How to Create a Money Saving Plan

How to Create a Money Saving Plan

Even though we are three weeks in to the year, it is not too late to plan and save money this year! Whether you are saving to fund a emergency fund or for a fun family vacation or for a large purchase, saving up and paying cash does require a plan. Here is how you can create a money saving plan this year!

How to Create a Money Saving Plan

Step One: Decide What You're Saving For

Is it time to upgrade your car? Do you want to take a huge vacation with your family that doesn't follow you home? Maybe you need a new couch or your kiddos just need some new clothes for school. Whatever your reason is for saving money, name it, and write it down so that it becomes something real, tangible, and visible for you to see every day!

Step Two: Calculate How Much

This can be tricky so my number one suggestion here is don't make a guess. Spend some time doing some research on how much money you need to be saving up. If you are going on a vacation, check out hotel rates online, look and see what attractions you want to visit cost, decide if you'll rent a car or uber, etc. Buying a new car? Start researching what kind of car and year model you want to purchase and how much it is being sold for private sale or wholesale on Kelly Blue Book. If you're making somewhat arbitrary purchases, like clothing for example, set a budget and share it with your kids so they know how much they have to spend. If they are old enough, let them be part of the process and shop online to have an idea of how much clothing costs, what they can get for their money, and compare prices between brands.

Step Three: Give Yourself a Timeline

Next you need to decide when you need it by. Do you need to buy a new car in the next year? Then you have 12 months to save up whatever dollar amount you've decided you can afford to spend. Just divide that number by 12 and you know how much you need to save each month! Are you going shopping for new clothes at the end of summer? Then you have the summer months to put aside the money you designated for shopping. Giving yourself an amount and a timeline suddenly breaks it down in to manageable steps, rather than one large dollar amount staring you in the face!

Step Four: Start Saving + Tracking

Once you know how much you need, how long you have to save it, and what your short term monthly or weekly goals are, you can take a look at your budget and see where you can cut back or trim up to either save more money (who doesn't want a little extra to spend on a vacation!) or save it up quicker! Then you can use a savings tracker to start watching the goals get met. Whether you're saving weekly or monthly, or even daily!, having a visual aid to help you meet each short term goal is so helpful and encouraging!

For a basic savings tracker, I've created two free downloads for you - one that tracks annually by month, or a 12-week tracker, that you can easily turn in to a 16- or 24-week tracker too! Just use a ruler and a pen to add in extra lines to break up the boxes.

The annual tracker includes the months, but the weekly tracker is blank, so you can make it as many weeks as you'd like and label them however you want!

Download the Yearly Savings Tracker here and the Weekly Savings Tracker here!

What are your savings goals this year? I would love to hear what you're working toward and if these freebies help you get there!

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