Saving Starts With Mindset

So many people have a hard time saving money. They say they don’t earn enough to save, or that they’ll get around to it after paying for their last big purchase. The amount you earn should only limit the amount you can save, not if you can save at all. Here’s proof that you can find a way to save, even without a job. – If you’re not interested in the full story, you can scroll to the end for the key points.

It starts with mindset

You have to want something so bad that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it. As a 12 year old, I was too young to get a typical job, but I had dreams that outweighed my income. They say the only difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys. Well, even as a boy, my dream toys cost thousands of dollars. Thousands that my parents couldn’t or wouldn’t hand me. I had to find a way to get what I wanted. My all consuming desire was a Yamaha YZ125 motorcycle. Price tag was around $3,000.00 for a used one.

Focus on what you have, instead of what you don't

Instead of looking at what I didn’t have, I focused on what I did. What tools were at my disposal, and where could I find a way to save. So I didn’t have a job, but I had four sources of income.

Christmas and Birthday gifts

I made a point to tell my parents and relatives to please not get me a gift, and that if they wanted to give me something, that I’d really wanted cash, since I was saving up for a motorcycle. It’s important to let others in on your goals. Share your ideas with others and you’ll be surprised what comes your way. Some people really want to help you achieve your goal, they just need to know about it.

I made it a point to save every $10, $20, or $50 gift I got, and put it towards my goal. I had to pass up the comic card shop and the sweets aisle (my personal favorite being gummy bears) at the grocery store in order to stay focused on my goal. I had to trade many small wants if I was going to stay focused for a single large one.

Lunch money

I took things to the extremes. Even to this day, I’m not sure if my mom is aware of this or not. I used to get $2-$3 per day for lunch money. Other days my mom would make me lunch, but I eventually was able to convince her to save time and effort so that I could maximize my income. Help me, help you, help me 🙂

I would starve for half the day while at school, only drinking the free tap water from the drinking fountain. As soon as I came home around 1:30, I’d make something to eat from home. Yes I realize I was bumming off the pantry from home, but the main thing to focus on is that I looked at my personal situation and what resources I had to leverage.

You can apply this to eating in, instead of going out to restaurants to cut cost, or shopping for lower priced store brands at lower end grocery stores, if you’re having a hard time considering my extreme of morning fasting, which is actually something I still do to this day. I don’t have a set schedule for when I eat, it’s usually just whenever I’m hungry, but the two meal a day habit I started many years ago still sticks with me most days. Espresso tends to be that breakfast replacement these days 🙂 The point is small amounts can add up to sizable savings.

Allowance

In addition to trading my hunger for what I craved, I looked to pick up a few bucks cleaning the house, taking out the trash, folding laundry, doing dishes, and washing our car. All the while not earning more than $5 at any given time. I just asked how I could earn money and there was usually an answer offered, and it always entailed physical labor. To this day, I still don’t mind physical labor, but it’s usually in the form of sweat equity. I tend not to look for hourly earnings or piece work, but rather an input of my time that will yield an exponential result.

Selling personal items

Nothing lasts forever, including our interests in most material things. Some things are sentimental, I get it, but if you’ve outgrown it, won’t use it, or have upgraded, let someone else use it. I always prefer to see something used rather than sit; even if it’s not by me. I exclude tools from this, as I view tools as assets that yield returns at unpredictable times. You can always buy items again if you find in the future you miss it that much. Likely you won’t even notice it’s gone. If you do repurchase in the future, by that time, there will probably be an improved version.

I would sell off old toys at yard sales or the swap meet. Sell bike parts to friends, and look for old things my parents no longer wanted that I could make a few bucks on.

Sometime later, after I had achieved my 1k goal and had built some confidence, I noticed my neighbor, from a street over, had smashed the front fender of his truck. We happened to have a fender that fit it but was a slightly different color. I knocked on they guys door and sold him the replacement fender for $160. Now that’s recognizing opportunity!

You may be wondering why the post is called save $1000, instead of save $3000 since that was the going rate, well here’s why:

Sweat equity

I was fortunate enough that my parents did buy me a Yamaha Blaster ATV for $1400 a few years earlier. I saved the Cycletrader ad for years. I used to look in the Cycletrader weekly to see what the going rates were for the ATV I had, and the motorcycle I wanted. After awhile I noticed a pattern of many of the ATV prices. Prices would rise and fall based on the desert season.

Please excuse the embarrassing pic. I wanted to give you a visual of what I was talking about

The desert season in Southern California started as early as Labor day, if you loved to ride more than the heat, and ended by Memorial Day for the same reason. The interim summer months being just too hot to ride. What seemed to happen was that people would take their friends out to the desert for Halloween weekend, and they’d enjoy it so much that they’d want a toy of their own by Thanksgiving weekend. Holiday weekends would attract people due to the extended days off.

When I got the Yamaha Blaster ATV it was a bit rough, but riding and off-roading was my passion back then. I valued that ATV so much that I always tried to make it look the best it could. Before selling it, I spray painted the frame, replaced a few levers, and while looking for products to clean it, I stumbled across Maxima SC-1 which is basically a miracle in a can. It makes just about anything look like new.

My first flip

Well it seems that I timed the market just right. I listed it for sale the Friday after Halloween weekend for $2200. I got my full asking price that first weekend, making almost a full $800 on the machine I used for a few years.

I had the $2200 from the sale of the ATV and had managed to save over $1000 in a little over a year using the methods I described above.

I found my dream motorcycle and purchased it for $3299. Goal conquered!

Helpful tips

You can save, even without a traditional job. Here's some things to focus on.

• Look at expenses to cut from your routine, such as, impulse buys: gourmet teas, sodas, junk food from the snack machine… Note I didn’t suggest coffee as it’s must have! But you can swap out $5 Starbucks coffee for free office, or home brewed coffee to meet your goal. Check out our home set up here.

• Look to see if you can find a way to save money that was previously allocated to other things such as cable TV, HBO, memberships you’re no longer using.

• Bring your family or partner in on your goal and set a price limit for gifts. Ask for cash or gift cards for Target or Amazon that are basically as good as cash, or share a purchase of a gift. Ana and I have each contributed to a single gift that we shared the cost and use of, so that we’re not just spending to spend, and we both get something we really want.

• Sell unused items, duplicates, and outdated versions.

• Ask friends, family, neighbors if there is anything you can help them with to earn money.

• Think outside the box – One quirky thing I did was check soda machines and pay-phones for change that people left. Another was collecting cans and recycling them to earn money. The place I took my cans was famous for paying with $2 bills. It was like their way of telling the world when you spent their money that you earned it by recycling.

• Start a side hustle – See mine as a kid here

Conclusion

You have to want something so bad that you’re willing to give up almost anything for it, then you can and will find a way. It may not be easy, but if this 12 year old could find a way, I know you can!

Think outside the box, be creative, and don’t look to do things the way everyone else does. Stick to your goal and little amounts will turn into big things.

Have a tip on how you've saved money? Let me know in the comments below.