save a few dollars and cents. But what is the most challenging part of saving money for me? It’s seeing a large amount of cash accumulate in an account—an emergency fund, for example.
It Is Easier To Get Money Than To Keep It
I am not proud of this, but it seems like forever; this is how we have lived our lives. We have always believed that it is easier to get money than to keep it. And I am trying desperately to change our mindset on this one. When something comes up, we have always waited until payday and worked it into the budget. If that means that the electric bill needs to wait until the next payday, then so be it.
Please understand that I am a huge advocate of having sinking funds, which I go into full detail here. If our sinking fund is low, empty, or nonexistent, then we wait a few days until payday and go from there.
I am also not talking about saving for retirement. We have that covered, and I plan on treating the other savings goals the same way—I will explain later.
Why Is It So Hard For Me To Save Money?
I have compiled a list of why saving money is so difficult for some people. And while I am writing this, I plan on evaluating myself.
No Idea Where Your Money Is Going
You spend “like you’re in Congress” (Dave Ramsey Reference). Like Arianna Grande says, “I see it. I like it. I want it. I buy it.” Your mentality for stuff is that of a three-year-old, and it doesn’t matter if you have money in the bank. At the end of the weekend, it’s gone, and your account is in the negative. You have no money this week to pay bills or save money.
No Budget
This goes hand in hand with losing track of your money. You have no plan for any of It. You don’t know when the cell phone bill is due. You pay it when they tell you it will be turned off, hoping the payment goes through. We see you are having trouble paying your monthly expenses.
We all know what a budget is, right?
Social Media and FOMO
I can’t talk about why people have difficulty saving money without bringing up social media.
Consider this a public service announcement, and humor me while I get up on a soapbox for a minute.
Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are social platforms for people to express their happiness. They are excited about the new car, a yummy dinner, or a fancy date night, so they want to share.
They want everyone to feel joy when they post themselves sitting on a beach in Maui, posing in front of Rockefeller Plaza in NYC, or drinking a beer at a Luke Bryan concert.
It’s the joy they are sharing.
Life is not ALWAYS LIKE THIS! Please stop comparing your life to others and think you are missing out on something. You need to do you. Do not do them. Done. Let’s move on.
What’s The Point?
What’s the point of saving for something that may never happen? Or saving for when you are old. That’s way too depressing.
Or for like me, why bother when you know there will be another check in a few days? And if there, for some reason, is not another paycheck, we will figure it out then.
Of course, I know the answer. It’s for peace of mind, knowing that you and your family will have food and heat. In case something does happen.
This is where my inner conflict comes from. Do you feel the struggle? I don’t like the idea that there is no safety net. Yet, not enough to plan for it. Maybe it’s because I have never had to deal with the situation before.
My husband was laid off when his company closed its doors in 2002. But we knew it was coming, so we made arrangements. He was able to collect unemployment and also received a nice compensation package, so there were no real hardships until he was hired again four months later.
I need to figure this out. I am struggling.
No Financial Goals
There is no reason to save money when you just want to get through the day and have no goals to work for. Even if you want to go on a beautiful cruise, you would put that on a credit card rather than save money and pay cash.
So saving money for anything is just not important to you. When you can’t save for something small, you can’t be expected to save for something bigger. I have the small stuff. Now, I need to work on that big stuff.
Bad Money Habits Make Saving Seem Impossible
When you have bad money habits, everything seems hard. When you have no budget, no idea what you are spending your money on, and more weeks left than pay, you can’t expect to save money. I would even go as far as to say it’s impossible.
First things first, clean up those bad money habits.
Track your spending, establish a budget, and use a cash-only system (see my blog post on how to do that).
Save Money With A Low Income
There is just no money. You are barely making ends meet. You have cut back on everything you can, and nothing is left. Sometimes, you struggle to eat. How can you save money with a low income? Not to mention trying to pay those student loan payments each month. Who’s idea was college again?
It is not possible to save without money. You can’t save what you don’t have. This is by far the most challenging part of saving money as there is not a “saving” problem; there is a “money” problem. You need to make more money.
Why Am I Not Saving Money?
Because I have not yet devised a system that works for me, I am all about finding solutions that work for me. Most of the time, this is through trial and error. I keep trying and failing. I am not afraid of failure.
I believe I have found the answer to my issue and think it can also work for you.
An online savings account.
How Can A Savings Account Benefit You?
After doing all of the research for this post, I have concluded that I can only save money with a savings account. Here’s how a savings account can benefit you.
It has to be a type of savings account that you cannot easily access.
This is SO ME!
I have savings accounts attached to my checking account at our credit union. It is SO EASY to go online and transfer that money over when I want something. I even have a savings account that is NOT attached to my checking account. But because I am three minutes from the bank, it’s no problem to run through the drive-thru and transfer some money using that little blue slip of paper.
Let me be perfectly honest here. I have a budget and a sinking fund system, and I am SUPER frugal. But I am NOT perfect. I work so very hard to keep everything flowing and together. I have learned that automated bill pay makes my life easier. Let me repeat that.
Automated Bill Pay Makes Life Easier.
Does Everyone Save Money?
I am willing to bet the answer is a hard, fast no. But as of right now, I am. In 4 minutes and 15 seconds, I opened a Capital One 360 Savings Account. This is NOT a sponsored post, nor am I making any money from them.
I did some research and decided that this is the best online account. I can’t get to it quickly, yet I can eat easily enough in an emergency.
This is my emergency fund. I want to have enough in this online savings account in case anything ever happens to us, and we need money; it is there. But just far enough out of reach to not dip in when we want it.
Capital One 360 Savings Account
It was effortless to set up and took six steps—a total of a little over four minutes. I added $100 to it, and once it is in there (it is “pending”), I can set up automation.
It took a few days to finish up the process, as Capital One needs to verify your account. They made two small (I mean really small—pennies) deposits and then withdrew the same amount. I needed to go into the verify tab and record those amounts.
After that, I could transfer my $100 starting amount, which I chose, and set up my automatic deposit every other week.
It was very easy, and I was happy with the process. I look forward to saving.
Other Ideas for Saving Cash
You can even try one saving money challenge to fund your new savings account. There are these games when you start out saving five dollars each week, and each week, you double it. Check out Pinterest. There are LOTS of ideas!
Seriously. Super excited!!
And that, my friends, is the most challenging part of saving money – debunked!
It’s no longer so hard, now is it?