One of the biggest complaints I get as to why people don’t save is because it’s “no fun.” Why would I put money away for later when I can use it on something fun now? Even if people do manage to save up a little money in one month, it’ll often just be gone the next month. I get it. Putting away money for later and sacrificing things I wish I could do now is no fun at all. It feels like I’m being robbed of my livelihood. The idea I’d like to explain to you in this post is the idea that you’re still enjoying your money when you save – it’s just a temporary delay of enjoyment.

Lets be honest. You’re out and about and feel a compulsive desire to spend some of your money. “I deserve this” or “I really want this,” you tell yourself. So you buy one more round of drinks, get dessert, go out to eat one more night that week, go see that movie or buy that new dress. Nine times out of ten, the next day or week, do you ever find yourself regretting that purchase?

Saving money helps you make better financial decisions. Impulse decisions are the worst and are often the leading factor in causing us to break our budgets. Retailers know this about us too, and make it oh so tempting for us to say yes when we know we should say no. By saving money, we therefore aren’t spending money, and if we’re not spending money, we’re not making impulsive spending decisions we know we’ll regret tomorrow.

Why do we save, anyway? We save so we can have money later. Yes, money saved for retirement won’t be something we see for a long time, and yes, money saved for our emergency fund should NEVER be touched unless it is an actual emergency. However, at least for me, a lot of my savings are for fun things I will do later on. I’m getting married this summer, and will want to have some money set aside (a lot if you’re reading this, honey) for that and the honeymoon. I’m also going on several trips in the coming months. By forgoing that new shirt or that meal out for dinner this week, I’m able to have a lot more fun later on.

By getting in the habit of saving money for later, you’ll be setting yourself up for financial success. You’ll find yourself a) with more money in your bank account, b) making less foolish financial decisions that you’ll regret tomorrow and c) able to make larger purchases of nicer things.