Bank It!: Saving Beyond Your Means
Posted on | August 1, 2009 | No Comments
Read the first article in this series here to understand the outcome. As a synopsis: I am experimenting by setting a pool of money aside for the month of June ($500) for things like food, clothing, extras, entertainment, etc. Anything that I “save” (i.e. at the bottom of receipts when a store claims you have ‘saved’ money, through coupons, or other discounts), I am going to set that money aside to deposit into my actual savings account at the end of the month.
As I approach these last few days in June I feel heavy and limp with the task ahead of me. It is time for me to tally up my receipts and savings from the month to see how much I owe myself, and I know it’s not going to be good. How can saving money ever not be a good thing? When you know you are going to owe yourself more than you actually have. That’s right; I have managed to save beyond my means this month, meaning I am going to be in debt…to myself.
Things seemed to be going smoothly until about three quarters of the way into the month when I realized just how much “savings” I had accumulated. In fact saving money became my worst nightmare. A sort of mini-panic set in while I was at stores, wetting my hands with clammy perspiration and increasing my heart palpitations. It seemed like every store was out to get me with their flashy sales flyers, cornering me into “saving” more and more money that I just didn’t have. When I had to turn down good deals because I knew I would not have sufficient funds to pay myself the savings at the end of the month, I grew indignant, and then reserved. I broke a few times and bought some of those deals. Only it led to me being unable to spend any money for a period of about two weeks because I knew that would eat away at the stockpile of money waiting for me at the end of the month. I had to break the news to my boyfriend.
“Just so you know, I can’t buy anything again until July 3rd”. The room gets quiet. My fiancee is sitting across the room in his chair, playfully throwing his football up in the air at odd intervals. Except now he places the football snugly under his right arm and holds it there.
“What?” I’ve gotten his attention; it is only June 22.
“You know that experiment I am doing for my column? Well, I have maxed out my savings for the month, so I can’t spend another dime until July 3rd.” Silence again.
“It’s only 12 days away.” I add in a tone that suggests he’s the one being completely ridiculous and inflexible.
Sitting here tallying all of these savings up, I keep twiddling my thumbs like my grandfather taught me to do while waiting in nervous anticipation. I’ve gone over my limit, though I knew that awhile ago. I’ve saved more money than I even have in this pool of money, and so I can’t pay myself off. So this is how it feels to owe a creditor when you know you’ve got nothing.
Out of a possible $500 pool of money to be spent on groceries, entertainment, cell phone bill, gas, etc., I have saved (through discounts) $353, and spent $272. I am officially in the red $125. Whew. There, I said it out loud. That’s not so bad, right? But where does it end? Is $200 not so bad? Then $350? Then $400? I have to stop beating myself up over this. On the bright side, that does leave me with an extra $228 to stash away into savings this month above what I normally contribute each month.
Doing this experiment has led me to several conclusions. First of all, I am now a true believer in something I was only suspicious of earlier: retailers sometimes claim to discount a product, but it’s not actually discounted. Also, I’ve proven that it’s possible for me to be even more disciplined and to squeeze even more out of my money each month. Finally, while I never bought the pair of sneakers, I do now have an extra $40 sitting in my savings, and that extra cushion feels much more heavenly than any new pair of Nikes could.
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