The easiest money saving system & the end of budgets (2024)

Saving doesn’t have to hard, especially if you follow this incredibly easy money saving system. In fact the system is so easy to follow, you won’t even need to budget at all at the end! Read on!

Ahh. Saving money. A FIRE newbie’s favorite skill. NOT! Yes, it’s incredibly important, but it really does sound like a drag.

Well I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be crappy. In fact, once I learned to save my money the right way – I loved it. I didn’t try to trick myself into enjoying it with some stupid game, or envelopes of cash and stickers. It was a mental revolution which led me to really enjoy saving money in a special way. Like, really really enjoy it. Like, Scrooge McDuck playing in his vault enjoy.

I really do like saving as much as this ducks likes skiing on his gold coins…I would like that too.

Why I came up with this super easy money saving system

The normal way most people tell you to save up money is to make yourself a budget. You can spend $400 on groceries this month. $400 on drinking with friends. $5 on toilet paper. Then once that magic number runs out – tough nuts. No more spending.

That sucks! Firstly, tracking those things is painful. I don’t want to spend a Saturday adding up all my transactions for the month…that is boring as hell! I’ve tried it. Blech. No thank you!

Even worse, what if I have already spent my $5 on toilet paper and it runs out. Should I break my budget or be miserable? I’d buy the toilet paper and toss the budget in a heart beat. I hope you would too.

This is not a challenge I want to give myself

“Heyy, I like my budget system. It keeps me organized. It gives me structure,” I hear my OCD amigos say. If you like it, more power to you, but I will never advocate that you budget in any way because I hate them and discovered they are unnecessary.

Most people think that tight budgets are THE way to achieve their savings goals and prosper in life. Hallelujah!

But they are wrong…

Most budgets fail for this simple reason

Budgets can work but they will fail for most people for the same reason most people fail at dieting. In fact a budget is really just a diet for your wallet and diets are no fun either. If you don’t succeed at diets, budgets likely aren’t for you either. Yeah you’ll be gung-ho for a bit but once the adrenaline wears off you’ll fail. I’ll explain:

• Budget (and diets) are painful to execute. Running out of money sucks and tallying up expenses sucks too.
• If it’s painful you won’t do it. Its human to avoid pain. Don’t feel bad about it.
• If you don’t budget and its your saving technique you won’t save.
• If you don’t save you won’t succeed at any financial goals.

Simple as that. They aren’t enjoyable so most people will fail to follow through.

Meet the easiest money saving system known to the planet

So how do we save if budgets are doomed to failure? Well, that’s why I created the easiest least painful money saving system that anyone has ever seen. I made this with the goal of having something so pain-free and easy that no one would even be put off of doing it.

Its exciting from day 1 to day 1million. A money saving system that is so easy it has no actual budget. A money saving system which in my opinion is 100x better and easier than the alternatives. The oh-so-simple first step is to evolve to a higher level of being…see…easy.

World’s easiest money saving system – Step 1 – Your Evolution

To begin your evolution you need to realize that as you put effort into saving you are really getting closer to your dream life. You save a bit and you are closer. You save some more and you are closer yet again. Each dollar you save gets you a little closer to the end goal and it’s not some endless trek. It might take a while, but you’ll get there eventually.

It’s just like evolution!

Errrr…just like a Pokemon evolution.

Right now you are a lowly magikarp who does nothing but flop to and from work. You do however have the ability to work on yourself to make your life better.

Eventually, after a little effort you learn the saving skill and after a long time saving turns into freedom and you become a badass that everyone is suddenly jealous of. (Gyaradose is a free badass in case you didn’t figure that out…it can fly goddamnit!). Hard work really does pay off.

If you want to retire someday (GASP how could you!) it will happen. If you want to retire someday very soon, you will also get there. There is an end point and that is important to keep your head held high along your journey.

This is the important first step for the money saving system because you have to know and believe that every dollar you save gets you closer to your end goal. If you don’t believe, then you wont try and it all falls apart.

Step 2 – The secret sauce of choice

You probably aren’t yet convinced that saving money can be enjoyable but now that you know and believe that there is an endpoint to your evolution you get to decide every day whether you want to get closer to that endpoint or not.

Let me tell you a secret. There is a big difference between simply not buying a burrito and saving for a kickass goal of yours, like early retirement.

The big difference is that you are choosing it. This might sound trivial but if you want a steak and you can’t afford it because it’s not in your budget or you are poor, then its delicious image will burrow into your soul and make you incredibly sad. However, if you CHOOSE to divert your money to something better, you can look at that steak and say ‘Hey, you look tasty Mr Steak but I have more important things in life than you. I have my happiness to worry about.’

“Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision.” Tony Robbins

You are choosing to spend your money on something better, your dream life and that makes you feel empowered, proactive and happy.

The opposite of being frugal while saving at the same time

This is the complete opposite of not eating something because it’s out of your budget. One makes you feel happy and one makes you feel sad. I choose to be happy, both on the journey to freedom and of course afterwards as well.

Will you always choose freedom over something else? Not always. If you find something that tastes better than freedom, then by all means enjoy. If your steak dinner will commemorate your unwavering decision to join us on the FIRE escape, then I guess that’s pretty tasty. Do it. Just know that you are making a choice.

