How to Save Money

For as long as I can remember, money has always been something I strived to control. Growing up in NYC with such a large family, funds were often limited. If you wanted something outside of the prescribed necessities, you were out of luck. Unless you learned how to save and build what you were given.

I remember clearly how I would wait to spend any and all money that came my way, until I found something I truly wanted. It was hard and sometimes not worth it, but I knew it was the only way.

As I grew up and moved out and the bills begin to take away all of my earnings, I constantly floundered to find a way to build a nest egg. It didn't matter what I did however, I always seemed to have a reason to use it. The more I put away the faster emergency trips, doctor appointments, credit card bills and more seemed to come knocking at my door. I couldn't keep up and the most frustrating thing of all was the amount of useless articles out there concerning debt, bill payments and savings.

I found that articles focused purely on the millennials that were working at a job that paid 50k a year, who were single, and who had no other responsibilities but themselves. I was frustrated and more times than not I gave up. I didn't fall into that category of millennial and neither did most of the other millennials I knew. How was I supposed to do this? Most jobs weren't willing to pay over 40k (and this is in NYC where the cost of living is astronomical) and if they were, not only did you have to have at least your Bachelor's Degree, you also had to have experience. I wasn't single, in fact, I also had a daughter that relied on the same money I did to provide her with. My responsibilities seemed endless, not just because of the little family I had, but also because of school.

Saving wasn't going to happen anytime soon in my early twenties and in fact, I didn't start saving consistently until I turned 28. That was a year ago. What changed? I still had no degree, as a matter of fact, I am still attending school, my job still doesn't pay me 50k and I'm still not single and still have a daughter to take care of. So how did I do it and most importantly how can you?

One of the things that I noticed as consistent advice, was to lower your expenses. Have cable? Get rid of that and rely solely on Netflix and Amazon. Eating out for lunch, breakfast and dinner? Stop doing that, buy your own groceries and start making your food at home. Hanging with friends? Find cheap, inexpensive things to do that doesn't cost extra money. Cell phone? Switch carriers so your bill is cheaper. And my favorite, Your rent is too high? Move to a smaller and cheaper space, better yet, find roommates... sound advice for those who needed to do this or even could.

What do I mean? I didn't have cable and didn't have it for close to ten years. I shopped at grocery stores, but also found that supermarkets aren't as economical as they used to be. Sometimes, eating out WAS the better choice. Didn't really hang out with friends as is, due to us all working non-stop to pay the bills. And while my cell phone carrier wasn't the cheapest it wasn't the highest either and even though cheaper carriers were getting better, they were also known for spotty coverage and often threw hidden fees and overage charges at you. For me that was a big no. I needed consistency and didn't want to constantly worry that my bill would be different. Rent. Man oh man, rent. Remember that daughter I mentioned? Yeah, that meant living in a space smaller than a one bedroom was out. Having roommates, was out and living in "cheaper" areas was out too. To be clear, when I say cheaper, you are still going to be paying for a market apartment 1500 or more, unless you have roommates. So, that advice to me was a joke.

So I stopped paying attention to their advice because it was getting me nowhere. I sat down one day and had a big cry about the uselessness and unrealistic realities of my life. How were you supposed to help yourself accomplish anything if there just wasn't enough money?

So here's my advice:

1) Cry

Relieve some of that stress and pressure you are feeling and just cry. Will it make more money appear? Of course not, but it will help you to get over that hump of feeling like there is nothing else to do. Once you cry, you can get your action plan together.

2) Check your bank account daily.

I did this for a month and what I found was that every so often I would have a few dollars here and there left over before my next paycheck was deposited. It wasn't a lot, but it was something to get started with. I let that stay in my checking account until I had a few hundred left over after every payday. It was great and I gotta tell you, it felt like a small miracle. Get into the habit of tracking your daily expenses. When I did it monthly, I lost track far too easily and wound up spending far more than necessary. I found by checking everyday, I stopped spending as often because I didn't want to see new charges.

3) Open a savings account with a monthly limit.

I opened a savings account with a $1,000 monthly deposit limit. Which meant, I was not allowed to put more than that into it a month. You may be wondering why I did this. There are many reasons why, but the biggest one was because I needed a goal. The goal was to be able to reach that limit every month and once I did and I could comfortably put that much away and then some, I opened a regular savings as well.

4) Stop worrying about being behind and use all of those saving challenges to get you going.

Everyone starts somewhere. As soon as you realize that it will take some time to save; you will be fine. I had gotten so used to seeing large numbers that I was supposed to have saved already that it became discouraging. What's the point of putting a dollar away every week, if in the end I still have less than 20k? The point darlings, is to start. I did the 52 week money challenge, but instead of doing it for 52 weeks, I did it for 20. After I did one, I would look for more aggressive challenged that would help me reach higher and higher limits.

5) My Last and Biggest Tip

Decide how much you want to save after you save your first thousand. That's the hardest part. Saving your first thousand, but after you do, give yourself a number. I suggest five thousand. Then divide that by how long you want to take to do it. Say, I wanted to save that much in two years. So I would divide 4,000 (because you already saved a thousand) by 24 months. That would mean, I would put a minimum of $167 away a month, $83.50 every two weeks and $41.75 a week. Break your big goals into smaller ones. Trust me, it makes it easier to continue to save, when you are able to meet your goals.

These are just a few things I did to help save. I haven't reached my ultimate goal of 20k yet, but I am so much closer today, then I was yesterday. And really, that is all that matters.