It’s the beginning of a new year, what resolutions did you make for 2018?

If one of your resolutions is for a better financial future, you’ve come to the right place. It might seem daunting to change your spending and saving habits, but it’s worth it to reach your financial goals. You might even be surprised how easy it is!

Start Small

One of the best ways to make a positive change is to look for minor changes you can make in your spending. For example, do you buy a coffee at a coffee shop on your way to work each morning? Consider this: spending $4 on coffee five days a week can add up to $1,040 per year! By making your coffee at home, you’ll automatically have $1,000 to put into savings, and you won’t have to make that extra stop on the way to work.

Take a look at your spending habits and find places where you might be spending too much. Do you take a list to the grocery or do you spontaneously throw things in your cart? Write a list before you go shopping – and stick to it! Are you enrolled in customer reward programs to get coupons and savings at the places you shop the most? Is it time to cut the cable and switch to a streaming service? Evaluate where your money is going and look for small changes that can have a big impact.

Set an Attainable Goal

Experian did a survey in 2017 of 1,000 adults and 48% of those surveyed said they wanted to save more money in 2018, followed by paying off credit cards and creating a budget. To start saving, set a goal for yourself that you know you can stick to each month. For example, start with saving five percent of your pay in 2018, and then look at increasing that number in 2019.

Take a look at how much you earn and how much you would be comfortable with saving each month. What are you saving for? If you don’t have an emergency fund set up, try starting with that. An emergency fund is short-term savings in case a pipe bursts or an appliance goes out. Financial Center’s regular savings is a great tool to help you build your emergency fund. You can even set up automatic and recurring transfers from your checking account.

Have Fun While Saving

While fun and savings don’t usually appear in the same sentence, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it! Instead of thinking of savings as a chore or a burden, think of what you’re saving for, whether that’s an upcoming vacation, a down payment on a house, or retirement. Taking your lunch to work and saving that $10/day on eating out won’t seem so bad when you can visualize the payoff!

Here at Financial Center, we’re having fun with savings with our Save to Win program. Save to Win is a special savings account that gives you chance to win a $5,000 quarterly prize plus monthly cash prizes. Every $25 deposit into this share certificate helps build your savings and gets you another chance to win – up to ten chances every month!

A savings account lays the groundwork for the future and helps you start working towards your financial goals. Are you ready to start saving in 2018? Have a need for individual counseling? If so, contact us today by filling out the form below and we'll be glad to help.