So, how easy is it for you to spend an extra $100 bucks a month? Now, how easy is it for you to save an extra $100 bucks a month? Probably a lot of harder, if you’re like me. Yesterday, I talked about where to find $100 a month to save and eventually invest, and I’m trying to reinforce that here. Well, if $100 is too much for you, maybe you could try for $50. Or you could look at things long-term and see what $100/m could become through savings and investment, and find motivation in that result.

It’s generally easy to spend $100 on stuff you don’t need, especially when you spend it in dribbles and drabbles. But if you go pick up a few books on people who became millionaires, it becomes evident that they knew how to save, and that they were unlikely to spend much of their disposable income. Or if they did, they did it for a specific purpose, usually to further their savings.

Let’s look at it another way. I had a brainstorm earlier today and got an insight that I’ve never before experienced in my life. Some of you may intrinsically understand this, but I didn’t until today. Finally, saving makes sense:

No matter what type of job you have (salaried, contract, self-employed), treat your current month’s earnings as if you don’t know how much you’ll be making next month.

I know it sounds extreme, but if gentle methods of saving money haven’t worked for you, it’s time to get tough on yourself. I’ve had both salaried jobs and contracts, and was generally very employable. But somewhere along the way, I got sick of all the politics. Now I’m completely freelance. No contracts for big companies. Just small contracts, writing gigs and whatever way I can earn a living through freelance work. What I’ve given up in salary, I’ve gained in peace of mind. But I’m not saying you should do this. My insight is applicable to anyone who has trouble saving.

For me, some months are good, other months are very lean. A buck is psychologically worth so much more now than when I was young, when I made a nice salary and had no debt obligations. Back then, I actually used to tell people that I had two guardian angels. One regular one and one for my finances. If I ever needed money, my financial guardian angel always came through and found me work or other sources of income. Then reality set in, and several recessions taught me that unless you are disciplined about saving, money is easy come, easy go.

My guardian angel abandoned and has never come back. My father used to admonish me that I’d one day learn the value of money. It took a long time, but it finally happened. I knew that saving was important and that you should spend less than you earn and all that. But I didn’t clue in to what I said above until today.

You should never change your frame of mind to think that you’re poor or that you will not find work. But you should consider carefully any unnecessary expenses. And by saving the money you didn’t spend, you’re also assuring your subconscious that not only are you not less wealthy, but that you’re being proactive and building up your wealth.

If you have trouble with excess spending, as I have had from time to time, make yourself pick between two or three extraneous items. For whatever the reason, earning a lot of money often entices people to buy things they don’t really need. I’m not going to get into a discussion about why just now. Just understand that people who make less often save more.

All this is a temporary measure. Just do it until you see how much your savings are turning into and you actually get addicted to saving. I’ve employed that method in the past and it’s worked for me. But as often happens to many people who get a sudden boost in income, not having a plan for the extra money often means you’ll end up spending it. No one teaches this stuff in school, but it really should be taught.

Look at how much a few bucks a month can turn into, with good money management, investments and, later, stock trading, and saving $50 or $100 a month becomes a lot easier, psychologically. For example, saving $50 per month doesn’t sound like a lot. But regardless of your current age, that $50 will become $600 plus interest, then $1200 plus interest.

That $1200 can go into a safe money market fund or an online savings account and earn a few percent in interest for a couple of years. And if you use a spreadsheet to look ahead a few years, you see that your money will turn into a few thousand dollars that you could invest in other mutual funds or even stocks, to get a bigger return. And then it hits you: if you saved a little bit more than $50, say $100, you’ll have so much more saved up in the same amount of time.