Your secret weapon to saving money? Make your progress visible.

Psst – if you’re looking for a way to keep track of how much you’re saving, stick around for the end of this post.

Got a big lofty goal that feels out of reach?

That’s what saving money feels like for many people: whether you’re saving for your emergency fund, your next vacation, or another big purchase. When you don’t have a lot to spare AND you don’t have a track record of saving successfully, motivation becomes critical to your success.

So help your brain stay motivated. Make your savings journey more visible.

And by that, what I mean is: track your progress in a way that’s guaranteed to remind you that you’re really doing this.

Now, don’t get me wrong. If you can only afford to put aside $20 per month, it’s that action + consistent repetition that’s most important. At the end of the day, no amount of motivation or positivity trumps math.

But don’t underestimate the importance of a visual cue. Because once you actually “see” yourself slowly tackling goals, a few different things happen:

• You start to see incremental progress that was previously invisible. You no longer only see that monetary goal that’s off in the distance. You now get to see your own movement towards that achievement: in the form of what you’ve already saved, how many times you’ve done the task, AND how much further you have left to go. (This awareness gets better in time, particularly as you get closer.)

• You reaffirm your own self belief. In my last post, I gave the example of the person who wants to save but doesn’t see themself that way. Well guess what? That person is now a saver, because they’re saving money and doing it consistently. Think of something you’ve been hesitant to start due to insecurity. More often than not, the only way to prove your self-critic wrong is to do the work.

• You increase the chances that you hit your goal. Because while math is still math, psychology happens too! And there’s a magic in seeing yourself be consistent, that can translate directly to results. Basically:

• The way you see yourself begins to shift.
• In turn, so does your own resolve and habits.
• As you stick with your habits, you continue to reaffirm this new identity,
• And the cycle repeats.
  
  You’ve shown that you are someone who keeps their promises to themselves and does the hard, boring work.. And as that attitude compounds – much like interest – it slowly shifts the trajectory of your saving journey.

So above all else, make each step of your progress visible. Whether it’s marbles in a jar, checkmarks on your calendar, or anything beyond and in-between.

And if you’re someone who likes to have a liiiiitle more control…my favorite way to track financial progress is a spreadsheet. A savings spreadsheet tracker can help you accomplish all the above, with the added flare of helping you manage and organize your savings balance. Like being your own personal banker.

Plus, it’s fun if you’re someone who likes tinkering with formulas, columns and cells. Oh my.

If that’s interesting to you, you can do this entirely for free. Find a template on the internet that you like, or consider building one yourself. I walk you through it in this 15 minute video, targeted for beginners. But if you run into issues, ask me in the comments. These are powerful tools, and there’s no reason why someone who wants to learn shouldn’t be able to do it.

Warmly,

Dee