Saving the Lazy Way

Short post today, in honor of the holiday.  I promise later this week that I will post something a little more substantial.  For now, I'm just going to leave this here and enjoy the rest of my day off.  I hope you do too!

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that at the end of a long work day, I am considerably more interested in collapsing on the couch than doing just about anything else.  Exercising, doing housework, and sometimes even cooking just feel like way too much work.  And the funny thing is that I enjoy doing all of those things!  Mustering the energy to do things I don’t enjoy is a whole different beast entirely.  If I let myself get as far as the couch, then the lazy has won.  It generally involves an act of congress to remind me that I’m supposed to be a responsible adult. 

To evade this sluggish, pitiful fate, I have two strategies:

1.       Avoid the couch until I have tackled my to-do list, and

2.       Automate what I can so that I have less to do. 

Many banks offer options to automatically transfer money from a checking account into a savings account at a set frequency.  As far as I am concerned, this is perfect.  Not only do I not have to do anything, I don’t even have to think about doing anything! 

Even better yet, the transfers can be set up so that I don’t even notice them.  I get paid bi-weekly on Thursdays.  So, I have my savings auto-transfers set up to go at the same time.  That way I know there will be money available (so I won’t accidentally overdraft).  Plus the money gets transferred as soon as I get it, so I never get a chance to spend it.  My savings account can sit quietly in the background, growing week by week, without weighing on my conscience or impacting my day to day behavior.  This is great because it frees up time and mental energy to focus on other things, like push-ups or vacuuming.