Save Those Coins

I consider myself to be a pretty good saver. I started earning my own money when I was about 9 because my mom owned a salon and she would give me little jobs to do. Each job had a corresponding pay rate and at the end of the week I would tally all of the jobs I did  and my mom would pay me. I loved the feeling of having my own money. I liked planning how to spend it too! Clothes, ice cream and books were my treasures of choice. My mom let me enjoy it for a while but then she hit me with her one of her philosophies about money (there would be many more after that), “buy what you need before you get what you want.” So for me that meant vocabulary books before clothes, lunch before slap bracelets and science project materials before movie tickets.

Needless to say, because of her I have always been pretty responsible with money. “Always pay your bills on time,” “if you have good credit you can have anything you need,” “never lend money you can’t afford to lose” … all good advice. Everything I learned about organizing my money, balancing my finances and generally being responsible I learned from my mom. She gave me a credit card when I was 17 and I was in charge of paying the bill. If the balance was $60 or if it was $360 I had to pay the whole thing at the end of the month. That was the deal.

There was one thing my mom was not quiet specific about – saving. She told me to save but she never really told me how. I knew it was important but the two buckets I deemed important were “need” and “want.” Saving could wait! Well that’s pretty much how it went for a long time. I knew how to save up for something I wanted but I didn’t know how to save for the sake of saving…. for a rainy day. As I got older, I realized how important it was to save diligently and developed that skill.

The method that works for me is what I like to call the “set it and forget it” method or automatic savings. Indicate how much money you want transferred to savings and, presto, done! I set a fixed schedule that I don’t have to think about – it’s a passive savings method and it works for me.  Financial guru Suze Orman said to “pay yourself first” so I started to focus on my savings about 15 years ago. I still use my “set it and forget it” a approach today and recently I came across a new app called DIGIT.
I love DIGIT because it takes a little bit of money out of my checking every few days. Money that I would otherwise spend on that cab when I was feeling lazy, or lunch when I didn’t feel like eating the lunch I brought from home. I don’t consider Digit my primary saving account, I have other savings accounts, but I opened DIGIT so I could push myself to putting a little more away. Basically, DIGIT sneaks money out of your account for saving.

I opened the account in January and I am shocked at how much I’ve put away. I love that they text you your balance and you can simply text them if you want to save more, withdraw or stop saving temporarily. They even send you gifs (well played DIGIT). I am excited to add this to my savings plan.  After the first 20 days of using the app, I had about $200 in my account without even trying. I felt like I had tricked myself into saving more money.

It’s important to note that this is NOT a paid post… (though they do give $5 for each person I refer cha-ching!) I just truly love the app!

So if you are new to saving or a saving pro, DIGIT is a great tool to help you save just a little bit more!  Welp, that was my two cents! Set a goal and start saving (for that trip, those shoes you have been eyeing).
Get that money y’all!

 

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