Visual Reminders of your Goals can Help you Save Money

Credit card tempting you?  Connecting your goals with specific images or catch phrases can motivate you to spend less and save more.

When you set your financial goals, are you keeping the big picture in mind? Maybe you've decided to save money by eating out less and cooking at home more. It's a worthy goal, to be sure, but you'll be more successful if you delve deeper. Why do you want to save that money? Is it so that you can save up for a down payment on a house?

To increase your savings, instead of focusing on narrow goals (eating out less), focus on the big picture (buying a house). U.S. News & World Report explains the findings of a new study on spending habits and goals:

By focusing on those big-picture reasons instead of logistics, you will actually improve your chances of achieving your goals, according to new research published in the Journal of Consumer Research. According to the paper, people become more close-minded when they focus on logistics, and less likely to take advantage of unexpected ways they can move closer to their goals. But people who focused on the abstract reasons were able to spontaneously take advantage of ways to turn their dreams into reality.

Want to save even more? Use visual reminders of your financial goals and place them right under your nose to serve as a constant reminder of the big picture.

Sleeve your credit cards

The old trick of freezing your credit cards in a block of ice to save money might work well for some, but others have pretty good financial habits and they like the fraud protection and rewards that credit cards offer. Still, it is easy to get carried away with credit cards and lose track of your running total. It's also easy to forget your savings goals when you're in a store and tempted by something that's staring you right in the face. And what if it's on sale?! The pressure to spend often makes us forget the big picture.

To avoid bill shock, sleeve your credit cards. You can make credit card sleeves, or use old ones that you get from gift cards. The idea is pretty simple -- on these credit card sleeves you'll put photos that represent your savings goals. You can use personal photos or search the Web for images that represent your goals. If you have the know-how and the software, you can get creative with your images, using photo editing programs to paste yourself on a gondola in Venice or to create a convincing high interest savings account statement with your emergency fund goal.

Each time you reach for a credit card to pay for a purchase, you'll see your goal and stop to think about whether the purchase is necessary or not.

Selecting your goal images

When deciding on images or phrases to use on your sleeves, make sure there is an emotional attachment for maximum effect.

Over at the personal finance blog Man vs. Debt, Adam Baker writes that after he first started using credit card sleeves, the effects of a visual reminder of his real estate investor dream wore off:

I think the real reason why I didn't stick to the system long-term was not an issue with the sleeving of the cards, after all it took little time to set up and was only a minor inconvenience at most. More realistically I came to realize I didn't attach enough emotional value to (the message) to create lasting change. Because of this, my credit cards eventually found their way out of their sleeves and returned to my wallet, naked and exposed.

He later tried the sleeve system again, this time with a new message about debt reduction with which he could really connect:

I know for a fact that this has helped me avoid small purchases here and there, directly because this sleeve made me connect the purchase with a longer time period of being in debt. For me, getting out of debt more quickly was more important than making that specific purchase.

Some people use photos of their children to remind them why they are getting out of debt or saving money for college. If you are saving for a dream vacation, find a soul-stirring image of your destination. Trying to save a down payment for a house? Find an image of a house similar to the one you hope to own.

The more visuals, the better!

You aren't limited to placing visuals on credit card sleeves. You can post visual reminders in a multitude of places to keep your savings and spending in line with your goals.

Place images in the places where you spend a significant amount of time, such as near your desk, on a bulletin board, or on the bathroom mirror (you'll see it first thing in the morning!).

You also can use your desktop wallpaper, screen savers, digital photo frames and electronic slideshows to display your images, especially helpful if you're prone to online shopping.

While it's always a good idea to budget for some fun money, using visual reminders can help you keep that fun money spending in check by reminding you of your bigger, long-term goals. The more money you can stash away in accounts with a competitive savings account rates, the faster you'll reach those goals.

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