by Texas Homesteader ~
We all try to pay the bills and still build up a little nest egg for the future. But sometimes building up that savings is difficult.
RancherMan & I learned to employ a few simple tips to build up our savings. But they made our march to financial security almost effortless. Now we are completely debt free! Come see how we did it.
Find Recurring Savings Opportunities
The easiest way to build up your savings is to find a recurring way to add to your savings.
For instance if you pay off a large debt, reroute that payment you were making into a savings account instead. Do it every month, and do it automatically. That savings account will begin to build.
When RancherMan & I married I sold my house and moved into his home. Our expenses were combined which reduced our financial requirements. Now we only had one electric bill, one water bill, etc.
But I asked RancherMan;
“I’m already used to making a mortgage payment of approximately $1,000 each month for my house before we were married. Why don’t we continue to make that payment, but put it into a CD every month instead?”
The Power Of Systematic Saving
If you add money to savings by way of automatic transfer it builds without further action from you. Pretty soon you don’t even think about it and your savings builds effortlessly.
After our first year of investing in a $1,000 CD each month, RancherMan & I knew that were never more than 30 days away from available money from a CD maturity if for some reason we needed the cash. What a comfort!
And because it was using money we were already used to earmarking previously for a mortgage payment, adding to savings didn’t even come out of our current budget. This was brilliant!
Diversify Your Savings To Protect Your Money
We all know diversified savings helps protect from the ups and downs of only one type of investment.
RancherMan & I had cash building up nicely but we also knew land was a good investment as well. And we’d both dreamed of a day when we’d have our own little place in the country.
We found this piece of paradise in Northeast Texas. I fell in love with that old 1880’s Barn & he loved the lay of the land and prevalent wild game. We decided to call it our own.
But we didn’t want to risk our financial security by blasting through the nest egg we’d so carefully built over the years.
So we rerouted those same $1,000 payments to the land mortgage company instead to quickly pay for our new property.
By doing so we expedited paying the loan for our new property while still working our corporate jobs in the city to fund it.
The note was paid in record time, yet it still didn’t come out of our built-up nest egg nor our current monthly household budget. Wow, that’s exhilarating. NOW WHAT?
Paying Cash Instead Of Spending Savings
We kept our savings nest egg intact. If we decided we needed to buy something, we paid cash so our nest egg would continue to build.
When we needed a tractor, storage buildings, fencing, ponds, etc., they were all taken care of one-by-one using that same effortless step started years ago.
The beauty was that we weren’t going into debt. And it still wasn’t coming out of our monthly living budget. Effortless!
More Opportunities When You’re Debt Free!
Fast forward a few more years. We built our home here on the Homestead & moved away from the big city to realize our dream of country living.
And a few years later when we decided we wanted to pull the plug on corporate employment to run the homestead full time we were able to do so.
With no debt looming over our heads, our monthly income requirement was already low.
Wow, what a tremendous difference being debt free makes in your ability to make decisions. Those decisions are no longer based on your debt obligations, but on your CASH SAVINGS!
Put Back Money For Unexpected Expenses
We needed a plan for unexpected expenses such as car repairs or medical bills. So we started a special savings account for minor emergencies so we won’t have to touch the nest egg we’d built for unforeseen circumstances.
Having a minor-emergency account means when your washing machine goes out or the lawn mower dies, the money will already be in the bank to pay for its repair or to buy a new one. You won’t be forced into debt to pay for repairs due to unforeseen circumstances.
Because make no mistake – whether repairs, replacements or something else – there WILL be unexpected expenses pop up. So it’s best to plan for them.
You Can Do This!
Are you longing for financial security? You can take the same steps we did. It’s a more effortless way to build that nest egg. I urge you to try it in a way that works for your household.
Maybe start by making a small monthly deposit into a savings account each payday. Treat it just like any other bill to make sure it gets taken care of monthly.
Then when one of your existing debts is paid off add that amount to your monthly savings deposit too. And the same with the next debt paid.
Soon the amount you’re sending to your savings account will be adding up to some real money!
If you start small and build on it you won’t feel the pinch at all.
And the freedom of financial security is priceless!
