5 Tips to Help Build a Savings Culture in These Times

A trip through town or even social media can leave your ears filled with complaints about the rising cost of food, gas, gadgets, and even booze. These complaints have become familiar tunes in recent times and conversations about savings have become difficult to have as people are just trying to get by and live through the day without another reminder that the economy is   biting hard.

However, irrespective of the economic times and even more so, saving is an important conversation to have, as having funds saved up can serve as a buffer during difficult financial times. Even escape routes to a better life such as up-skilling or japa plans can be funded by saving. In order to be able to save when funds are lean, it is important to see savings as a culture instead of a one-time activity.

Here are 5 tips that can help you build a savings culture:

• Cut Your Coat According to Your Cloth
• Have a Savings Goal
• Automate Your Savings
• Have a Priority List
• Reward Yourself for Hitting Targets

Cut Your Coat According to Your Cloth

Don't expect to save more than your current earnings allow. Your savings will depend on your earnings, expenditure, and sometimes, dependents. Sit with your income numbers and determine what is feasible to save based on your recurrent income and expenditure. This would very well set you on the path to build a savings culture.

Have a Savings Goal

As cliche as this sounds, it is a good step towards making saving a culture.

What are you saving for?
A new car? 
House rent?
A new laptop? 
A gift for your loved ones?

Have a goal and set a target amount. Don’t just save to save. Save for a goal.

Side gist: you can save for multiple goals on Eyowo with individual savings accounts for each goal. The best part? You get to earn up to 13% on each savings account.

Automate Your Savings

Having a savings plan which you fund manually gives enough room for defaulting. Automate your savings. This gives no room for defaulting. Let the money leave your account on its own, your chest will ache you but your goals will thank you.

Automating deposits to your savings further serves as reinforcement to your mind and spending patterns that savings are important.

Have a Priority List

Instagram vendors and eCommerce sites have made shopping quite easy. That means every time you go on the internet, there is something to spend on and your plan to save can easily fail if you don’t have a priority list.

Every time you want to spend on something, add it to a list and arrange it in order of priority. View your savings as the topmost priority; every other thing is negotiable.

Reward Yourself for Hitting Targets

Building a savings culture is not a sprint, it is a marathon – a journey – and rewarding yourself for hitting targets will go a long way in stimulating you to set higher targets.

Hit your target amount? Reward yourself. You deserve it!