We all know we should save, but where’s the incentive? Is it on your ‘too difficult’ list? What if I was to persuade you that saving can be easier than you think? The challenge is we live in a world where you aren’t encouraged to save. Quite the opposite; you’re more likely to be encouraged to get credit and ‘have it now and pay for it later’ than to save. There are times when credit (i.e. borrowing money) is a reasonable option – after all, how many people do you know who saved up for their house before they bought it? Very few people save for a car or a holiday these days. So why bother saving at all? Once again it’s down to mindset. You know deep down you should save. We hear expressions about putting something away for a rainy day and appreciate the concept but not the action. Mind you, where I live it rains every other day!

Small steps reap great rewards

I’ve been through three phases in my life when it comes to saving. When I was very young my parents encouraged me to save; even if it was just a little bit of money after a birthday or Christmas going into my building society account. I was never allowed to get my hands on the account book. When I started work aged 16 in 1983, I was given the book and was amazed to see that I had saved £1280 in the first 16 years of my life!

The chances are high that you are reading this and thinking: ‘What’s the big deal, £1280 isn’t a lot of money.’ But I managed to buy a car before my 17th birthday and learnt to drive in my own motor. I can’t tell you how good it felt to drive my own car in my driving test! By the time I was 22, I had spent all the money and some. I’d bought my first house and I would now spend everything I earned (and more). In the back of my mind I knew one day I could start saving again. The point was I didn’t. I didn’t have the discipline and without the discipline I would never save.

I was lucky though; two years later I married ‘a saver’ and she helped me to get back into the habit and opened some ‘savings accounts’. Even though we were only just married and needed money for all sorts of things we still saved. We saved for holidays, we saved for cars, we saved for home improvements and after a few short years we realised an interesting thing. Even though we knew people who had similar incomes to ourselves, who often got things ‘faster’, we were now very comfortable. I was going to write ‘very lucky’ there but the more I look at how we set out to create our lifestyle, the decisions we made and the effort it took, I realise less and less is down to luck.

Create the saving mindset

Becoming a saver is a long-term plan. It’s not just about what you are saving for, it’s about the feeling of having saved – it’s amazing. And once you do it a couple of times it becomes a mindset. Don’t think you have to earn more to be able to keep and save more money.

Here are 20 ideas to help you save:

1. Open a savings account and set up a direct debit to pay a monthly amount straight into it.
2. Set some savings goals and write them down.
3. Give up something you do ‘just because you always have’ and save that money.
4. Make saving fun by creating a reward system for yourself (not cash!).
5. Save all your loose change each day and put it in your savings account once a week.
6. Wait 48 hours before you buy something expensive or outside your normal weekly shopping; if you have decided you don’t really need it, save the money you would have spent.
7. Be super frugal! Turn off the lights, repair rather than rebuy, become tight for 90 days and put away every penny saved. By turning off your lights when they aren’t being used and turning your thermostat down by just a degree you’ll save over £100 a year.
8. Save a windfall – you weren’t expecting it, so pop it away.
9. Use vouchers and coupons – £10 a week is £520 a year in your savings account.
10. Take your lunch to work. It costs 50p and saves a minimum of £2 a day. That’s another £500 a year.
11. Quit a bad habit you pay for – see the Health Wheel for ideas.
12. Shop around; when you get a deal bank the difference into your savings account.
13. Sell a bunch of stuff on eBay or at a car boot sale; people will actually buy stuff you don’t want or need!
14. Use your library. But still buy my books – as they are an investment!
15. Stop buying lottery tickets – it won’t be you!
16. Learn to cook and stop buying ‘ready meals’. It’s healthier and you save squillions.
17. Drive sensibly. If your car has an MPG meter make it a challenge to be more economical than the day before rather than faster.
18. Only carry a £1 coin with you. Scary but it’s amazing what you don’t or can’t buy.
19. Have friends round for a ‘bring a bottle’ rather than going out. Before they leave, ask whose turn it will be next.
20. Avoid paying for car parking. Set off earlier, park out of town and walk in. Obviously be safe but think of the health benefits, too.

All these ideas will help you get started and the little bits do add up. But let me give you this final challenge. What if you saved a lot? What if you decided to save 20, 30 or even 50% of your income? It would be a challenge but the bigger the effort the bigger the reward.