Why All Gen Z Kids Love Soft Savings (and How to Do It)
I’ve written before about how you should treat your budget like a healthy diet . Of course, you can try hard limits—like the mathematical approach of the FIRE movement —to achieve early retirement. But on the other end of the spectrum, you may start spending money on revenge , dooming your finances in the same way that overeating can doom your diet. Between these extremes there is the concept of “soft savings”, a happy medium between these extremes. It’s all about moderation. Or at least that’s the idea.
Let me lay out my own take on Gen Z here: Generally, “gentle living” is a lifestyle that involves low stress and self-care. Like silent quitting , soft savings is simply a fancy term to describe the eternal pursuit of a decent life within the framework of capitalism. While older generations dedicated their entire lives to work, Generation Z wants to make life their entire life. Gentle saving is a cute way to talk about saving in a way that doesn’t require intensive management and won’t make you blow up your life by spending money.
And while personal finance trends come and go, some soft savings principles remain under scrutiny. Learn more about what soft saving is and how to determine if this approach is right for you.
What is soft saving?
Soft saving is a money management technique that aims to help you save money without making huge cuts to your lifestyle or depriving yourself of small amenities. But what does it really look like?
Gentle saving involves making small, gradual changes to your spending habits to free up small amounts of money that can be put into savings. The “soft” aspect is due to the chosen approach: gradual and flexible rather than hard budget cuts.
What’s most important about this trend is what soft savings can do for your relationship with money : The soft savings mindset recognizes that, like crash dieting, drastic lifestyle changes are often unsustainable. So, instead of depriving yourself of all the dining out, entertainment, non-essential shopping, etc., you look for gentle ways to cut costs that you can use in the long run.
How to Start Soft Saving Now
Here are some simple soft savings strategies you can use to start growing your savings without sacrificing your daily happiness.
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Take a break from spending. Before making any purchase, pause and ask yourself if you really need it or if you just want it at the moment.
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Downgrade where reasonable. A good place to start is with your bank statements, checking to see if all the things you’re spending money on are actually valuable to you (and not some subscription service you’ve long forgotten about ). For recurring expenses such as cell phone plans, switch to a cheaper option if possible.
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Limit impulse purchases. Avoid impulse purchases: Wait 24 hours before making unplanned purchases. My favorite trick is to always physically write down what I want to buy before I buy it.
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Spend only cash. Use cash instead of cards for discretionary purchases to see the impact of your spending.
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Set no-spending days. Choose 1-2 days a week so you don’t buy anything unnecessary.
The key to gentle savings is consistency over time: think about ongoing moderation rather than yo-yo dieting. You may be surprised at how many expenses you can eliminate, whether because they were unintentional or caused by stress.
Soft savings allows you to be flexible
If you take away one value from the soft savings trend, let it be flexibility . If you beat yourself up over every little thing, you will quickly burn out. The goal is not to be perfect, but to regularly prioritize saving over spending when it makes sense. Develop sustainable habits that you can practice every day and give yourself the opportunity to enjoy life.