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Why people save better when we turn it into a game

Why people save better when we turn it into a game

Saving money is an easy enough concept: all you have to do is spend less, right? Yet successfully saving is extremely difficult for most. Despite numerous attempts and the best of intentions, it can seem near impossible to make even minor dents on bad spending habits.

For many, extra incentive is required to make lasting changes to a budget, such as the popular 52-Week Money Challenge: participants save $1 the first week, $2 the next week, $3 the week after, etcetera until the last week of the year when they put $52 into savings. Sure you could just save $26.50 each week and achieve the same goal of $1,378 saved, but that doesn’t seem nearly as much fun, does it?

So what is it about these money-saving games that are so attractive?

Stress is not attractive

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It seems pretty obvious, but people do not like doing things that are stressful. This general rule holds true when it comes to budgeting, too. Turning saving into a game, therefore, adds an element of fun that improves the likelihood that you will stick with it, says Nancy B. Irwin, a therapist, clinical hypnotist, speaker and author.

She also points out that this same ideology is often used in the classroom or when teaching children to complete household chores.

“Smart teachers employ this technique to take the edge off ‘having to learn,’” Irwin said. “Making a game out of anything will allow people to not take it so seriously, to learn more easily and completely.”

A mind game

Being able to trick yourself into forgetting the task of saving can really help, too.

“There is so much angst around finances,” explains Pegi Burdick, a Los Angeles-based life coach dubbed ‘The Financial Whisperer.’

One way of understanding why money-saving challenges are so popular is to remember, “a game is distracting and reduces the chances of feeling shame,” she says.

Immediate gratification

Just as people are drawn away from things that are stressful, they are drawn to things that make them feel good, especially when the positive feeling is immediate.

Winning feels especially good when there is an element of risk, as Bruce D. Sanders, PhD, SPHR, highlights.

While there may be little risk involved in the 52-Week Money Challenge, specifically, other money-based games attract players for the degree of risk and reward that they carry. As Sanders explains, even when the odds are against us, we often gamble for the stimulation and the possibility of gratification.

Not all about playing

Psychologists seem to agree on at least one point: The set-up of the money-saving game makes a noteworthy difference. Money-saving games that work do so in part because of their design. Games that designed around small, manageable, step-by-step goals work best. These goals are easier for people to not just comprehend, but to maintain over longer periods of time.

Nikki Martinez, a psychologist and licensed clinical professional counselor, sums up why she thinks games work: “They start small, so they seem manageable.”

As the game goes on over time, Martinez continued, the player hardly notices the growth that is taking place and the habits that are starting to be implemented. By the end, the player is fixated on the reward at the finish line, instead of dreading the continuation of the game.

Now that you know the secrets behind the strategy, would you consider giving a money-saving game a try? With psychologists offering an array of opinions behind why this latest fad works, it seems there is certainly more than one reason a budgeting game could be helpful in reaching your money saving goals in 2016.