Today I really started to think about saving money. We use a lot of excuses as to why we are unable to save money.

It is not easy if you don’t already have a fabulous income and a small amount of debt, but it is possible.

All you have to do is take a few small steps and you will soon see some rewards.

One of the first things is to stop making excuses and take action. One excuse is ” I deserve to be pampered and have nice things”. Well, we all deserve that but in some cases it is just not possible all the time. What good does it do you to have a latte every day to spoil yourself when you cannot make the car note on time?

Does it really make sense for you to spend all $20 on fast food when you could buy some basic staples to make a lunch for every day of the week?

If you really feel you need to spend money on little indulgences then one of the best things to do is to create a cash account for them. Then whenever you crave that smoothie you go to your little cash box and use the money from that.

If the indulgence box is empty then you do not get an indulgence that day.

I thought the indulgence box was silly and not something that would be easy to do until I actually tried it myself. I started putting all my loose change, except for quarters in a jar at the end of the day. When the jar gets full I take it to my bank and have them count it out. Sometimes I am really surprised by what I get out of the jar. I then take some of that money out and have icecream or other small indulgence.

This goes along with putting away your credit cards and only paying with cash when possible. Some people tell you to cut up your credit cards or freeze them but those are very extreme and may not work for everyone. An easy way to put your credit cards out of action is just to put them in an inconvenient place. That way if something comes up where you REALLY need the card you do not have to dig through trash or put a ‘cardcube’ in the microwave.