The Savings Crunch

She’s recently begun using a budget tracker app, Mint, which consolidates all her financial information and allows her to set her budget for every purchase category, like food or clothing. Mint then tracks her expenses during the month and gives her updates about her spending.

Shaindy admits that she’s a bit obsessed. “I probably check it too much,” she says, laughing. “Maybe I don’t have enough bitachon. My parents never kept such careful track of their spending and saving, and until today, they say, ‘We don’t know how we do it.’ But for me, this is what makes me feel calmer about the future.”

There was one point when Shaindy and her husband did go into debt, after she took an extended maternity leave. But, she says, she found owing money so stressful that as soon as she returned to her job, she worked extra hours so that she could pay off the debt as quickly as possible.

When I suggest that she should give workshops to young marrieds about finances, she laughs, but then acknowledges that most of her friends don’t share her attitude toward saving.

“Most of them are being supported by their parents, so they’re in a different boat.” Still, she says, it’s a mindset. “A lot of people say they have no money to put away, but then they’ll find money for other things that are important to them. I’m always seeing texts go out on my community groups saying things like, ‘My cleaning lady has five hours to give, who wants her?’ I know that for some people, cleaning ladies are indispensable, but, personally, I don’t have one, and it works for me.”

It’s true that some people are more naturally disciplined than others, and budgeting and saving comes easier to the Shaindys of the world. But everyone can train themselves to be fiscally prudent, says Rabbi Margulies. For those who need extra help, they can always turn to organizations like Mesila.

Saving for the future, he points out, is not just a common sense thing to do; it’s advocated by Chazal as well, in numerous places.

“Eizehu chacham? Haro’eh es hanolad,” he quotes. “The wise man perceives what will happen in the future, and does something about it now.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 787)