Long-term Saving Pays Off

It’s important in life to set short-term goals because if you stick to those goals they will eventually lead to long-term advantages. The same goes for money because if you practice saving a little money now it will be worth a lot more in the future.

Just today I saw my parents—they came to watch our tennis match vs. Rider University. It is pretty much a guarantee that every time I see my parents they will give me cash—they are so generous, but I would never ask them for cash because I would feel too guilty. Each time I go home for Thanksgiving, winter or Easter break they give me a bit of cash right as I’m walking out the door to head back to school. Before I began budgeting my money I would have taken that money and spent it freely. It would be gone in about two weeks because I did not know how to save or spend money wisely. I guarantee that if I did not start saving money this semester, I would have spent the money my parents gave me at the mall (specifically Forever 21), on food and drinks at restaurants, on random things at the George Mason Bookstore, on the “Jamaican lady” who comes to campus with really cute jewelry, on gas and the list goes on.

Since I began to budget my money this semester, I’ve earned $300 from my parents. The first $100 came as I was getting ready to head back to Mason for spring semester; the second $100 came when I went home for a weekend in March to hang out with my family before my dad got surgery; and the third $100 came today at the match. I’m proud to say that I have not spent a dime of it. My point to all this is that little-by-little the money I’ve saved and resisted from spending will keep adding up if I stick with it.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I always make sure I put $5 into my savings each week as soon as I take out my weekly $150. In addition, if I have money left at the end of the week I will throw it into the savings, too. By the time summer comes a long I will have close to $500 saved from a semester of saving. Originally, I planned on testing my willpower with this budget just for the semester so I made the choice to not open a savings account. I didn’t open an account because I figured I wouldn’t make that much interest after a couple of months since interest rates are fewer than 2%. Now that I see how successful I can be with budgeting my money I’ve decided I want to open a savings account at my bank (Wachovia), and see how much money I can earn before the summer is over. I plan on taking it one day at a time—I’ll refrain from spending my money on frivolous items and keep focusing on saving money and being thrifty.