How can you force yourself to save money?

[HardWorker]

And still be able to get it out in an emergency? Just discipline?

[Petunia 100]

What works for me is to have my savings in a separate account, without immediate access. I hate to pull money out of savings! If I have extra money in my checking account, I don't mind spending it so much.

I also find having a monthly "bill" which I must pay to savings is almost painless. Just like the phone bill or the water bill, once I get used to the idea that I must pay X to savings, I quit thinking about it and just do it.

[snafu]

You haven't mentioned how much you'd like to save. You can do an automatic transfer to a linked savings account every pay. It's painless and the money is gone immediately. I suggest you start with a plan to create an emergency fund. A goal of three months of your net income is a great target. Should things go wrong it's a terrific feeling of confidence to know you have a financial back stop.

[scfr]

What worked for me when I first started saving was to stash money away in CDs. I had the peace of mind of knowing that the money was there for me in case of a true emergency. But I also knew that there would be an "interest penalty" if I cashed out the CD early (typically you lose the last 6 months' interest but be sure to read the fine print), so cashing out a CD would be a last resort. I never did cash out a CD early.

[kork13]

Two little not-so-secrets that have worked great for me:
1) Individual goal-oriented savings accounts that are physically separate from the rest of my money
2) Automatic transfers from my primary checking into those savings accounts (or in the case of retirement accounts, direct from my paycheck).

I know that the money is there if I need it, but because it's totally separate from the rest of my money, it takes the extra step of making a transfer in order to tap those funds. That extra step gives me a chance to pause and say "Is this really necessary?" It still takes some discipline in order to hold yourself back from constantly pulling money out of savings, but if you're doing that, there are probably other problems that also need to be addressed.

[MakeAStash]

Spend on what you need, and only rarely on what you want. If you are indeed a HardWorker, you earn more than enough to cover your needs, and the remainder will pile up as savings.

[clydefreeman]

Saving money depends on you. It is a matter of disciplining yourself. It is better that your parents would handle your money or atm cards in order to manage and avoid buying anything that is not important.

[PSF]

I've never had any trouble with saving, however, I saved money up serveral times and blew it several times, but this was due to a lack of a goal for that savings.

The reason why it hasn't been hard for me is because I get a lot of pleasure from saving money and I don't get much pleasure from spending. So my suggestion to make things easier to build discipline is try to change the way you think about saving and specifically spending. A hard task I know and maybe impossible.

Too bad they can't create a drug like the one they give to smokers wanting to quit (can't remember the name). Everytime they smoke when on it, I think it makes them feel physically sick or the pleasure they used to get from it is no longer there. Nothing worth while is easy they say

[thesimplemoneyblog]

One of the best ways to make sure you are setting money aside for your emergency fund, children's college education, or retirement is to have the money come out of your paycheck automatically. That way, you don't even have the chance to spend the money. It's amazing how much less we can live off of if we have our savings come out "off the top" and pay our savings first!

[ccole]

What I did was list down all the bills I needed to pay for each month and arranged them according to the schedule of payments. Once I had them written down and totaled, I then decided how much I needed to save monthly.

I applied for 3 bank accounts, 1 for savings, 1 for bills and 1 for miscellaneous. So I transfer the money online to each of these bank accounts once I receive my pay. I have been doing this for more than 3 years and I have saved enough.

[choreminion]

I keep three bank accounts. One for automatic bill payments and checks, another for savings and another for my daily spending and nothing more. Works great.

[thesimplemoneyblog]

A lot of people find that having multiple accounts like choreminion referred to can help you keep your 'buckets' separate. That way, you force yourself to keep the savings in a different account and can help make it more automatic to have transfers go into the account.

[elessar78]

I automatically set up a bi-weekly deduction into an online account. It takes about three business days for any withdrawal OUT of the online account to be posted to my regular bank account. So, it really has to be a conscious decision to use that money since it's not instantaneously there.

[JoeP]

One of the best ways to make sure you are setting money aside for your emergency fund, children's college education, or retirement is to have the money come out of your paycheck automatically. That way, you don't even have the chance to spend the money. It's amazing how much less we can live off of if we have our savings come out "off the top" and pay our savings first!

We do this to fortify our emergency fund, our annual insurance bill, and a couple other recurring expenses. It is true: you won't even miss the money, but it will be there.

[dunnrobert700]

I find it is hard to save money if you don't have a compelling reason to do so. Sit down, think about your short, medium and long term financial goals in as specific terms as possible. Then estimate what your likely income and expenses will be (make a budget) and see if you are on track to achieve those goals in the time frame you want. Adjust and save accordingly until you are. Us Excel or an online tool.

All the little tricks like direct deposit are fine, but I find it's like setting your clock fast to try to be on time. You get used to it eventually and it stops working.

Heck it's even possible (though unlikely) that when you really reflect and do your analysis you'll decide than other than a safety cushion and retirement, you're content and there's nothing you really want to save for.

In my mind the key is motivation not gimmicks, and motivation comes from understanding how your decisions now impact the things you truly care about over time.