Snooze Button Savings

You know how some mornings you hit the snooze button so many times that getting out of the house on time is a desperate race against the clock? And other days you can just jump out of bed ahead of the alarm clock, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to face the day? That’s what my savings account is like; it swings a little wildly between the two extremes.

In the past (the very recent past even) I hit that snooze button so often that I factored in the real versus artificial wakeup times when setting the alarm. Need to be awake by 7:00? Let’s set the alarm for 6:30. Just got paid? Great! Time to buy all those things that I’ve had my eye on! I certainly didn’t feel the need to accept the reality of the situation. My (artificial) viewpoint was that I had lots of money- no need to save for a rainy day.

Now, I’m staring things in the face. A bright-eyed and bushy-tailed little kid face, to be precise. I often stumble out of bed, moaning and groping around blindly for the coffee pot, much earlier than I prefer. But my savings are on automatic now: set to be deposited into another account every month. Like clockwork!

And while I still could hit the snooze button, in a real emergency, automating my savings accepts the reality of the situation: having kids means early morning wake-ups, and life is much more comfortable with a good, automated, savings plan in place.