5 Reason We Fail to Save Money

There's a lot of reasons why some people fail to save money but we are not going to discuss all of them as that is a never ending topic. We're going to tackle 5 reasons why some people fail on saving money. I hope this list helps you reflect on where you spend your money on and cut back on those unnecessary expenses and start growing your savings account.

Why we fail...

1. Spending is used as a stress reliever. Similar to spending or overspending of our time on social media, some people tend to overspend in shopping because it brings them pleasure thus releasing some of the so-called feel-good hormones such as dopamine. You probably heard the term called "retail therapy". It is the practice of shopping in order to make oneself feel cheerful. Now, shopping in itself is okay. The problem begins when shopping is used to relieve stress on a regular basis thus resulting in overspending. And because you use your plastic card shopping, you tend to forget that you are using somebody else's money and not yours and only realising that when you receive your credit card statement at the end of the month.

2. Buying products to please other people aka friends. We all have friends. Some of us may have more friends than others and that's okay. Some of us may have friends that may be living a luxurious lifestyle simply because they can afford it and again that's okay. If you have friends that can afford a lot of things that you can't that's actually great, it means you'll never have to shout them. The problem arises when we try to keep up with these friends. If they're not the Kardashians, then don’t worry about keeping up with them because you won’t get to promote yourself on a reality TV anyway. What I'm saying is, these rich friends probably know your situation and still, they hang out with you which means they like your company not what you can or cannot afford. All you have to do is keep it real and keep the friendship real. Who knows, you might learn a secret or two from them and you'll end up having the same luxurious life?

3.Helping family. A lot of us have experienced this. We lend money to a family member in times of crises, we pay for our younger sister’s lunch and movie ticket when we go out, we sometimes lend money to our brother or parents so they can go on holiday etc. There is nothing wrong helping a family out, in fact, I encourage it. The problem with helping a family member is most of the time we’re not helping them. If you read my examples again, notice that the first says helping your family in times of crises. What’s wrong with this? If that family member doesn’t have the financial means to support himself or herself in times of crises, doesn’t it mean that he or she doesn’t manage his or her finances well? Well, you may say that your brother quit his job. Then why did he quit his job if he can’t support himself? Sometimes, people do things like this because they have gotten used to relying on others and they know that if they quit their jobs for petty reasons or spend all their pay each week, they will always have you or your parents who can and will pay for their expenses. The second scenario is paying for your younger siblings. Now I pay for my younger sibling’s expenses but this was when she was still in school and not working but once she started working, I gradually stopped paying for her expenses and you know why I did? So young as she is, she’ll learn how to manage her finances and guess what, she did. But if I didn’t stop, she’ll end up like our first example, making drastic decisions and wasting money because her older sister would pay for her dues. And finally, the family member who needs money for holidays or maybe to have a big birthday celebration. Can you see the obvious problem here? They want to spend on something that they can’t afford. If you lend them money, they will continue living beyond their means because you will always “help” them. I got bad news for you, you’re not helping them to learn to say no. Of course, if the crisis is a big medical bill because of a serious illness or something that is really a matter of life death and not just so they can show off to other people, please help your family member. Show kindness whenever you possibly can.

4. Bad luck. Did you ever experience having saved $500 for example, you’re so happy cause you have finally started saving and then you get a letter saying your car is due for service? Or you need to renew your licence or you were issued a $200 parking fine? I have and thought what an unlucky day. So my $500 will become $200 and now it seems too small to qualify as savings so I’ll just go buy a bag or eat out. This was my constant problem until I realised I kept on thinking that every time I’m able to save a small amount, I have to pay something. I didn’t know the “Law of Attraction’ then but I did know that with all the other aspects of my life, what I want I get. So I thought very hard and by observing my self, by the way, I like observing people, I realised that when it comes to my finances I’m not as confident and optimistic that I’ll get there. I remembered what my friends and I used to always say every time we were preparing for our accounting exams, “What you believe, you achieve. What you imagine, you become.” And from there, my situation and the way I think about money changed. I was able to save for my small and big goals.

5. I don't know how to or where to start. Oftentimes, people say they would like to save money but they don’t know where to start. This could be due to a number of things like having a student debt, car loans or mortgages, credit card bills, having a lot of expenses to pay in general or it could be because of the things and scenarios mentioned above. The answer to that is, all you have to do is start.

How you will succeed…

I will give you a number of tips and ways to save money and the exact steps that I follow to save money. I will share with you where I started cause I too was a little bit lost. However, remember that each of us is different. What works for me may not work for you but to really help you, I will also go through some of the ways to reduce expenses and save money that worked for the people I know that have also been advised in some of the books that I’ve read on my next post.

Takeaway: Start thinking of the reasons you fail to save money and make a list of your reasons. It will help you find out where you should start working on.