How To Save Money With No Self-Control In 11 Simple Steps (Free Printable)

Saving money is a habit that needs time and perseverance to build, and it doesn’t happen by accident. And if you don’t have self-control when saving money, then it’s going to require more work which is still doable.

Today I’ll give you a money saving exercise or a challenge to help you create and maintain the habit of saving money even if you don’t have self-control. It will also put all what we have discussed so far into action and help you shift from the “information” phase to the “transformation” phase.

That’s why I encourage you to check the previous articles mentioned in the “Let’s recap” section below first.

Let’s recap first

So far, we have discussed the effect of saving money on your overall wellbeing and its importance in life, and we mentioned that it has 8 advantages and 1 disadvantage that you still can overcome with the options we provided.

We also covered how to track your money in a notebook, which is just the physical way and you can use the available digital apps like Andromoney if you want and we mentioned that tracking your money serves in improving your saving quality.

What is the Saving money challenge all about?

It’s about identifying different goals in each of the 6 wellbeing dimensions that you will achieve by saving money only, not through investing or making it.

The objective here is to train yourself to stay committed in saving money and build the self-control needed till you achieve at least 6 different goals, one in each wellbeing dimension.

The duration of this money saving challenge or exercise will vary according to the goals you identify, their total cost, and the amount you’re going to save monthly or weekly.

With that being said, and since you’ll be asked to come up with different goals in each wellbeing dimension, then you can have more than 1 round to further strengthen your money saving habit

Instructions: How to save money with no self-control

Below is a simple and practical plan to save effectively and strategically even if you don’t have self-control yet.

You will have 3 free sheets for this saving exercise that you can download from the “resources” section below to train yourself on saving money.

1- Decide the saving amount – Document A

If you’re not saving already, you must decide the amount you’ll start saving from your income every 4 weeks.

If you’re already saving, then this challenge can still be applicable to ignite the spark again and put it into a mission.

2- Brainstorm what you want – Document A

Here you need to brainstorm all the things you want to have/buy, at least one in each dimension.

For example, a guitar, a course, to donate X$, to save X$ for your child certification of deposit, etc.

3- Choose one – Document A

Go over to the list you came up with in each dimension and choose just one item to go after in the first round.

You’re not allowed to go to the next item within the same dimension until you finish all 6 goals for all the 6 wellbeing dimensions

4- Identify total cost – Document A

Put down the total cost for each item.

5- Identify the plan – Document A

Here you think in terms of amount to be saved, how frequent, for how long (in weeks).

For example, the total amount for the course you want to buy is $60, and the amount you decided to save (or already saving) is $10, then your plan is to save $10 each week for 6 weeks ($10/week*6).

6- Prioritize your goals – Document B

So far you have identified at least 1 goal to go after in each wellbeing dimension, along with the plan to achieve it (number of weeks according to your saving amount).

Now it’s time to order them in a descending order in terms of importance. Meaning, which goal you’ll achieve first, then second, and so for till the sixth.

The goal here is to work on one bucket then once closed, you can go to the next one in the list and so on.

You can order them according to simplicity, meaning finishing those that require small number of weeks first, or you can do it by importance, like putting the course you really need first, then the toy you want to buy, etc.

7- Identify possible risks – Document B

Those are the risks that can prevent you from reaching your goal or even delay it.

For example, in the above course scenario you may write down things like, on week 5 there will be a birthday party and you’ll have to buy a gift with $20, or

8- Identify possible solutions – Document B

Think of possible actions that you can take to proactively overcome those risks.

For example, in the above risk mentioned, you can write something like I’ll accommodate the plan to be 8 weeks, or to save $15 in the first 4 weeks to accommodate the spending that you’ll have to make.

Of course, you can decide not to go to the party or not to buy that gift, but it’ up to you according to how important that person is or how close he is to understand your reasons.

9- Track your progress – Document C

Once every month, you need to track your progress against your plan, and ask the following questions:

What went well over the past month?

What went bad over the past month?

What could’ve been done in the last month to make it easier or better for you?

10- Coarse correct

Once you answer the questions in step 9, you need to come up with corrective actions for each question.

The things that went well, you need to keep doing and build upon

The things that went bad, you need to think of actions to correct them.

The things that could’ve improved your journey, you need to translate into actions to do in the next one.

11- Celebrate

With each goal you cross out from your list, you HAVE to celebrate with yourself or friends. Share your progress on social media, or with your friends.

Explain the activity to others, teach it to them, and invite them to join you to upgrade their wellbeing and life as well.

Resources

You can use the free sheets below to help you in your money saving challenge and achieve your goals.