Saving towards achieving your goals is something that everyone knows they should do, but very few people actually succeed at doing effectively. The reason only a few people manage to build a sizable corpus towards achieving their goals is because of the discipline they are able to maintain when it comes to utilising the funds that they have efficiently. Here are 4 small habits that you can inculcate to improve your ability to save.

• Plan towards achieving your goals:

Saving should always be a forethought and not a consequence of having leftover funds. Make saving a routine by marking off a portion of your income towards your future goals before you begin spending it. Apart from maintaining a savings bank account and making provident fund contributions, you can also think about other ways in which you can plan to invest your savings towards future goals – like your children’s higher education, buying a car, house or even your retirement. Think about commiting to strategies like a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) or a Recurring Deposit (RD), to ensure that you lock in your savings as soon as you receive salary, and don’t spend it on anything else. These instruments also allow you to develop the discipline of allocating a portion of your funds regularly, over a period of time, towards achieving your goals. 

• Learn to control your emotions:

Many people resort to retail therapy when they are feeling low, and spend on things that they think will cheer them up. Similarly there are many other emotional triggers that can cause you to spend without thinking and pay the price for it later. Understand what triggers you to spend and prepare for such moments beforehand. Learning to control your emotions is a key factor in being able to manage your finances well and maintaining the funds you save. So once you are aware of your triggers, you may want to rehearse the steps you will take to mitigate the urge to spend. 

• Practice delaying your gratifications:

Saving is a way for you to prioritise your future needs. When you get a bonus or raise at work, don’t spend it all on things like an expensive watch, the latest phone or a new car, instead think about how you can invest a portion of it towards the future. While many people use their bonus or raise to satisfy these immediate wants, it is important to remember not to flush your additional income into such things. Channeling this additional cash flow into your savings offers a substantial boost when it comes to working towards your long term goals. By becoming less impulsive and delaying gratification, you manage to weed out things that are unnecessary and prioritise what is essential.

• Live within your means and budget expenses:

To save successfully is to maintain the funds in your corpus so that they may be used to achieve their intended goal. In this regard, it is important that you budget all your expenses – including any large purchases that you want to make – like a . While it may be extremely tempting, refrain from swiping your credit card when you are strapped for cash or opting for EMIs when you don’t have sufficient funds to make an expensive purchase. If you haven’t planned your finances well, these and other forms of debt will definitely squander your savings. Apart from this, the amount we spend on luxuries like entertainment and comfort is often more than we realise. So you should plan for things like movies, music concerts, sports events, eating out, subscriptions to streaming services and so on, in your budget to ensure that you don’t overspend. 

Being able to save successfully has more to do with your psychology than the amount of money you earn. By incorporating these 4 small habits into your life, you will be able to commit to saving as a routine behaviour.