I know what I would choose

Putting choice into action

The way to actually act upon step 2 is simple. Whenever you are presented with the option to buy something, force yourself to choose between your amazing dream or whatever is in front of you.

Your dream is early retirement at 35?When you think about going out for dinner, ask yourself ‘What matters more to me, retiring from my job to live in Hawaii or this $14 shawarma plate?‘

Force yourself to make a choice. You have to confront these important life choices in front of you or you will always take the easy path and complain later. If you care about your dream you will choose it over whatever is in front of you most of the time, as long as you think it through.

Step 3 – Self Talk – World’s easiest money saving system needs a little more flavoring

Which message makes you feel empowered? “I could eat this steak, but I’m choosing to spend my money on something better” or “I can’t eat steak because it’s too expensive.” Don’t ever tell yourself “I can’t.” That’s a crap message and it makes you feel like a loser.

You CAN afford that steak. You’ll have something like a million dollars when you get close to retirement if that’s your goal. You can definitely afford a steak. The steak just doesn’t taste as good as retirement. Retirement tastes amazing. The steak tastes like ashes compared to retirement, that’s why we don’t want it.

How does this help the money saving system?

So what’s my point in saying this? When you make your choice re-enforce it by telling yourself why you chose it and use some good self talk while you are at it.

If you choose to invest in your future freedom tell your self ‘I could eat that steak but I’m choosing to spend that money on something that will make me happier‘. On the flip side, if you choose to eat that steak tell yourself why ‘I will eat this steak instead of giving to my future retirement because I think eating it will impress a girl I like and that’s very important to me.’

Literally think these sentences through in your mind or say them out loud if you have to. The point is that you really need to confront why you make the decisions you make and telling yourself why you made them will make you think.

I specially point out that we want to use positive self talk because some of you out there will default to being very negative. Be positive or this amazing journey will turn into a sad story for you. T_T

Some of you out there are thinking that this won’t really work because you have no ability to control yourself. You do. I have never met someone for whom this didn’t work. If you try and at first you don’t succeed, then use this next trick.

A friend had no impulse control and the trick that saved him

Seriously, this works for everyone. I had a friend who was following my money saving system. He said no matter what he did he wouldn’t choose his freedom very often over what was in front of him. He had no impulse control and it turns out it was because his self talk sucked.

The message he was giving himself sucked and he didn’t really get excited about it. He wanted to retire early but it didn’t excite him so he never followed through.

So what did I do, I asked him to think of the most kickass thing he would do with his freedom. His answer, he would take a one year to motorcycle down to the tip of South America and back to his home in Seattle with his bestie. He was motivated to do THAT. That was tasty.

Biking across 3 continents does sound pretty amazing doesn’t it. I kind of want to steal this dream.

So his self talk sentence became ‘What matters more to me? This butter chicken extravaganza or biking through Bolivia?‘ Then suddenly the cards fell into place and he saved.

He liked that trip. His bestie (not me 😐 ) ditched partway through because of money issues but my buddy kept on. Now he’s living in Mexico because he met someone on the trip. Life is good.

Step 4 – Spend your money?!?

The last part of this money saving system is to spend that money you saved. That might sound stupid but as soon as you decide to give that money to your dreams you should do it.

What is this wizardry? How can that be done? It’s simple, transfer your money to a dream account you setup in your bank or your investment place. Name it after whatever your dream is, like ‘Hawaiian Beach Life Account‘.

You would have spent $50 on dinner but you ate something from your fridge instead? Transfer $50 to your freedom account. Don’t wait to do it at the end of the week or the end of the day. Do it right there. You can access your bank account from your pocket so use it.

There is an important reason to transfer it immediately. If you transfer the money right away it will really feel like you are choosing to spend your money on your dream. Wait and it’ll break that feeling of spending your money on your dream.

Take my money dream account! Take it now!

A Man and his Burritos – Plan in action

I love burritos. I love them. That’s not an exaggeration. I would have burritos for every meal if it was practical. However, if skipping a week of my delicious burritos puts me closer to a super awesome goal, I will skip those burritos 100% of the time.

I know because I tried it for a week before this post just to prove I could do it. Why could I do it? I told myself everytime I saw a burrito, ‘I’m choosing to not eat you even though I could because I would rather spend my money on buying a sailboat’. Then it was easy. I thought about a cool sailing trip and I was excited to fund it.

Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, for one week I had my wife deny me those footballs of deliciousness… very much against my will. She loved every minute of it. It was horrible, I was forced to be burrito-less for one week and I almost lost my mind. So don’t you tell me self-control cannot be learned. It can and it all starts with your evolution.

Having a choice, having a goal, and a dash of self-talk will take you a lot farther than some painful budgeting process. This is the evolution of saving.

Good luck everyone,

See you on the FIRE escape.

TL;DR

• Saving is the cornerstone to your freedom. Budgets are not.
• This money saving system is painless which will encourage you to follow through.
• Realize that saving money does get you somewhere. There is an endpoint and every step gets you closer.
• Make saving an empowered CHOICE rather than some sad version of “it’s too expensive.”
• Each time you make your empowered savings choice, transfer money to a dream account.
• If I can practice self-control around burritos, anything’s possible.