Good morning Loves. Well it’s the end of the first month in 2015 and you know what that means…time to check in on all the goals I set just 30 days ago. My two major goals this year are to start saving money and lose 30 pounds. Remember that?
My 2015 savings goal
I want to save at least $7000 this year and I mean really save. I don’t want to put money in my savings account and then take it out whenever I “need” (I’m using that term lightly) to buy something. I want to put money in my savings account every month and have it still all be there in December. How does that sound? It sounds pretty good to me.
I love it when people ask me why I don’t have savings, they’re like “But you don’t have debt?” That is true but I still spend money and can’t save a dollar if my life depended on it. There is always a bill to pay or always something to buy for the apartment or food to order. I could rationalize eating out several different ways and yes I know this is a waste of money.
Why I’m choosing to save money this year
Every single January I grab a pen and paper and write out my finances for the year. Of course they are never the same at the end of the year in December as they were at the beginning of the year in January, but it’s the thought that counts. Every single year I set financial goals to save more, pay off debt and take a lovely vacation or two. This year I’ve also added in the goal of buying pretty things for our new apartment. So what’s the big deal? Well I’m going to do all those things without using my credit card. Why? Because I’ve been in debt and I definitely don’t want to go back.
In my 20s I was over $50k in debt and by my early 30s I was out of it. No it didn’t happen overnight but it did eventually happen. It’s really easy to get into debt and it takes much more time to get out of it. Those were very difficult years for me because I’m the type of person who wants everything done like yesterday. I just wanted to snap my fingers or open my eyes and have all my statements show a $0 balance, but that’s not how debt works.
My savings in January
I’m proud to say this month I’ve successfully saved $1000. That definitely puts me on the right track towards saving at least $7000 by January. How did I do it? To be honest it wasn’t that hard. There’s really nothing to do up here in the cold Northeast during the winter so I nowhere to go and nothing to spend money on.
I could have spent the money shopping but I consciously made an effort to avoid the shopping malls and all their after holiday sales. I ended up spending only $41 on three new pairs of pyjamas, they were already on sale plus an additional 30% off so how could I resist.
I feel like $40 is not so bad, trust me the damage could have been a lot worse. I controlled my spending this month and it directly helped me save more. That’s a win-win in my books.
Photo from I’dPinThat
