Make Saving as Much Fun as Spending

(Please note, this page may contain affiliate links and we may earn fees from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. See our Disclosure for more info.)

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of presenting a budgeting workshop for a great group of people at my old company. There were lots of good questions. However, one, in particular, kept me thinking after I left. In hindsight, I wished I’d answered it better.

So here goes. The question was: “Spending is really fun. How do you make budgeting fun?”

Of course, the question isn’t really about the act of making a budget, but more about the act of controlling spending, with an eye toward increasing saving. In other words, how do you make saving fun?

The fact that spending is fun is among the reasons, so many American’s save so little.

The Federal Reserve reports the average American is currently saving around 7 percent of their after tax income.

If that were your savings rate, it would take you more than 14 years to save a single year’s worth of your income, making it a challenge to retire with your current lifestyle.

So, how do you make saving fun?

My answer at the time was to use myself as an example. I declared how I loved…