Use these five easy money hacks to trick your bank account into saving more money fast
Everyone wants more money and less debt, right? But sometimes it seems everything is lining up against you trying to manage your money.
Whether it’s emergency expenses or just plain temptation, your bank account just doesn’t seem to budge no matter how hard you try. That means sometimes you have to trick your savings into growing!
By the end of this video, you’ll have five money hacks from saving to making more green.
Don’t forget to get those free videos and your chance to ask Belinda all your money questions. Reserve your spot on the webinar here.
Why Keeping a List of Money Hacks is an Advantage
It’s important to keep your spending habits on track and consistently add your savings if you want to achieve your financial goals. If you have consistently growing savings, it will continuously add up and you’ll eventually be able to pay off all your debt, finance for a car, get a house, build your portfolio, and more financial goals that you want to reach.
Most of us may have limited resources and that’s fine, that should never be an excuse to attaining your money goals. To meet our goals, we should have smart spending habits and wise allocation of our money, having a strict budget for each. The smarter we use our resources, the faster we are to reaching our goals.
That’s why having money hacks come into play can be pretty useful. They help you accomplish what you have started and succeed financially into the future. Whether you’re working to save up for your kid’s college education or for your retirement age, it’s a great idea to save money in order to live fully with ease and financially free. If you think saving $50,000 is impossible, the key is to know that it’s all about starting. Once you have started, be at ease and stay consistent. Anything can happen now and having savings is a great support for tough, trying times. To help you get started, consider the following helpful hacks to guide you through your financial journey.
How to Trick Savings into Growing
We cover a lot of savings tips and ways to make more money on the blog but sometimes it just seems like nothing works. You hit a snag, your budget falls apart and your savings account is in the red…again.
So I teamed up with Belinda Rosenblum, Certified Public Accountant and money coach to put together five easy ways to trick your money into going farther.
Not only is Belinda a CPA, she’s also on the Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Speakers Bureau for the Department of Financial Education. She’s helped hundreds of people with her financial coaching and, later in the post, I’ll be sharing a free offer for a series of video courses Belinda put together to help you win with money.
Right here though, I’m going to reveal five hacks you can use right now that are literally going to save you thousands of dollars and earn more money.
Setting SMART Goals to Make Saving Easy
First is to begin with a SMART goal.
We all talk about financial goals and everyone wants to pay down debt, but I’m going to show you how to commit to make the goal easy.
You see, when you try to reach some vague goal that isn’t SMART – that’s Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, then it’s just too easy to break out that credit card when something unexpected comes up.
So start with specific, your goal has to be something you’re actually going to do like pay off a specific debt. It can’t be just pay off debt, that’s too broad and hazy.
Your goals need to be measurable, a dollar-figure you can aim for and they have to be attainable and realistic.
My first money mistake was working my ass off in my early 20s. I hated my job. All I could think of was saving up enough for early retirement so I worked two jobs and saved every penny. I was miserable and ended up just burning out every six months, going on a spending spree and setting myself back.
You need to have that balance in your goals as well, they have to be realistic.
Finally, your goals need to be timely – they need to have a start date and a stop date when you’re going to achieve them. Hey, we all work better on a deadline, right? So this is a way of setting a deadline on your goals.
How to Spend Money and Still Save it Also
Our second money hack is going to be learning how to say no…but creatively.
You know, sometimes it feels like you’re the only one struggling with money. So when your friends want to go out for dinner or drinks, you feel compelled to join them and damn the budget.
You don’t have to become a social outsider to save money, you just need to think creatively for low-cost ways to spend time and connect with your friends. Instead of spa days or pricey dinners, try hosting a BYOB wine-tasting at your place, or switch the late-night drinks for afternoon coffee.
How to Trick Your Bank Account to Save Money
The third way to hack your money, and this one is a great way to trick your bank account, is to automate your finances.
When payday rolls around, the last thing you want to do is have your money sitting around in your checking account.
There’s just too much temptation.
You’re not going to miss the money you don’t see though, so set up your account to automatically move money to pay bills and into an investment account. You can set up an account exclusively for bills and have them direct withdrawal out or try an app that separates your money.
This is one Belinda talks about a lot in her financial coaching and those free videos we’ll link to, how to set up these accounts to make saving automatic and as easy as possible.
How to Negotiate More Savings
Our fourth money hack is something nobody does but I guarantee will surprise you and save thousands a year.
When was the last time you actually looked at your cable bill or those car insurance premiums. I’m guessing it’s been a while because, that’s just how much they are, right? That’s how much you have to pay.
The fact is, everything is negotiable, especially in these customer competitive services.
So grab all your bills, all of them. Set up an hour or two on your calendar and start dialing. Make sure to hit your cable company, cell phone, insurance company and any other bill you pay every month. Just come right out and be honest, say you’re looking for ways to decrease your bill and are considering finding another service.
You may not get every bill lowered but this one takes less than a few minutes each and it going to save a lot of money that adds up every month.
How to Make More Money and Save
Our last money hack before we get to those free videos and how to ask your money questions directly to Belinda, is going to be just asking for a raise at work.
We’re so timid when it comes to asking for what we’re worth at work. You wait for that annual increase, then you get it and you’re basically going nowhere after inflation.
Just because your company gives an annual cost-of-living increase doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to a merit-based raise also. Every year, you become a more valuable asset for your company by your experience and what you do on the job.
Put together a list of that extra value you bring, set a specific amount you want and just go for it! Most people are so bad at negotiating, your boss is probably just going to give you whatever you ask if it’s within reason.
So these were overview money hacks you can use but Belinda is putting together a video series that goes into detail on what she tells financial coaching clients.
Reserve your spot to ask Belinda Your Money Questions
She’ll show you how to eliminate stress in your relationships, how to stop burning through your savings. She’s going to share her four-step cash flow system to have what you need when you need it. She’s also going to be doing a live webinar to answer your specific questions and it’s totally free.
Read the Entire Money Hacks Series
- 7 Ways to Save Money [Save $500 a Month EASY!]
- 5 Productivity Hacks to Get More from Your Time
- 20 Money Saving Tips to Save $7,500 a Year
- 6 Budgeting Hacks to Beat Your Savings Goals
- How to Save Money Like the Pros [40 Expert Ideas]