{"id":3923,"date":"2023-03-29T12:19:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.happysimpleliving.com\/?p=3923"},"modified":"2025-03-09T15:31:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T21:31:38","slug":"how-i-trick-myself-into-saving-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happysimpleliving.com\/how-i-trick-myself-into-saving-money\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Trick Myself Into Saving Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Putting<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m always looking for painless ways to stash money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $5 Bill Savings Plan<\/a> helps me save about $25 a month. I always look on the ground in parking lots for spare change (found two pennies yesterday!) and collect coins in a jar to take to the credit union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monthly automated savings helps. An inconvenient savings account (at a bank or credit union across town, for instance) lessens temptation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the biggest change to our finances came when I started doing one simple little trick: Rounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember Rounding?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I recall loving<\/em> the rounding exercises in elementary school math. After weeks of painstakingly doing long subtraction, 11.82 was suddenly 12! 6.94 was now 7! And 12 minus 7 was 5, give or take a few pennies — so simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rounding can also be a deceptively simple money trick, when you round up expenditures, and round down deposits in your physical or online ledger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of a year, these hundreds of transactions begin to add up to real savings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It requires a mental shift, but you may find that rounding will help you build a money cushion that can be invested, used for an emergency savings account, or spent in a significant way that supports your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s an App for That<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
My actual Acorns balance after 6 months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can easily use the rounding method to manually make adjustments in your checkbook balance. Alternately, you can make it automatic and watch your savings grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acorns<\/strong><\/a> is an app that automatically rounds up your expenditures to the nearest dollar and invests the difference. I used the app several years ago and was impressed. You can open an account with a minimal amount and set up automatic investments if you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How About You?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is your best savings strategy? Have you tried rounding your transactions? Are you using a mobile app to automate any of your savings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategies on the Comments section of this page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[445,129,299],"class_list":["post-3923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money","tag-investing","tag-personal-finance","tag-saving-money","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nHow I Trick Myself Into Saving Money - Happy Simple Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking to save more money? 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