Six Exercises That Will Help You Save Money

Saving money and reducing debt are regular top five New Year resolutions for many people in the U.S.

If either of these is on your list, you are going to need to come up with a plan on how to save money. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to turn saving money into a game. In fact, you are probably already doing this to some degree without even realizing it.

There is one important thing you must understand in order for these games to work: the difference between perceived savings and actual savings. For example, if you buy a TV with a retail price of $500 and bargain it down to $400, you will tell yourself that you saved 20%, or $100. Most people stop at that point and the $100 remains in their spending account. It is then spent on various other things and disappears by the end of the month.

Part of what makes money-saving games successful is that the money saved is earmarked for a specific purpose and placed into a special account that is created specifically for that savings goal.

If you don't do this, you may believe you're saving a lot of money, but when you look at your bank account, you'll see that very little has actually been saved.

Whatever you decide to do with the savings from these games, make sure that you open a separate account specifically for the funds.

Once you have committed to doing that, money-saving games can go a long way to help you reach your New Year's savings resolutions without a lot of pain. Here are six of the more popular money-saving games that people play:

The Coin Jar Game

This is probably the most popular of the money saving games out there. When you arrive home at the end of the day, simply empty all the coins in your pockets into a savings jar or bank. At the end of the month, all the coins collected are taken to the bank and deposited into your special account.

People who want to increase their savings using this game can also include one dollar bills when they empty their pockets each day. Saving a dollar a day in change can mean $67,815 at retirement.

Pay Yourself First Game

This is another popular money-saving game that many personal finance writers recommend to people working on bettering their finances. When you get your paycheck, the first person that you pay is yourself. Simply choose the percentage of your paycheck that you want to save and place it into a special account. This little trick makes saving money easier because you never "see" the money. If you instead wait until the end of the month to try and fund your savings, there likely won't be anything left in the account.

Reduce Bill Game

As a family, look at the bills (electric, gas, water etc.) and devise ways to spend less than you did the previous year during the same month. This game is best played when you have the bill from the previous year to compare, but can also work using the previous month's bill if you haven't been saving your past bills. Take whatever savings you are able to obtain and place it into your special account.