How To Avoid Temptation And Stay Focused On Your Goals #AfricaSaves

We are in the second month of our 3 months’ savings challenge, where we are saving more by curbing our impulsive spending. In the first post, we looked at “the hand versus the heart“, where the hand is our impulse to reach for what we want now, against our heart – the things we want to achieve with our money long term. We then tracked our expenses to identify areas where we are spending unnecessarily, and could modify our behavior to save more. It’s the small expenses that can stop you from saving towards your goal, by simply cutting out one of them, you could move mountains- literally! To figure out how much you could save from cutting out, or decreasing an expense, check out the Barclays Savings Calculator.

In the last post, I updated you on my savings where I had saved 17,000 shillings against a savings goal of 40,000 shillings over the next 3 months.

To succeed at this challenge, there are certain things we need to do right.

1. Set a goal; Lewis Caroll once said,”If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”. We often take this approach with our finance goals. We just coast along and hope that things will work out in the end. However, to achieve financial independence, we have to set goals, and set them the right way. This video explains a simple way to set financial goals.

2. Resist the urge to cheat on your goals. This last week unfortunately has not been as great. While I did keep my promise to carry both breakfast and lunch, I ended up spoiling myself and my family over the weekend, which messed up all the saving I had made during the week.

Despite this, the challenge is still on! Remember, failing once does not mean giving up. We have to come up with tactics to stay motivated.

This video gives us tips on how to avoid cheating on our goals.

My tactics are quite simple:

1. I have sticky notes right above my bed reminding me of how well I am doing on the savings challenge. This constant reminder keeps me on track.
2. I keep track of my expenditure on a daily basis.
3. You (the readers of this blog) are my accountability partners.
4. Avoid unnecessary spending. Groceries/supermarket shopping is one of the areas where we are most likely overspend. How often do you keenly follow your shopping list? Do you always pick up a chocolate bar as you wait for your turn at the till?

Implement the tips below to avoid overspending.

Bulk shopping has been a winner for me on this one. By buying all my household supplies (with the exception of bread and milk) from a wholesale shop, I reduce the number of times I go to the supermarket, reducing the temptation to overspend.

The challenge continues!

This article is the fourth in a series of sponsored posts for the BARCLAYS SAVINGS CHALLENGE. I hope the challenge will be as interesting for you as I hope it is for me. You can follow the discussion on Twitter and Facebook and share your own experience by using the hashtag #AFRICASAVES. Visit the Barclays page for useful savings calculators and information on their savings accounts.