How My Savings Habit Changed My Outlook
Many years ago, just after my husband and I opened our bakery, a faceless bureaucracy forced us to replace our ovens. Just as we were absorbing the shock of that decision, new ovens being a major expense and one we hadn’t planned on, our upstairs tenants gave notice.
We were deep in debt and suddenly down a significant portion of our mortgage payment. The apartment was a mess and needed to be completely cleaned, painted and updated before we could rent it out again.
As we were working through all of that, it dawned on me.
“We need to start a savings plan,” I told my husband.
His response was something along the lines of good luck with that.
Alan takes a different approach to money than I do. He’s interested in the big wins, shrugging off the kind of minor details that financial advisors assure us do make a difference.
And any time I’ve suggested we track our spending, he’s heard “I’m going to remove your testicles.” Even though those words have never come out of my mouth, I swear.
For far too many years I left the finances in his hands because that’s how it worked in our parents’ marriages, even though I knew it wasn’t serving either of us.
But that financial double punch finally changed my mind.
“No, I’m gonna do this,” I said.
The bakery is a cash business. So I decided to take all the small change — quarters on down — and roll it up and put it into a long-term savings account.
It was a ridiculous response to our situation on the face of it.
And the voice in my head kept chanting that we were screwed, even as I rolled up that first stack of quarters. Ten dollars against tens of thousands of dollars in debt, never mind the mortgage.
But by the end of the week, I had a few of those rolls. So we went to the bank and opened up a savings account.
It was money we didn’t miss out of our budget. The amounts wouldn’t make much difference in the day-to-day running of our lives, but having savings, any savings at all gave me a much-needed sense of security.
I was surprised how quickly those little rolls of coins added up to $100.
Because we live in a town frequented by American tourists (I live in Canada), we often had a bit of American money in the cash box. Again, not enough to change our cash-flow, but if I added it to savings…
I make one-of-a-kind, hand-cut collage cards that I sell at markets and maker fairs. Soon the money from those sales joined the small change and American money in our savings.
Bit by bit, our finances improved.
We crowd-funded the new ovens and a few years later expanded the bakery. We found new tenants for the apartment and then a few years after that we sold the house.
Through it all, I’ve continued to roll coins, sequester the American money and add all of my earnings to our savings.
Eight years on, we’re debt-free (mostly down to selling the house) and we have roughly four years of living expenses in the bank. We won’t be retiring any time soon, but that’s OK. Neither of us wants to.
I realized something interesting when I started earning money on Medium.
I took every penny of my earnings and added them to our savings.
Years past, any kind of windfall would have had me dreaming of new shoes or nights out. Now, I get excited to put it all into savings because I’ve gotten into the habit. I get excited to see that number grow. We budget for treats and because of the habit of saving, don’t feel the need for more.
If you haven’t started a savings habit yet, I encourage you to give it a go.
Start small but start.
It’s not so much the amount you set aside that will change your life. It’s the habit itself and the new outlook it can lead to.
I do realize that living in Canada makes it so much easier to hang onto our savings. Our health care is covered and rent controls are in place. But having the potential for disaster looming over you makes it more important to start saving.
Even a small amount is better than nothing at all.
Thinking about your money, down to the smallest nickel, will get you in the habit of saving and looking for ways to improve your finances.
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