This post is by our regular contributor, Erin.
Do you have trouble motivating yourself to reach certain financial goals? Or does it take a little extra to get you excited about the thought of saving money or paying off debt?
Not everyone is goal-oriented or self-motivated, and that’s okay. It can be difficult to focus on goals when there’s so much else competing for our attention.
In that case, why not turn your financial goals into a game? By that I mean adding fun elements like rewards, points, and competition into the mix, so you have something else keeping you going along the way.
If you’re a competitive person who loves keeping track of an imaginary scoreboard between you and everyone else, or if you’re motivated more by rewards, then this could be what you need to succeed at your goals.
Get a Competition Going Among Your Friends
Are you and your friends trying to reach a similar goal, like paying off student loan debt, credit card debt, or saving for a vacation? Consider rounding everyone up to see if they’d be interested in making a game out of reaching the shared goal. Compete to see who can reach the goal first or make the most progress in a certain amount of time.
It’s kind of like going to the gym or exercising with someone. You get the benefit of having accountability buddies, and you can all work to motivate each other toward the goal.
However, as we’ve said before, knowing the why behind your goal is important. Before the competition starts, you and your friends should get together and discuss why you want to succeed, and what your hopes are for the future.
For example, maybe you all want to pay your student loans off because you’re tired of not being able to afford to move out of your parent’s place, or because you feel like you can’t move forward with your lives.
You all hope that once the debt is paid off, you can move onto other major milestones, like saving for a wedding, a house, or a new car. Or maybe you want to look for your dream job outside your current city.
Light hearted goals, like saving for a joint vacation, can be fun to do as a simple competition. You’re all committed to going already, and you can tie the reward in with the vacation. Maybe the person who manages to save the most gets the biggest room at the house you’re renting.
Whatever you do, make it fun and cheer each other on! Yes, it’s a competition, but as many of you know, money can be a sensitive topic. If your friends aren’t having an easy time with the challenge, be sure to help them figure out what’s going wrong and suggest ways they can improve.
Reward Yourself Along the Way
Let’s face it – most financial goals take a while to complete. It’s very easy to lose momentum along the way. To keep yourself going, give yourself rewards you can work toward along the way.
Some people recommend rewarding yourself at major milestones, but go a step further and outline your rewards first. This way, you’re working toward something more concrete than a mini-celebration.
For example, say you have $10,000 of debt you need to pay down. You can reward yourself for every $1,000 you pay down:
- At $9,000, buy yourself a book you’ve been excited to read
- At $8,000, go out to dinner
- At $7,000, reward yourself with something you’ve had your eye on for a while
- At $6,000, take a day trip to a favorite spot
And so on and so forth. The important thing here, of course, is that you budget for these rewards ahead of time, don’t go overboard, and pay cash for them. You don’t want to add to your debt!
You can always shift the rewards around depending on what motivates you the most at a certain time. In general, I think “saving the best for last” works well here, as you’ll need the most push toward the end.
DC has another method called the “financial bridge” technique that complements this idea. You’re setting smaller, actionable goals to guide you toward your big goal.
Let’s say you want to pay off your $10,000 debt in 2 years. You need to pay $416 per month to achieve that. Where can you come up with the money? Maybe you can work overtime each week for an extra $100, and have the other $300 come from a mix of freelance writing and social media management.
Essentially, you’re breaking down your ultimate goal by creating a bridge (smaller goals) to get there. This works well if you’re overwhelmed and have no idea where to start!
Take Part in a Challenge
There are many challenges you can take to help you save money (and put more money toward debt). Some of these challenges you can do on your own, and other challenges are part of a larger movement (some bloggers issue challenges to their followers and create a group around it).
Doing a shopping ban or having no-spend days is extremely popular in the blogosphere, but you should take a challenge that addresses a problem you’ve been having or is in line with your overall goals.
For example, I would never choose to do a shopping ban because, well, I rarely shop for anything outside the basic necessities. I don’t have an overspending problem in any common area, such as groceries or clothes.
However, if you’ve been struggling to tell yourself “no” when it comes to certain things, then perhaps it’s time for a challenge. Do you spend a lot of money on clothes, lunch, coffee, or fast food? See if you can make it a week or two without buying any, and then challenge yourself to go longer!
Double up on Your Goals
Do you have any other goals you’re working toward that aren’t necessarily finance-related? Maybe you want to learn a new skill, take a course, read a few books, or exercise more.
Double up on your goals by committing to not spending until you reach your other goal. For example, say you want to get outside and walk more. Tell yourself you can’t buy lunch out until you walk for an hour each day of the week.
It helps if your secondary goal is something you’re more excited about, so it can carry you through the rough times.
Change Your Approach
Sometimes, all you need is a tiny change in your mindset to see your financial goals in a new and exciting light.
One analogy I’ve always loved is thinking of your overall financial plan like a lifelong road trip. When you graduate from college, you’re just starting out, but the end game for most of us is working toward retirement.
You can only achieve retirement if you put all the necessary pieces in place throughout your 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond.
I’m going to get literal here and say you can think of your entire financial plan as one huge game. You get quests along the way you need to complete for “experience,” and you level up along the way until you reach the end. Well, our financial journey never really ends, but hopefully you get the idea!
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There are many ways you can turn your financial goals into a game. It’s all about finding what works for you and gets you the most excited. The entire point is to have fun and get motivated to build good financial habits that will continue to serve you well.
Have you ever turned your finances into a game? What tricks have you used to get motivated to reach your financial goals?
