Making Do and Mending While Saving, Not Spending

Go to a garden to invigorate yourself and maintain motivation
Image courtesy of Neosnaps

Sometimes it is hard to maintain the motivation to save - there is no "novelty" to it, or "instant gratification" in saving. It is a discipline, to say the least - for a lot of people I know and have spoken to. I was speaking to someone recently about saving habits, and she was surprised that I had already spent my pocket money. She commented that she saved it and always when she started working had one lot of pay banked ahead just in case anything should happen. What she said makes a lot of sense, and she does have a good emergency fund. She is a very generous and sweet person though, and it always willing to help others.

I was raised by screaming at my poor mother and she caved into my demands. I have Aspergers, so I think that I was probably quite a difficult child for my mother to handle. My brother was more easygoing than I, so my mother found him easier to parent. I remember having my mother in tears one day because I wanted a magic pen colouring book and I threw a full blown tantrum at her in the newsagency until she bought it for me. She ended up in tears.

I don't blame her, nor do I condemn her - back then Aspergers was an unheard of thing amongst Australian doctors - and my mother was very sick a lot of my childhood. She did the best with what she had at the time, as did my father. Neither of them are any longer with me, but I have learned to rethink my whole view of money from how I was raised.

My sons are both on the Autistic spectrum, and I have applied what I have learned with them. They are now more satisfied with saving up to get what they want, and are learning delayed gratification. Now I have to seriously apply this to myself.

So I am looking at ways of making do, mending and applying novelty ways of saving and rewarding myself (without spending money or spending very little) for applying the discipline of delayed gratification.

I know I can do it, because I did the same with my excess weight, not to say that I didn't have help along the way - often we need tools to help us - and these can be different for each person.

If you want to redecorate your home, some inexpensive ways to revamp it while you are saving for your renovation are to really give your home a good spring cleaning (such as washing the walls and curtains), remove clutter, consider re-arranging furniture, adding a throw from a thrift or dollar store, or maybe making some new cushions. For whitegoods that are a bit chipped or sad looking - investigate repainting them or touching them up with appliance white spray paint (make sure you follow all the safety directions). I touched up my chipped bathtub with epoxy enamel spray paint for metal surfaces (I can't use the bath while it is drying).

I am also looking to upsize my washing machine - the door on it is a little tricky - so I am being very careful to close it gently, and I replaced the pump in it. I have three children now, and a lot of washing, and would like a larger washing machine, so that is one of my savings goals.

To not get sidetracked however, and end up spending my money on something else - I have set up an automated savings plan - that means I won't think about it, so out of sight, out of mind. I have also gone and got from the whitegoods store a brochure of the machine I want to get and stuck it up on my notice board to remind me to save for it.

Make sure you allocate in your spending plan (also know as budget) some small amount of money to splurge on something (if you're like me and like to have a treat for yourself - mine is now a magazine or chai latte instead of a cola addiction) that you can use also for impulse purchases. If you allocate the impulse purchase money and then spend no more, you will still stay reasonably well on track, instead of feeling deprived and then going on a spending binge.

Another way to satisfy a spending urge is to go to the library - I walked out of there one day with some books, magazines, DVDs and music CDs, and I felt like I had a major episode of retail therapy, but I hadn't spent a single cent!!!

For an outing, pack yourself a lunch, a thermos or a cool drink and then go for a walk around a beautiful local park. You will feel invigorated and motivated to keep on track with your goals.