I don’t do ‘complicated’ well.

Like in Year 8 when Dean Kinred told the whole class he wanted to be my boyfriend. And in a mix of surprise, horror, and my outright non-reciprocal feelings, I agreed to “go out” with him.

Because no awkward lion maned 11-year-old girl wants to be the one to damage a hearty 12-year-old boys self-esteem – even though she really had been crushing on his friend for over a year.

(For the record, we went out for 2 days, shared a hot chocolate and then “broke up” during school camp).

Sound familiar? These people can relate to the awkwardness too. Fast forward a few – humble – decades and now we’re adults who’ve mastered “complicated” when it comes to relationships.

But when it comes to money, or saving it I should say. The word complicated should be made illegal.

My first steps to saving.. The idea of saving after years of living in feast or famine mode with money was like reading my favourite novel in gibberish. I just couldn’t grasp the possibility of being able to do it! But in 2013 I decided to do a complete 180 on myself – no, not rekindle the non-romance with Dean from 11 years ago – actually start saving money!

It’s not forensic science, you don’t need to become a travel agent to “make it rain”. All you need is a simple automated system. Here’s how..

How to Save Money Easily

Set up small weekly automatic transfers into a savings account.

See, not forensic science at all.

I have been doing this every week since August 2013. I set up an automatic payment of $25 to be transferred into my savings account each week (which is with another bank. I find if I can’t see it, I forget about it). That works out to be $1300 of savings year – which is a hell of a lot better than saving $0!

I recommend to start small. Set the amount to something you wouldn’t notice – like $5. And then slowly increase the payment amount the more you feel comfortable with saving money.

Here’s another few ideas that I’ve tried..

- Using cash. I did an experiment where I used a $100 note to see exactly what I spent that I’d usually pay for with my card. I purchased my regular coffees, chocolate, lunches, dinners etc. And it was gone within two days! It’s good for a reality check but if you’re just going to go back to to using your card then it defeats the purpose.

- Borrowing. I’m a serial book collector, as in I buy books I want to read and then don’t read them for years. And once you add up how much you’re spending within a year, it can be a few hundred dollars! I decided for books I wanted to read but wasn’t pulled to buy I would borrow them from the library.

- Bartering. When we moved into our new house we needed a quite a bit of furniture, so we decided to barter with the previous owner if he would leave some of his furniture and appliances and we would agree to maintain them if they broke down or got a bit shabby. He agreed and we saved ourselves a few thousand dollars! Try it out in stores by asking for a discount and see how you go.

My philosophy is, at the end of the day if you keep it simple, it becomes easy.

Unlike my pre-teen “love affairs.”