Happy Healthy Families

Mondays are good days. Yea, it's hard to get over the weekend, but it is the start of a new week and a new chance to create a savings goal. Think about saving money this week, and this week only. Keep it short term so it is easier to achieve your goal, so instead of being disillusioned at the end of the week, you will feel inspired and motivated!

So how to go about setting your weekly savings goal?

Just challenge yourself to live as frugally as possible for the next 5 days. You know best where you can cut back, and where you can cut corners. It just takes the motivation and conviction.

Write down how much you normally spend every day and multiply it by 5. Take that amount and reduce it by however much you would like to save instead of spend. Try for as much as you think you can do...challenge yourself. But even if it is $10, that counts as saving. Even $2 is better than nothing. It is even better if you can actually have the amount in cash that you would normally spend in a week, and then take $5, $10, $20--- whatever your savings goal is, and tuck it in an envelope. Then use the rest of the cash for the next 5 days. Period.

Keep your savings goal on your refrigerator where you will see it every morning to help keep you motivated.

On Friday, celebrate achieving your goal by depositing that money you tucked away in an envelope on Monday into your savings account!

Of course the best way to really develop consistent saving habits is to develop a weekly or monthly budget worksheet. Without a budget to follow, you cannot truly get a handle on what you are spending and how much you are saving each month. A budget will also help you track where you can cut back on spending so you can save even more.

Good Luck!