5 Ways to Save Money to Reach Your Goals

We ended up buying our first house before both of our quarter century birthdays for a multitude of reasons (timing, situation, market/economy, etc). But we also lived a lifestyle that enabled us with the means to do so. Also, I had set this goal for myself as a teenager in high school. My junior year English teacher shared with us about how her daughter was getting married and had bought her first house, paying for the whole down payment by herself. After hearing that, I made that my mental goal. Every choice I made, financially, was with this goal in mind - I am saving for a house. In college, it meant not lavishing my dorm room or apartment with decor. As an adult, it meant staying in Friday and Saturday nights instead of going out on the town. That's not to say I didn't enjoy my life or circumstances. I did, perhaps not as much as I could have, but well enough with my goals.

Buzzfeed posted an article earlier this week entitled "17 things Millennials Should Stop Wasting Money On So They Can Buy A House Instead." The article was pretty much just click-bait because it did not deliver what the title implied. So instead, I'm posting a counter article on not just things to buy but ideas to promote for a mindset of saving for big goals, not exclusive to house-buying.

5 Ways to Save Money to Reach Your Goals

1. Make Lemonade.

Literally, make homemade lemonade rather than buying it from the store. It's so easy and probably better for you, even with the sugar it contains. This also represents the bigger picture of making something yourself rather than buying it. Don't know how? Learn! Here's my lemonade recipe, described by one of my friends as "phenomenal" enough for her to miss while leaving the country for a short while :) If you make it yourself, tell me how you like it!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup lemon juice (bottled is fine)
- 7 1/2 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a bottle and shake well to mix.

2. Mind > Eyes

See a beautiful dress in the window while shopping that you just have to have for your next wedding? See an aisle full of snacks on sale at the grocery store? Don't buy it! Let your mind be bigger than your eyes. Don't let your eyes control your spending. You'll thank yourself later once you're able to make that big purchase.

3. Treat Your Savings Account Right

Savings accounts at the bank are meant to do just that - be savings. Don't check your accounts and be fooled at how much you have. If you're saving for a big purchase, the number you see is not the amount of money you can spend.

4. Don't Get Discouraged

One of the biggest shortfalls of saving I hear is a version of "I don't have enough yet....it's going to take forever to get there...forget it, I'm going to get this instead now." Clearly those with this mindset would fail the marshmallow test as an adult. Something is always better than nothing. If your goal is truly your goal, keep going.

5. Eat Out Less

I love cooking, but I wasn't always good at it. I'm still not the greatest cook in the world, but I do it very often. In any given month, we can count the number of times we eat out on one hand. There are always exceptions, but we definitely do not casually eat out. In doing this as a frugality, it has also helped me to realize the privilege it truly is to dine out and be served by waiters and waitresses. It becomes an experience rather than simply a meal, and I'm not talking about going to the fancy Michelin star restaurants either. Going to any restaurant that involves wait staff can become an experience when valued. Food, in my opinion, is the easiest way to save on the budget. It's the perspective to do the cooking yourself that is hard to reach.

What I've shared here are ways that I personally have done to achieve my goal of buying a house early in life. Obviously, if you don't have a savings goal in mind, you probably won't view your money in the same way, and that's fine. If you have the luxury of being able to spend freely without thinking of a major purchase in your future, that's great.

Hopefully, if you are looking to make a major purchase, you found this much more helpful than the Buzzfeed article. I'm always advocating for friends as neighbors in our lovely neighborhood (that is SO difficult to get into because everyone who's in stays...)

Happy Saving!