Savings are easier said than done. 

Sometimes you need more than a coffee can or a jar for spare coins to get you moving in the right direction. 

Americans save only 5.5% of their money compared to the 20% that personal finance indicates you should put away.

We gathered some tips on how to ease into savings and make the entire process more bearable. 

✔️ Status & Separation

Know the current state of your spending & budget. Only after you have these narrowed down to the T, can you actually know how much could you set aside every month. 

📎 How to do it? 

• Stare at your bank account right in the eye – No Fear! 
• Look at your bank statements from the past three months
• Detective mode on: check for spending patterns you hadn’t noticed before
• See how much you can save every week/month → experts say anywhere between 5-10% of your income should go towards savings on a monthly basis
• Separate savings from your checking account → we mean this literally, since it turns out that having the two in a physical separation helps you get more and more excited and committed to saving since you’re watching the amounts ramp up every month. 

📲 Use Technology in your behalf

While a lot of your bills come from things like online subscriptions, phone bills and so on, it’s high time you use all that technology has to offer to help you save more. No more headaches or panic with these steps.

📎 How to do it?

• Automate your savings → The easiest thing ever: Set up an automatic transfer from checking to savings each month. If possible, transfer from checking into an online savings account, it  prevents you from dipping into on a whim. Can’t touch, can’t spend it.
• Get a cash rewards credit card. Use it to pay for everything you can – groceries, utilities, gym membership – and bank the cash rebates. See here an entire array & find the right card for you
• Apps don’t just wasting money, they can help you keep it → try Starling, Shopkick for shopping, Monzo, Curve and many others that best meet your needs. 

📌 Why are wealthy people frugal?

📺 Make it fun

Nothing but good things come out of the healthy habit of putting some money aside. It can be the main driver for a better future, a retirement account or even for more family fun. Here’s how to start the habit in the first place and engage the ones around you as well.

📎 How to do it?

• Suggest a Weekly challenge → You put aside $1 the first week of the month, $2 the second week, and so on. You’ll end up with $10 to $15 per month. Not bad, guys!
• Time is money → this works best with every New Year’s Resolution. Put aside $52 in the first week of January. The next week, $51; the week after that, $50. And so on. As time goes by, you’ll be thrilled to have $1,378 by the end of the year.
• Easy does it: Put Your change in a jar → good if you have littles ones around. This might be the first step towards financial literacy they get directly from you 
• Get a savings buddy → the trick is to really keep in touch and chat about each others progress
• Reward yourself → turn savings into a reward and add some extra cash in that account every time you have an AHA moment or a YAY You Day. 

📌 How Tello is helping families save & enjoy more