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Pagan savings challenge, week thirteen: lies we tell

One of the gods I regularly worship is Hermes, who among his other associations is god of the marketplace, and god of lies.  If you've ever purchased a car, the link between the two shouldn't come as any surprise; lies are part and parcel of what makes money work.  In fact, it's reasonable to argue that money is itself a lie, or built on one.

That does not erode money's influence or role as a holder of energy (value), although the fact that some people avoid money entirely is understandable.  Rather than resist the lies, I prefer to use them to my advantage.

Savings, at least for people like me who spend money like it's going to buy happiness, is all about lies and self-trickery.  A friend of mine recently told me that he's hesitant to get a second job because his track record was to be less responsible the more he makes.  For him, that meant socializing, likely with alcohol.  Endorphins running high can make spending easier, with or without alcohol, so I counsel a few well-placed lies to stop behaviors before they start.

If you don't want to spend money, you have to keep it out of your hands.  Just because a debit card is shaped for the wallet doesn't mean it belongs there.  It should live at home, so that using it while out on the town will require more than an impulse.

But if online shopping is your weakness, take a more extreme step:  drop the card in a metal can, fill it with water, and freeze it!  The ice won't damage the card, but it will keep you from seeing the numbers or otherwise using it.  The metal can makes sure it has to melt over time (not in the microwave), so the impulse may fade.

My mother has a habit of memorizing credit-card numbers, so even that wouldn't stop her.  For people like that, tell another lie:  open a new savings account -- one that isn't linked to that card -- and put your savings in it, where you can't get it without showing up at that branch office in person.  Make it inconvenient by choosing a bank that isn't on the way from home to work and back.

Any lie that leaves you with more money is one worth telling to yourself.  Lies don't have to be bad, any more than money does.

My week thirteen savings:  $91, 14% ($13) of which I added today.

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Terence P Ward is a business writer and journalist who blogs under the rather cumbersome moniker of True Pagan Warrior.  He can generally be found at home, tending to his gardens and the many demands of his cats; in the alternative, follow TPW on Facebook. 

Comments

  • J'Karrah
    J'Karrah Tuesday, 01 April 2014

    I always round payments UP to the nearest dollar in my checkbook. Meaning a bill payment of $128.35 gets rounded up to $129 in my ledger. Deposits get rounded DOWN to nearest $5, so a deposit of $279.57 would be entered as $275. It's not a lot out of any one deposit or payment withdrawl, but over time those extra few nickles and dimes, that extra couple of bucks adds up. I've never been over drawn on my checking account that way.

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