6 Tips For Setting & Meeting Your Big Savings Goals

I want to talk to you about my big savings goal and give you some tips for successfully meeting your own savings goals. After saving aggressively for years, we managed to pay off all our debt and buy a house. Now our house is in desperate need of a bathroom renovation.

This is why my husband and I are, once again, embarking on yet another savings goal journey. I am going to share some of the tips I find most effective in helping me stick to my goal. Saving aggressively is a challenge, but the end goal always makes it worth the effort.

1. Create a plan and discuss your ‘why’

Create a plan with your partner and really get into the details of why you are doing this. Plan exactly what you need to save and how you will meet that goal. Then get down to the heart of why you are doing this, to help motivate you to push forward.

Ask yourself as many questions as possible, even if they sound silly. Why is it so important to you? Why is it so important to start now? Why not start in 6 months?

Also, ask yourself why it’s taking so long to start saving. This is something me and my husband struggled with. We knew we wanted to renovate the bathroom but we just kept putting it off. We had to get real about why we want to do this, and why now is the time to start.

If you have children, I’d also recommend having a family meeting. We sat our kids down to let them know we’re trying to save money for the bathroom renovation. It’s important for the whole family to know you’re about to start saving aggressively.

If you have to say no to things like basketball camp or expensive unnecessary treats and toys, the kids deserve to know why it’s a “no”. It will help them understand that they’re not being told “no” because they don’t deserve things or did something wrong. They will understand that it is temporary and feel good about being involved in meeting these goals.

4. Print a visual savings tracker

It’s important to have a visual, so print a visual savings tracker. I found one for free online. It’s a picture of a mason jar divided into 20 sections. There’s a line at the top of the page to put the total goal. Then I divided that number into 20 for the 20 sections. Each time I hit one of those 20 marks, I fill in that section of the mason jar. It’s great to be able to see the progress.

I hang mine on the refrigerator. It’s helpful for me and everyone else in the family to see it all the time. It reminds us why we are working so hard to save and how much we’ve already saved.

6. Put your blinders on

Tell friends and extended family about your goals so they know what to expect. They will understand that you can’t meet them at a restaurant for dinner for a while. Unsubscribe yourself from social media accounts that entice you to make unnecessary purchases. Cancel unnecessary subscriptions.

Prepare yourself so you won’t have to be tempted with big purchases once you start. Make sure you have all the clothes you need in your seasonal wardrobe. If anything is missing, prepare in advance, making any necessary purchases before you start your major savings goal. Be prepared.

Bonus tip:

Come up with some free or inexpensive activities that you and your family can do for fun during this time. Hikes, watching movies, and art projects using natural materials, are all great ways to spend meaningful time together without spending money.

Just because you are saving money doesn’t mean you should stop enjoying life and your time together. Get creative and come up with a list of activities you can fall back on when you don’t know what to do.