When you have multiple saving goals in your twenties – like a house deposit and a vacation – it can seem overwhelming to try to achieve both of them at the same time. So in this YouTube video, I share my simple step-by-step process for saving for multiple goals at once. I hope you find it helpful!
Step 1
Figure out your goals – what do you want to save for? Be specific!
Step 2
Determine the total needed for each goal – how much will you need to save to achieve each goal?
Step 3
Figure out how much money you can save from your current income – this is equal to your total income less your expenses (have a think about whether there’s anything you spend money on that you would be willing to forgo in order to achieve your goal but please don’t give up coffee if you love it)
Step 4
Create a deadline for each goal – when do you want to achieve of your saving goals by?
Step 5
Calculate the amount you will need to save per week/month by dividing the total amount needed (step 2) by the number of weeks/months until your deadline (step 4) (e.g. if you want to save $1,000 for a camera in 3 months, divide $1,000 by 12 weeks to get a total of $83.33 per week or divide $1,000 by 3 months to get a total of $333.33 per month).
To easily calculate the number of weeks or months until a certain date, you use this website.
Step 6
Add the amounts you would need to save each week/month to reach all of your saving goals (this is adding together everything we calculated in step 5). Compare this to the amount you have available to save (we figured this out in step 3). Make sure the amount you need to save is less than or equal to the amount you have available to save from your current income. If it’s not, move out one or more of your deadlines and re-calculate per step 5 until the total you need to save is less than or equal to the amount you have available!
Step 7
Open a bank account for each of your saving goals
Step 8
Setup automated transfers so that the amount you need to save towards each goal (we figured this out in step 5) is automatically transferred to your saving accounts as soon as you’re paid. This will help you reach your saving goals more easily (and doesn’t require you to rely on your willpower)!
I hope you find this helpful!
Sam xx
In spite of being basic maths, your idea is really cool because it forces one to start acting on savings rather than thinking about it for months (or years). Most people that want to save (including myself) don’t have a very clear idea as to what exactly they want to save for and how much. Thanks for the post and keep up the good work!
Thanks so much Ritu, so glad you found it helpful! I think being clear and specific changes everything (we usually like to keep things vague because it gives us an excuse not to act) xx
Great tips! I recently saw a blog post about how to stop buying expensive coffee (http://shygirlsguide.bestonlineblogs.com/2018/03/18/why-you-should-stop-buying-the-5-latte/) and it has helped me save so much!