One simple fact everyone should understand is that if you are saving money in any way, you are actually earning money. It’s effectively the same thing, and it’s something you can do almost every time you shop.
When you’re heading to the grocery store, the gas station, or the mall when you save while shopping means that your money goes nowhere except into your pocket just as if you “earned” it. Saving money is earning money!
Good Stuff Happens When You Save
While you could waste your precious time debating whether or not earning more at your job, side gig, or working for your Uncle Fred in Tucson is a better way to increase your income and build your wealth, why bother? (Spoiler alert: You can do both.)
You deal with money every day, so why not figure out new and better ways to hold on to more of it?
Even if this is a new concept for you, during the current economic status we are living in, doesn’t it make more sense to spend less and save more?
Do You Argue With Yourself About Money?
If you argue about whether saving more or earning more is a more effective way to build wealth, you’re wasting your time, which, essentially, is the same as wasting money.
Here’s a prime example. If you get a good deal when shopping for a new TV set and save $400 on it, mathematically, it equates to receiving a $400 windfall. That’s earning money by spending less on something you were already planning to purchase.
This forces you to focus on what is most important, the bottom line. It doesn’t matter whether you saved money, made money, or spent money because all you should care about is the incoming and outgoing of wealth.
“Bottom Lining” Pays Off
My Mom was the financial brains in my house when I was a kid, and she focused on the saving and, thus, earning principle.
Mom didn’t have a paying job until I was about nine years old, but she knew about money and taught it to me when I was just beginning to count. I went shopping with her, especially at the grocery store, and I always asked questions about why she bought what she did and why things cost different prices.
Since we were on the lower end of the middle-class spectrum, being a good shopper and trying to save was a priority and a lesson my mother taught me well. I learned so well, in fact, that I was trusted to do some family shopping, even at the age of nine, on my own if she needed me to.
We turned it into a game, and I was competitive in my attempts to beat her and any other family member like my older sister, who never quite got the hang of it.
Budgets Can Reduce Financial Stress
At no time is making a budget more important than when money stress has you on the run.
Budgeting puts a higher emphasis on saving money because when you budget, you record savings as a form of income. This forces you to think about the activities you do that allow you to “earn” when spending as you do your budget analysis.
Is This a Trick?
You may think that this perspective on spending, saving, and earning money is not novel and is just about spending less money.
This concept lets you keep more cash and is the most effective way to create a link between saving and earning money. The controlling of the spending is still up to you.
Yes, if you become obsessed with the “excitement” of saving, you could end up buying things you don’t need to experience that feeling. In a push to increase the amount of earnings, you could end up spending more money than you ever needed to spend.
What These Earnings Can Do
Saving money in this manner can be a real blessing if you take action and invest it so it can grow over time.
Otherwise, going to the trouble to save it only to re-spend it doesn’t accomplish a whole lot.
The main point is that you learn something about money, your spending habits, and the importance of budgeting, shopping, and building wealth in a way that you control.
Final Thoughts
There’s a limited number of ways to get your hands on more money and build wealth. It’s about working and earning and saving money that converts to earnings. Start thinking that way now, and you can make things happen just when you need them most!