~TxH~
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I totally agree with you. When a bill is paid off, continue those payments toward your savings or investments. It really isn’t hard because you already are used to not “having” the money. Glad you wrote about it because it has been successful for my husband and I too. Thanks for sharing at Let’s Get Real Friday.
Any time I can set myself up for lazy savings like this, I do it! If I don’t have to consider whether I will or won’t save (because it’s just automatic) I always come out ahead.
Absolutely Jamie. To me, making saving effortless is key to success. After you set it up, you don’t even think about it anymore!
Thank you for sharing this! When you break it down like that (12 mo CD), you realize just how simple this is. With the amount that I tend to throw away each month on frivolous items, this is definitely doable! Thanks!
I’ve always heard ‘Slow & Steady Wins The Race’ & I think it certainly applies here!
When I decided I wanted to be a stay at home mom back in 2003, I put my paycheck into our savings account for the last year of my employment. This was a test to see if we could live off of one income. We passed and I quit my job in 2004 and am still currently home today. The blessing of our savings came in 2005 when we had the chance to start our own business. The finances were there to get us started. We are still plugging along supporting ourselves. My husband doing the physical part, me doing the paper part.
Angie at Oak Springs Farm
Angie that is so awesome – thanks for sharing your story. Love the SUCCESS!
Great advice! I’d been paying down $500 a month in student loans for years. When I finished, I just split that $500 between building up an emergency fund and investing and I never even noticed the difference. I like that even with “extra” money, my lifestyle didn’t inflate at all, since I never really see it – I just have a comfortable safety net and a small, ever growing, nest egg too.
Also, your farm looks really cool! I’m a little jealous ;o)
I’m stopping by from The Thriftiness Miss linky party!
What a wonderful story you have! Thank you for sharing and encouraging the rest of us to live debt free. You hit it spot on when you said, “what a tremendous difference being debt free makes in your ability to make decisions not based on your debt load, but on your CASH!”
“make decisions not based on your debt load, but on your CASH!”
YES! What a liberating feeling! Well, we still have ridiculous amounts of student loan debt but we also keep a supply of cash for anticipated big expenses, like a car purchase and our wedding.
Great advice! When I lost my job to ‘downsizing’ a few years ago I was able to make it because I was debt free. I remain that way, except for a low mortgage payment. I keep urging my kids to pay yourself a little bit each month, it’s hard but so worth it. Thanks for sharing at TTF
Linda and Diann
Financial independence is hard in this country, but for me represents true freedom. I agree, it takes small steps and patience. Thank you so much for the encouragement and beautiful pictures. I hope I can own a piece of the country someday. Hope to see you at True Aim!
Small steps and patience is often the combination for many rewarding things we wish to obtain Tulip. I think sometimes people living day-to-day just don’t think it’s possible, but as you said: Small steps and patience makes it possible. Thanks for your comment.
I used to be really good at that – not so much now. In addition to doing that, it was in the days before debit cards, etc., when you actually had to go to the bank, so I would take a weekly allowance from my pay check and deposit the rest. At the end of the pay period, I would also take whatever money I had leftover form the last and stash that away separately. That money would accumulate pretty quickly too, and I would use that to either fund my Christmas shopping that year, or a trip, etc. đŸ™‚ [#TALU]
Chris, banks are making it really easy these days with free automatic transfer if you have a savings account with them as well. Once you see that balance inching upward it almost becomes a challenge to see how fast you can make it increase! Thanks for your comment.
Great advice! Amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it! TALU
Such a great reminder! And something our culture really needs to hear. My husband spent four years unemployed/underemployed. When he got a fulltime job in his field last year, we committed to continue living at the level we were and using everything extra to rebuild our savings. Now, a year later, we’re able to happily do some projects around our little homestead because we know we have plenty of savings.
BTW, my oldest son goes to jewelry school in your neck of the woods. It’s a nice area up there.
Angi – your method of continuing to live beneath your means when things ease up is another way to ease into financial security. It’s not a sacrifice since you’ve already adjusted your budget. Good for you! It’s really hard to put a price on a good night’s sleep because you’re not worried about a house of cards falling on you at any moment!