What is your habit when you are saving your money? Are you the kind of person when your payday comes you had the habit of paying yourself first? Which means you will allocate first a percentage of your salary for savings before paying all all your bills and before you spend for something. Or will you first pay or spend for everything? And then you realize that there is nothing left for your savings which only means that you had this habit of paying yourself last. Which habit do you think you have when it comes to saving money?
I pay myself first. It can be hard at times, and I've been tempted not to, but then I think about long term goals rather than in the moment decisions.
I don't pay myself first and that's probably the reason I don't save a lot of money. When I get my pay check I'll pay all my bills first, buy everything I need for the month and anything else I want then save whatever is left. It's a bad habit I intend change.
It has always been my habit to pay myself first. Saving has always been a part of me because I was introduced to it at such a young age. I had a piggy bank when I was still a kid and every time my mom or my dad would give me some coins, I would immediately shoot them inside my piggy bank. I guess I have brought that attitude with me until I have grown to be an adult.
I'd rather pay for everything first and get that out of the way. I know of many people in my past who did this when getting their checks. I knew one girl who had no bills but her car and phone payments. We both made more than $700 hundred a week at our job, and she struggle to pay those. It didn't even take her full check from one week to pay those bills, she stayed with her parents. I had my own place and many other bills, and I still managed to walk away with more money than her. That's what happens when you pay yourself first and go shopping or whatever and then focus on your bills last. It's called prioritizing.
My thinking on this - is exactly the same as that of hades_leae. As yes - bearing in mind that saving money doesn't have to be a difficult or painful experience at all - particularly as all that is really needed - is to live within your means and manage your money wisely - by buying only what is needed and making cost effective decisions when you do so - the end result of which is - not only long term savings made with ease but as you're not spending money you don't have - it generally avoids having to sacrifice comfort or quality of life in order to do so. My preference is and always has been - to pay the priorities first - a roof over my head as well as the various utilities and food - before saving or buying anything that is actually needed - as to be honest - savings aren't going to help much if you haven't got anywhere to live.
I first meet all my expenses before rating anything. The fact remains that you require alot of discipline to save when there are urgent needs and contingencies in place. The best strategy is to save a certain percentage say, 20% which is generally recommended by financial authorities. Then look for opportunities to make this money grow.
I used to always pay bills first even when I was caught up and ahead, I would still pay the next months bills. I was trying to save money back, $5-10 if possible $20 at a time, but that never worked. These past few months I have pulled money from every paycheck. I try to stick with a minimum of $20 dollars to stash in my home, not the bank or other form of savings accounts, physically in my home. When I am holding cash in my hand I'm less likely to spend it, so I have been putting it all into an envelope and hiding it. Safe to say, I have already saved more in these few months then I have in the past 4 years by paying myself first.
The only way I was able to save money the past years is by paying myself first. If I haven't done that, I would have spent all the money for stuff that I can justify as necessities. I used to do it the other way around but it never worked in spite the growth in my take home pay. My 'needs' always adjusted to the money on hand so I have to trick myself by stashing a fixed portion to a separate account which I never access on a regular basis. I basically follow the saving principles in the book The Richest Man in Babylon.
In this case I'll try balance the payment. I'd to pay myself last as I can easily understand if I end up not having enough saving. I hate being indebted so I will like clear all my debts and other financial involvements. It will be healthier to be out of debt even if the saving is not robust than to have big saving and still wallow in debt.
I always pay first and at the end of the day I realize that I don't have anything to pay myself. I always give priority to pay my bills and buy necessary items for the house. For me living in present is more important than saving for future. If I could earn more, I could have saved, but with my current earning, I can only survive.
I try to leave some money aside for savings but sometimes the bills are too much that I don't have extra left over. Before spending on something other than bills and home essentials I make sure I can save at least a bit to safe especially for emergencies.
I had problems with mismanagement of funds before that's why I always got short on budget. Now I have learn how to manage my finances appropriately so I'll have no problems in the future. What I do is I cut percentage from my income in 4 parts which are savings, emergency fund, tithes and expenses. Not equally though but depending on my needs. This way, I can able to track my finances and prevent myself from overspending since the money I'll spend are limited depending on how much money has been allocated for that specific criteria
