Saving money in the past hasn’t been easy for me as I find myself going back to spend it. Literally, it’s like saving money to save me. It was really cool at first, until the end of the year when I tried to make a review and discovered I didn't have anything. I would then try to think back to how it happened and in the end, I regret it.
This continued to happen every year until the day I became intentional. Saving is very good, in fact, we must build the habit of saving for later.
There are different types of savings: emergency, long-term, and short-term, savings for life goals (holiday, vacation, building a house, buying a car, etc), yield-interest savings (investments) and so on.
I have loved saving since I became intentional, and one thing I do is buy in bulk to last me a few months, and any money that comes in afterwards is saved for the next agenda. I don’t take saving for a joke - once any money comes into my hands, and after taking away my tithes (10%), I save part and use the remaining for expenses.
I actually loved the idea of setting a percentage for my savings, and this I learnt from the book: The Richest Man in Babylon and it has worked for me. I have accounts where I save into; one of them is an automatic savings account which is always deducted from my account at the end of every month.
Some accounts earn you interest when you save, even for short-term goals, i.e, ARM, Opay, Kuda, Moniepoint, etc. I used some of these accounts to benefit from their interest rates which are very high and beneficial.
Buying in bulk has really helped me to save because I don’t need to worry about what to eat or get when I already have them in stock. This makes it easier to save more money. I also save by investing in shares in a recognised company, and so far, I am enjoying my savings there.
I have been using Cowrywise, too, and it has been the safest platform to save my money and withdraw anytime I want. For this, I do not use the locked account, which only allows me to withdraw at a certain period I set, because for this, it’s actually my emergency funds where I could quickly withdraw without delay.
I also do the natural and old-fashioned savings. I came up with this idea late last year, though I have done it before in the past. I decided to take it up again, especially when I have some unused money lying around my room, and the thought of saving even a little was something I came to appreciate last year. I didn’t know I'd save up to such an amount.
This taught me that no matter how little you save consistently, you won’t realise how much you have saved up, which could help solve a problem when you need it the most. Savings has been a habit that I have practised for a few years now, and I understand the importance of savings, so you aren’t stranded when you need money most.
Savings have helped me not to go around begging for money every time because I can easily borrow and pay back once I get it back. Hardly do I go broke because of savings, and one other thing that has helped me is being content. I don’t just go for anything except for something I need. When I need to spend on myself, I do that once in a while and not every time.
Savings to me is paying myself and gathering enough to keep my feet steady.
Image Credit to Gemini
Here is the contest post to participate.