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“It’s all about finding what works for you” – That’s the key. After a certain milestone you need to determine what will help keep you moving forward. It’s all about momentum went trying to accomplish a goal over a long period of time.
I like the idea of rewarding yourself all along. Whatever it takes to stay motivated!
I love bridge goals. The smaller the goal, the easier it is to achieve. It’s the same reason that a person who is really struggling with health and weight might say something like today I will work out at 6AM, and I will eat X for breakfast and Y for lunch. By the time you achieve a few small goals, it’s a lot easier to say no to drinks after work or whatever.
I used to use the reward technique a lot when I was paying off debt – I’d reward myself with something once I hit a $5,000 threshold. It helped break it up and help protect against significant debt fatigue. Whatever motivates you to continue at it is good in my book.
This is a great idea! I haven’t done it because my friends are in no financial hurry to get out of student loan debt! But I really like this idea and think it is probably really effective.
DebtDiscipline It is, and it definitely changes over time! I know my wants/needs are completely different than they were 2 years ago, so it’s important to make sure you have the proper rewards in place to keep going.
holly@clubthrifty.com Yes! Like I said, you don’t want to go into debt to reward yourself, of course, but there are plenty of low-cost ways to celebrate.
Hannah UnplannedFinance Totally agree! It’s hard to see the big picture. Telling yourself you want to lose 50 lbs in 6 months can sound scary, but breaking it down makes it seem much more realistic.
FrugalRules I’m glad it worked for you, John! I think I need to implement a rewards system for myself. =)
Financegirl Thanks, Natalie, glad you liked it! I know how you feel – my friends aren’t in a rush to pay off their student loans, either.
Excellent article. Normally I don’t speak about getting out of debt, but I can definitely see how the “Major Milestone” approach can incentivize people to “Level Up” out of debt. When getting out of debt or trying to save money, remember that paying in cash for items hurts more than paying for items with cards and may help people reach their milestones faster.
We probably ought to treat our current savings goal as something of a game to help incentivize Tim. But there are just too many scary variables danging in the future for us to do much other than nose-to-the-grindstone.
Great idea, Erin. With any goal, the more you can make it fun and reward yourself for hitting major milestones, the more likely you are to achieve it. Too many people look at goals as a to-do versus helping them create the life they want. Taking the time to think about the why and gain support of friends help adjust that mindset too.
FinancialTales Thanks! Yes, that’s true – a lot of people have a hard time parting with cash, but when you pay with plastic, you don’t feel the sting as much.
AbigailP You have to do what works for you! Saving comes a lot easier than paying down debt for me (which is a little weird), so incentivizing the debt payoff is something I’ve been thinking about.
ShannonRyan I like that comparison, Shannon – it’s spot on! We do tend to list out our goals in a way that isn’t exciting, don’t we? Back when I had “monthly goals,” I started attaching a “why” to them and that helped me focus on the bigger picture and get more excited.
I love the idea of rewarding yourself for meeting goals. It’s amazing how a little reward can do wonders for motivation.
Eyesonthedollar It really can make a huge difference for those that aren’t super into financial goals. ;)
Yes I’ve done little things along the way and it does make it fun. Currently I’m doing one where every time Mr. Exit Plan does something to piss me off (which is a lot) I put money in that specific savings bucket. I even have a separate app I’m using called Money Cloud. Seems counterintuitive to “charge” myself for him, but I feel just a tiny bit better knowing I’m one step closer to saying those magic words, “____ ___!” Use your imagination! :)
Creative topic, enjoyed the post. I’m currently doing some of these things now, but it’s difficult to reward myself for financial goals. I think I just need to allow myself to recognize that it’s an important part of the process. Regarding challenges, Anthony Ongaro of Break the Twitch is doing a minimalist challenge this month where you get rid of one thing on day one, two things on day 2, etc. I haven’t done the math, but it’s a lot of letting go. I know not everyone is into that sort of thing, but it’s a fun challenge for those looking to declutter and downsize, so I thought I’d give it a try. Thanks for your post!
Loved this post! It’s easy to do something when you are motivated, hard when you are not. Maybe you could take the “game” even further with your friends earn “points” for good saving behavior. The person with the most points gets {fill in the blank}. This post really got me thinking!
I turned our food shopping into a challenge between me and my husband and it made the process of saving money on food SO much more interesting and we hit our goals faster because we are both highly competitive people. :-)
Beachbudget That makes perfect sense to me! I like that idea a lot. I think more people should do that, especially if they’re looking to leave a job or create a little “FU” fund!
Laura Beth @ How To Get Rich Slowly Thanks for sharing a challenge! I’ve seen many of those going around as far as minimalism goes. Having those guidelines can definitely help you toss more stuff.
friendstoldme2 Yes, that’s the idea I had in mind! It’s fun to do it with a group as you can all support each other and have friendly competition. Glad you enjoyed it!
blonde_finance Ha! I love it. Maybe I should try that…
I haven’t turned my finances into a game, but I am motivated every week by reading other bloggers debt payoff posts. It helps me stay on my grind especially if I’ve having a down week or something.
Jason @ The Butler Journal Reading other blogs is definitely helpful to stay motivated! That’s why I love being part of such a community, especially as my friends aren’t too interested in financial goals. ;)
I love games and challenges when it comes to goals. Lately I’ve been on a minimalism journey and right now on Simply Save I’m hosting the Minsgame with fellow bloggers. We’ve also got a Facebook community joining us and sharing inspiring posts so it really helps me stay motivated to declutter!
SimplySave That’s exactly what I’m talking about! As bloggers, we can inspire others to join us on challenges. Facebook communities work really well for that.