The other day I was reading a personal finance article on a major website. I enjoyed the article but I made the mistake of scrolling down to the comments to see what people had to say.
After blogging about personal finance for almost four years, I wasn’t very shocked. 90% of the comments were very negative.
People were saying that anyone who saves money must hate their life, they must lead a boring life, and so on.
This is always sad to read, as many people do not save anywhere near the amount they should be saving.
- 68% live paycheck to paycheck;
- 26% have no emergency savings;
- The median amount saved for retirement is less than $60,000;
- The average household has $7,283 in credit card debt;
- The average student loan debt is $32,264.
Due to these crazy money statistics, I believe that more people should think positively about saving money. Saving money can help you stop living paycheck to paycheck, it can help you pay off your debt, it can help you prepare for retirement, and so on.
The first step to saving more money is to figure out why you are unable to save money.
For many people, it’s because they often tell themselves excuses for why saving money isn’t something they can or even need to do.
If you do this, I want you to realize that you can change your ways and that it is possible to save money. I used to always give myself excuses as well but then realized that I was just lying to myself.
If you are interested in saving money, please read How To Live On One Income and 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money.
Below are six common excuses people give for not saving money.
1. “I’ll hate my life if I start saving money.”
There is a myth out there that only very sad and boring people save money. I’ve heard it over and over again.
“Wow, that person must lead a very boring life if they save that much money.”
“I can’t save money because that means I’ll just be eating Ramen and sitting on my couch all day long.”
The truth is that you can still live a great life AND save money. It is possible and many people do it on small and large incomes every single day.
What you need to do is learn how to manage your money better so that you can live the life you want to live, but on a more realistic budget. There are plenty of ways to live a great life on a smaller income so that you can save more of your money.
2. “I’ll figure out how to save money later.”
Many people put off saving because they’d rather spend their money now and/or because they believe they’ll have plenty of time to save money later.
There is really no need to spend every last penny you have just because you “can.”
The truth is that you never know what will happen later, so if you have the ability to save money now, YOU SHOULD.
3. “I deserve and/or need the things I buy.”
I’ve heard this excuse far too many times and it’s one that I used to say to myself all the time as well.
This applies to many areas in life. Many believe they need to upgrade to the latest and best cell phone on an annual basis, that they need a flat screen TV in every room, they need to spend hundreds of dollars a month on cable, they need expensive vacations, and more.
However, that’s not true. If you are struggling with debt, if you’re not saving money, if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, or something else related to these three, then you should watch your spending, figure out ways to lower your expenses, and cut out anything unnecessary.
I’m not saying you need to cut everything out, instead I’m saying you should only buy things that you truly need and want, not just because you think you deserve it or because you want to keep up with the Joneses.
4. “I enjoy my job and can always make money.”
While it’s great that you enjoy your job, you should still be saving money. I have heard far too many people say that they love their job and don’t need to save money because they can just work forever and still be happy.
However, what happens when you can no longer work? You don’t know what the future will bring – you may come across a medical problem, a serious life event, you may hate your job 20 years from now and so on.
Saving money doesn’t mean that your life is ending. You can enjoy your job and save money at the same time.
5. “The city I live in is too expensive to save money.”
This one will probably cause some debate and it will probably make a few mad at me as well. When I published the post Is Being House Poor Limiting You last Monday, I received some flack from a few readers.
Yes, I understand that some cities are quite expensive to live in, but that does not mean that you are unable to save money because of the higher cost of living. It may take time, but you need to either increase your income or cut your expenses, or even do both.
Hard work and sweat may be needed, but you’ll be happier than ever when you are finally in a better financial situation.
6. “It’s too late for me to start saving money.”
Some believe they are either too old to save money or that they are too far in debt to save money. These excuses are simply not true.
It’s never too late to start saving money. Every little bit helps and it can drastically change your future. Saving something is better than saving nothing.
If you are in debt, that doesn’t mean that your world is over either. You can start saving more money so that you can pay off your debt and dig yourself out of the hole you are in. There is no need to continue to add to the debt. You are just making your problem much more worse if you continue doing what you are doing.
What excuses for not saving money do you often give?
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These are all terrible excuses! But there really is no good excuse to not same at least a little something every month.
I agree!
It really is scary to see how many people have no retirement savings or very little retirements savings. What is going to happen in a few years when millions of people have no money and are no longer able to work? This sounds like a disaster in the making. I think a lot of people are using excuse #2- they are waiting until later to start saving…
It is very sad!
That point “The city I live in is too expensive to save money.” is true. There are many cities are quite expensive to live in. But still I am trying to save money from my everyday life. And I took idea from your 1 old post that cut my hair after 3 months. 🙂
While it is true, it is just an excuse.
I’ve been guilty of some of these in the past as well!
I think in the end we each choose the sort of life we want to lead. Some choose to spend while they’re earning in exchange for a lower standard of living when they’re not (in retirement). Others choose to assure they have the nest egg they need to support the lifestyle they want in retirement and not be a financial burden on other family members. Then of course there are those who choose to ignore money issues and spend with abandon, assuming, I guess, that the ‘Money Fairy’ watching over them will somehow make it all turn out okay. 🙂
I am working hard to change my views on saving money. My family is a family of spenders and I was never really taught to save. I have heard my mother exclaim more than once that she deserves something because she works. I need to change my mind from always going with wants and work on my needs. One of these needs would be saving money so later in life I can finally be financially secure. I am a work in progress.
I became a sneaker head and collector and have a new habit for racking up sneakers. Hopefully I’ll get frugal again momentarily. 🙂
I question whether or not people are allergic to saving money. there is no holiday coming up, and yet I have people, probably low income folks, or high debt individuals swarming the place where I work, we’re talking droves of dozens per minute, completely randomly, for no reason, and they spend spend spend, and destroy destroy destroy. it’s a Saturday, there’s like two of us here in the department, we can’t keep up with the workload, and as far as the high cost of living thing goes, I’ve so far paid down $10k in debt with another 4k to go, on a low income thus far. One debt was a social security overpayment of over 7 grand, another was a laser hair removal treatment of 7 grand as well, the latter is fully paid off. I did this on $15/hour in upstate NY. Despite this, I still have managed to save in my couple years of active work, over $12k in assets.
what’s my secret? I’m too lazy to get up and go to the store to spend my money. I’m obsessed, borderline addicted to watching my money earn me even more money, i.e interest, dividends and capital gains. I have 3 months of bills saved up, I have 1k for emergencies, and I have an annual vacation fund that I fund around $4.5 per day automatically. That’s 1642.5/year. I have a low income, and low cost of living. I also don’t buy things I don’t want. The last big purchase I made, albeit out of impulse, was a $500 D&D dragon head for my brother who is into that, and I hated myself for that, but I was able to offset the guilt with a $1k investment in a stock that will be one of many.
I really wish people didn’t make excuses for saving money. Companies cut labor to make profit, and so when there’s like two people in an entire department, and is up against a horde of people, it’s not fair to us. Could the corporations knock it off? Absolutely. Stop gutting your labor pool. Truth. I feel that. But you, the consumer could help by, idk, staying home. It’s not hard. Be like me. Be too lazy to leave the house on your day off. Play one of the video games you already have instead of spending $60 on a new one you’re going to play for a week. read a book. watch a movie. Sometimes being lazy is a very financially necessary habit to develop. cuz if your not lazy, you’re going to get up and blow your money on things that won’t be good in 2 weeks.
Be happy, be lazy, be financially independent. use your job to siphon wealth out of the corporations, not rob yourself of your hard earned dollars. Laziness is self care and financial prosperity.