You Deserve a Treat
This is for people in debt; I’m speaking to you. But I also want to shout out my over-saver friends who have the ability to go a bit wild now and then, but can’t let go of the purse strings.
If you spend any time hanging around in the personal finance space, you have likely encountered the idea of savings games. The general idea is that you build your savings bit by bit by employing seemingly random rules for making deposits to a savings account. A few examples:
Weather Wednesday. Whatever the lowest temperature is that day (either where you live or another city that you have chosen to track), save that amount. Feel free to choose a different city as the seasons change, depending on your level of ambition. (You may also want to brush up on the Celsius scale.)
52 Week Challenge. At the start of Week One, you save $1. Week Two, $2. And so on. You can also start at $52 and decrease each week.
Grocery Store Receipt. If you regularly shop at a grocery store that notes on the bottom of the receipt that you have saved $X by shopping there that day, transfer that amount to your savings account.
Tip Yourself. Went to the gym today? Tip yourself a few bucks. Actually unloaded the dishwasher? That’s worth a $1 tip. Your sports team won? Definitely worth $5.
There are also bank-linked apps that will round up your purchases to the next dollar and automate a deposit from your checking account to a savings or even an investment account.
Choose your own adventure based on your cash flow. Whichever game you choose, the idea is that these micro-deposits eventually add up to noticeable savings. But here’s what I want you to do differently: I don’t want you to save it.
Let me back up for a moment. My starting point is that you have a quantifiable, time-bound plan for eliminating your debt. And if your savings are weak, you are also building to that goal regularly and substantially (not just through little savings games). And if you are doing both of these things, chances are you are feeling a bit deprived.
My possibly radical idea is that I want you to apply these micro-savings to immediate treats. Use the proceeds of these games to fund a Treat Fund. You want to take that Uber home instead of the bus? Stop off for a fast food burger instead of cooking tonight? Yes, get the apocryphal latte! This is the fund that can make that happen.
Of course, you will need some way to track your balance separately from your “real” savings. If your bank allows sub-accounts within your savings account, that would be ideal. If not, and you do not want to bother with establishing an actual separate account, your Treat Fund could be more hypothetical. That is, you do not actually move money from your checking account elsewhere, but you track the Treat Fund would-be transfers and balance, perhaps just using a memo app on your phone.
Oh, and you can’t hoard it. If you want to save up for a vacation, this isn’t the place to do it. (For one thing, it could take you years to get on the plane this way!) The Treat Fund is meant for frequent little delights to make your day a bit brighter. It’s about letting yourself be a bit irresponsible now and then, guilt free.
If it all sounds a bit fiddly, well, it is. But the purpose is to ingrain the idea that you are not just the sum of your debts. If you are otherwise doing the “right thing,” you should feel empowered to let your foot off the gas and relax occasionally. The purpose of these little mind games is to set a boundary around that. This is especially important for people who worry that if they treat themselves once, they won’t be able to stop.
Get a little crazy. You have my permission. (But you didn’t need it.)
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