Special Cloth Alert

When it comes to saving often times we dive into it saying ' I'm saving everything.' Realistically you cannot save every dollar that you earn. Why? Because there are variables that come with into place that require you to spend some of your income. Food, Rent, Utilities, and Car notes etc. these are things that no matter how bad you want to save all of you income, prevents you from doing so. Now, let's say you've followed my 12 steps to frugal budget planning and now you're correctly saying ' I'm saving ALL that's left.' While I too have fallen cripple to this misunderstood way of thinking I now know that this is not the right way to do things. You're probably saying ' Fredrea how will I ever be rich if I don't save all my money?' Well saved money doesn't create wealth for starters, but that's another topic, basically what I'm saving is - SPEND A LITTLE.

That’s right this frugal-ista just told you to spend NOT all but some of it.

If you're new to the saving pool, saving $4.63 (my first savings deposit) seems like a major mile stone and not spending seems as possible as finding someone more inspirational than DJ Khaled. We tend to find all the reasons why we HAVE to save. While all of these reasons maybe valid points your motivation to save is all wrong. Motivation based on a fear of temporary punishment is called Restrictive motivation." I have to save, because if I don't I won't have money for my bills." Sometimes we take the punishment for not saving to an even higher punishment that is permanent " I have to save or else my landlord will put me out." Both of these types of motivation are necessary in many different scenario- Saving is not one of them.

When you make a choice to save it should not be based on a punishment, but a reward. Constructive motivation is a reward based system that says “I want to save because I want to have a secure future." Or in regards to my favorite thing to do “I want to save because I want to be able to go shopping again." We all have different reasons for turning our lifestyle habits around it's you're system and you create the reward.

Each month when you're calculating your monthly saving take 10% and say ' Special Cloth Alert!" Go out and purchase whatever it is that you feel is a rewarding for YOU. If you've been following my blog long enough you'll know that for me my reward is the cute dress in Nordstrom eyeing me down every time I go to work. For my mom it's probably some fancy kale salad with almond and cranberries that exceeds her lunch budget. Two completely different things that provide the same feeling of confidence and accomplishment to each of us. Engaging in a special cloth alert will be what pushes you to next month’s saving goals, and the next month and the next month and th- you get the picture.