My Love Affair With Digit Rages On

We’re doing just fine.

Last month, Nicole and I sat down and chatted at length about savings accounts and the ways we save money. I shared with the class that I lack an actual savings account (still true) but that I do use Digit, a savings bot that is not as evil previously imagined, but actually fine.

A Friday Chat About Savings Accounts

I’ve been using the app for the better part of a year, but last month, I told myself that I’d use it not only to store money that I later withdraw to spend on frivolous necessities like weed gummies and the internet bill but to actually save money. I vowed to use it for its purpose — saving money — to try and break myself of my reluctance to open a savings account that I really, honestly don’t touch at all.

Like quitting smoking for good, saving money in a savings account terrifies me. Yes, I understand that you can withdraw money from a savings account. Yes, I know that when it goes into the savings account, it’s not gone forever. It’s still mine, growing from a tiny money tadpole to a beautiful money frog, all green and slimy and quietly croaking. Reminding myself of this on the daily is the only way I will actually get a savings account and dump money in there and just let it sit and grow. This line of reasoning makes no sense; of course I can get the money out when I need it, but keeping it there is a measure against unnecessary spending. A savings account isn’t a “spend-later-when-you-want-that-thing” account. It’s there for emergencies, for rainy days, or to cover the financial inevitability of my cat eating something dumb and having to go to the vet.

To my great surprise, I can exercise self control when hard pressed. So, for the entire month of November, I told myself that I wouldn’t touch Digit. I would not text the bot and ask it to move $75 into my checking account every time I felt nervous. As of right now, there’s about $365 in there — not a huge amount of money, but not a small amount either. I saved money. Like, actually saved money. I resisted the urge to dip into the envelope and yank out the money and throw it at…something. All victories, even the small ones, are worth celebrating.

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