Welcome to Money Monday

Jennifer Constantineau has a simple savings trick to share this week and the reason it works is not complicated. It makes you pause before spending. That pause is where the habit lives and where the money actually gets saved.

How the Rule Works

Choose one amount. Five dollars, ten dollars, or twenty dollars. Make a rule that every time you receive a bill in that denomination you save it instead of spending it. Put it in an envelope. Transfer it to a separate account. Remove it from the pool of money available to disappear on something forgettable.

If you rarely carry cash the digital version works just as well. Every time you are about to make an unnecessary purchase and talk yourself out of it transfer that amount into savings immediately. The twenty dollar impulse buy you just skipped represents twenty dollars that is available right now. If you do not move it somewhere intentional immediately you both know exactly where it is going to end up. Nowhere you can point to later.

The Challenge for This Week

Pick an amount that is noticeable enough to feel like something but realistic enough that you will actually follow through. Create a separate savings account or a physical envelope specifically for this purpose. Follow the rule for seven days to start. Then keep it going for ninety days and see what accumulates.

Even one twenty dollar transfer per week produces two hundred and sixty dollars in ninety days. Maintained for a full year that is more than a thousand dollars sitting in savings that was not there before without a dramatic lifestyle change or a complicated budget overhaul.

The Part That Actually Matters

The rule only works if the money actually stays saved. Moving twenty dollars into savings and then spending an extra thirty dollars somewhere else the same day is not the rule. It is a workaround that feels like progress and produces nothing. The savings has to stay saved or the math does not work and neither does the habit.

What Jennifer Wants to Hear From You

Would the five, ten, or twenty dollar rule work best for you? Tell her in the comments and share this with someone who will try it alongside you. There is something useful about doing a savings challenge with another person because the accountability goes both directions.

Subscribe for a new Money Monday tip every week. Let’s make your money make sense. God bless.

Sources

ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau.gov
NationalFoundationForCreditCounseling.org
Investopedia.com
APA.org
MyMoney.gov