Making Saving Money A Little More Fun

Won't Go Down Without a Fight made a great point yesterday about how the novelty of saving and reducing debt has worn off, and now she feels like she is in the Doldrums of saving.

Debt is abstract, and you don't get to "see" the rewards. You don't ever see the amount of physical money you owe to a creditor dwindling. Everything is electronic, and similar to what I have found when I use my debit card, you don't always pay attention to what the numbers are telling you. It is easy to focus on the deprivation you feel in trying to be more frugal, especially at the beginning, but that is exactly what you shouldn't do. I don't know of any way that will stall your progress faster than doing just that.

So, I got to thinking about it, and here are some way that I have come up with that make it more fun to save money, and focus on the rewards being frugal brings:

• Track the things you get for free - whether they are from the grocery store, CVS, or the mail, write them down and assign a value to each. I knew I got a lot of freebies last year, but I am amazed at what I am getting this year. Most of the ones I get in the mail are thanks to Heather over at Freebies 4 Mom. I am headed over to Fry's again this afternoon after I get Spencer to school, so my Free Stuff total will jump after that, but as of this morning, it is $642. Just for January! Highlights include a free, full-size tube of Estee Lauder Sunscreen (value $35) and a whole bunch of free Cottonelle toilet paper.

UPDATE: After my trip to Fry's, my total Free Stuff value is at $694.10. This means that I got over $50 in free groceries today. Just wanted to share my good news!

• Treat yourself to an occasional reward for sticking with it and doing a good job. Whether it's going out to dinner once in a while, or using some of your ECB's to buy something you want even though it's not going to produce more ECB's, or going to a fantastic sale (as long as you have a reasonable budget, bring cash, and leave the credit cards at home!), doing something that highlights what a good job your doing is very rewarding. I definitely don't advocate doing things like this all the time because the novelty will wear off, but on occasion, it's nice to remember that it is for things like this that you are working so hard to save.
  
• Track your overall savings. This, at least for me, it's a true reflection of my savings because there is no way on Earth that I would ever not shop sales. Even before I started using coupons (back when I paid real money for things like shampoo, toothpaste, and soap), I still only bought things when they were on sale. However, seeing those savings numbers is a great reminder to me of why I do shop sales, and why I do use coupons. I started my grocery spreadsheet as a way to help me keep track of my budget each week, but it has also helped me keep track of what I am not spending. For example: the total value of my groceries thus far in January has been $492.35. I have used $140.08 in coupons, and my total savings is $302.16 cents. That savings doesn't reflect the savings I get when I shop at Sam's Club (I haven't figured out a good way to calculate that), nor my savings at CVS and Walgreen's. It's just for groceries. And I'm finding that my $35/week budget supplemented by $50/month for Sam's Club seems to be working pretty good.
  
• Get someone else involved - this makes it so much easier to stay on track. It's like losing weight - it's a whole lot easier if there is someone there encouraging you and complimenting you on your progress. My mom was that person for me. And she still is - I have a lot of memories, especially within the last couple of months of conversations where she would tell me how proud of me she was and how well I was doing at saving money. My sisters are also pretty great about putting up with listening to my latest grocery deal or freebie. And it helps a ton!
• Take a break - this, in my opinion, applies only to things like CVS-ing or scoring great deals at the grocery store, not debt reduction or saving money in general. Sometimes when there aren't many good deals to be had, I'll take a week off from coupons and shopping. But, even then, I still have to follow my menu plan and not fall off of the bandwagon. It amazes me how quickly all the good habits you have established and all of your hard work can be undone when you aren't looking.
  

Any suggestions you have to make being frugal a little more fun and easy to do, please let me know!