One of the big problems people face when it comes to trying to achieve their goals, is that they want to see certain results immediately. There is something much more appealing about the notion of being richer in a week, or being in better shape by the end of the month.
Unfortunately, this just isn’t how it works. At least not in most cases.
Rather, in order to see the results you want, you need to put in consistent boring effort on a daily and weekly and monthly basis.
Saving money is the perfect example of this. You won’t save money with some kind of scheme or some kind of trick. You aren’t going to fix your bank accounts overnight.
But what you can do, is to make lots of small smart decisions that will add up to large savings over time. This is Kaizen.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how to do this.
Write a Budget
It starts by writing a budget. The problem is when people are very vague about this – not knowing quite what they actually spend on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. They then make random assertions to spend X amount less in this category or that, or they randomly cut out one type of activity that normally costs money.
This tends to not to work. Instead, you should try to create a strict budget that will show you precisely what you spend in each category in your life. That means things like travel, entertainment, groceries, eating out etc. Once you’ve done this, you can assess how much you are spending in each area.
This is a very useful exercise because it immediately illuminates the areas where you are spending more money than you need to – the areas where waste is happening and where you aren’t being efficient.
NOW you apply a kaizen approach by making a commitment – a SMALL commitment – in just one of those areas. For example, you might say that you’re going to spend $10 less on entertainment next month. That might seem like a small deal, but it can make a big impact over time.
Or how about saying that you’ll spend $5 less on transport – this might mean just choosing to walk a a little more. Once you manage this, you can then try and cut back by another $5 in another area next month.
Keep doing this and month after month you will streamline your savings – and that’s how you can eventually become very wealthy!
This is some good food. I cut back on spending so much on seafood. I don’t take Uber or Lyft as much. Cut back on the fast food.(a lot)
Thank you for the information we can apply and use
Yes I’ve definitely noticed a change recently with this. I’ve always had a budget but I recently discovered that my scope creep usually comes from my kids. So now I had my daughter whom I still support create her budget as well and I incorporate that into my budget so that we both are aware of our spending. I also bought a Keurig Espresso Machine, so that saves me $70/wk at least at Starbucks(I might go twice a month now vs every day)
Thank you for explaining this in a way that seems more manageable and less intimidating 💞 We aren’t taught the importance of these lessons early in life (unless we’re lucky) so breaking long standing habits later can seem impossible BUT I’m Possible so It’s Possible 🙌🏽 Let’s go 🔋🔋
I started years ago by saving $1 first Sunday of the year and add a $1 each Sunday for 52 weeks that became my holiday money and introduced to my family members some stuck with it some didn't but for those who did they are still reaping the benefits.