Some nights I sit down to write and I just can’t focus. Luckily I had an idea for a quick post on the backburner! As I mentioned back in my Digit review (RIP, although I think I’ve got another month before they start charging me), I’m a fan of savings apps, and the more fun and the easier, the better.
Well, it doesn’t get much more fun or easy than Tip Yourself. You connect your checking account going through the usual motions and security that most savings apps run on, and after that you’re good to go. The app does what it says on the box: essentially it sets up a tip jar for you (literally, there’s a tip jar on the screen), and you tip yourself whenever you feel like. You put in a note about why you’re tipping yourself, choose an amount (the presets are $2, $5, and $10, but you can do a custom amount), and you’re done!
You can choose an amount you want to work towards saving and give your goal a name, which is displayed on the jar. The app pulls from your checking account each time you tip yourself and displays your progress towards your goal by shading in your jar. The app celebrates milestones for you along the way (usually every $25), and once you’ve reached your goal you can empty out your jar (and from experience it’s a quick turnaround from the app back to your account) and choose a new goal to work towards.
You can set up three automatic tipping reasons that you use frequently so you don’t have to type them out every time. I tend to tip myself $5 every time I go to barre and $10 on payday, so those are two of my quick options.
There’s a social aspect to the app, where you can see what Tip Yourself users have been tipping themselves for, and like or comment on those. You can participate in the social aspect or not as you feel fit, but either way, it’s an incredibly positive and happy community. Everyone is tipping themselves for milestones and accomplishments, and everyone else is congratulating them on it. I tend to tip myself and immediately close the app out so I don’t see much of the user feed, but every single time I’ve tipped myself, at least one person has liked it, and the comments I’ve gotten have all been super encouraging.
There’s a calendar screen so you can see how many days during the month you’ve tipped yourself. I like this aspect of it and the way it encourages me to not break a streak. This is a bonus when I’m not feeling particularly like there’s anything worth celebrating. Even if I tip myself “just because,” I’m keeping the streak going and putting money towards my savings goal.
Tip Yourself is free and you can transfer the money back into your account at any time (and trust me, I’ve done it before halfway through a goal because something unexpected popped up. Car windows, I’m looking at you!). Personally the visual of a tip jar makes using this app more fun than just transferring $5 into my savings account, and I like seeing the summary of how many times I’ve tipped myself for the month and how much total money. It’s also a fun way to save money for things that aren’t necessarily Big, Responsible Savings Goals. Massage fund, here I come.
You can sign up for Tip Yourself here.