Trick Yourself into Saving Money with 5 Sneaky Budget Hacks

In fact, most Americans, about 60 percent, have less than five-thousand dollars in savings. And a full 25 percent have no savings at all. If you’re thinking, “That’s me!” Don’t worry. The key to success for people who love to spend but are “iffy” on how to budget—is to trick the brain into saving without much fanfare.

Now, that’s not to say there aren’t some great personal budget spreadsheets and free templates that make saving for weddings, holidays, or family vacations much easier. There are also excellent software and budgeting tools that are great for organizing your way out of debt, planning for retirement, and beyond. But for now, we’re going to focus on five simple everyday hacks that’ll help you tuck away cash without even thinking about it.

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1. Don’t wait—automate! If you’re the type who gets a paycheck (or uses direct deposit) and puts all your money into your checking account—it’s time to make a change. The key to saving is taking out the money before you even miss it. Luckily, a lot of direct deposit programs let you to split a portion of your pay between savings (or investments) and checking accounts. If not, you can deposit it and then set up an automatic transfer from your checking account into your savings or investment account. But how much should you take out? If you can afford it, experts suggest putting 10 to 15 percent into a retirement account, like a 401K or IRA, and another 5 to 10 percent into your savings account. If that’s not in the cards right now, start smaller, see how it feels, and work your way up. It only takes a few clicks to make it happen—but you’ll be amazed at how quickly the savings add up.

2. Round up. Rounding up is the best thing ever for non-financially frugal types. Think about all the times you’ve rounded up your bill for charity at the grocery store checkout line, online marketplace, or fast-serve restaurant and never even missed the money. The same is true when it comes to “donating” money to your savings account. Today, lots of brick-and-mortar banks, and even banking apps, let you round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and then transfer that amount from your checking account to your savings account. For example, say you used your debit card to buy $55.52 worth of groceries. Your bank rounds that amount up to $56.00 and puts the difference into your savings account. While 48 cents may not seem like much, it really does add up after a while.

3. Go old school. It’s kind of like rounding up, but in this case, we’re doing it old-school style. While using cash for purchases doesn’t happen much anymore, we all still use it sometimes. And when you do, you inadvertently get change. Instead of throwing it on the floor of your car, sticking it in a dresser drawer, losing it in your pockets, or dropping it in the bottom of your purse—throw it in a big jar! Set up your jar in a place that you (and your family) will see it every day. That way, you’ll never forget to add that extra change. You can even name the jar something like “family vacation fund”, “extra car payment”, or “credit card fund”. Once it gets full, take it to the bank (yes, they’ll probably accept it if the coins are rolled) and deposit it into your account. While it may seem easier to take it to one of those grocery store change machines that doesn’t require coin rolling, they’ll charge a fee, whereas banks likely won’t.

4. Don’t blow the surprise. There’s nothing better than getting a bonus at work, a bigger tax refund than expected, or just winning the company football pool. While your instinct may be to go out and spend it, consider tucking away that “surprise” money into your savings account instead. No, it’s not as fun. But it’ll help you reach your savings goals more quickly. If you can’t bear to put it ALL into savings, treat yourself to a small luxury, but then put the rest away for a rainy day.

5. Use a cash-back credit card… BUT… (and it’s a big “but”) only if you pay it off every month. Using a credit card that pays you cash back just for using it seems like a no brainer. But not if you’re carrying a balance and paying interest. If you are the type, however, who pays off their card every month, without missing payments or racking up late fees, it’s a nice way to earn some extra cash, which, of course, you should use to build your emergency fund, pay off debt, etc.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all way to save money, this may be a good start for those who are just dipping their toes into the water. When it comes to something like paying off your mortgage, credit cards or student loan debt, funding a college education, planning for retirement and beyond—you’ll likely want to create a more solid budgeting plan or talk to a financial expert about how to reach your goals.