Saving money..

[lauren grier]

lol this seems like a really silly topic.. but really..... how does anyone ever save any money? LOL I think I missed an important topic in budgeting 101. I'm awesome at budgeting.. really. but I mean I've been living the whole "paycheck to paycheck" life for the past 10 years- I'm not really sure how to do anything differently. I've opened a savings account.. twice. I never get very far. Currently I have one cent in my savings account :p really. a penny. LOL. Ce and I started a hopes and dreams jar .. this has 15 dollars in it (mostly because ce likes to steal money out of my purse :p LOL). but really.. 15 dollars.. and one cent. This is my life savings.
Do you like set a certain amount of $$ aside in your budget each month? or do you just throw whatever is left over into savings? how do you do it? I have such trouble leaving the money alone -- thus the one penny thing-- because there are things we need, constantly you know? I was even thinking.. even if I set aside say.. a hundred bucks a month.. that's still nothing. That's only 1200 in a year, and that's IF I could actually leave it alone. I suck at this LOL..
but I really need to start putting $$ aside. I mean there's no way I'll ever be able to.... get divorced.. take a vacation with ce..... buy a new car.... move out of this place....... afford to send ce or myself to college. Just woah. I'm feeling very overwhelmed by life today.

[kresta]

Well, we aim to live on 80% of our income. When I get our paychecks and take them to the bank, I immediately put 10% into savings. And then we tithe 10% to the church. I try to view our savings account as untouchable, but of course, things occasionally come up where we have to transfer out of it. But I try not to as much as possible. I'm terrible at money and budgeting, etc. My husband is very good at making money and saving and investing, etc. Thank goodness one of us has a knack for it! But, that's what we do.

[Serendipity]

Saving money. LAWL

I asked my husband if he thought we could save up a million dollars so we could move to the beach... he said we couldn't even save a million pennies. And to be honest... If we ever saved up a million penny's I'd blow it all on something. I'd say "OMG I Have 10 Thousand Dollars?!!? *drives to mall*

I suck. =\

[ajf9597]

We're there with ya La. Seems like everytime we get money saved, something breaks (ie vehicle) that we have to spend the money on. DS has more in his savings than we have LOL I'm sure it isn't easy being a single parent and trying to save either, I don't know. Good Luck though

[Jenn Barrette]

These days I am happy to have enough money for bills, and essentials *sigh* One thing that used to work for me was I set up a separate account with ING direct. Since it was outside my usual bank, it made the money harder to get to, and I had money transfered directly off each paycheck. I was able to save up enough for a small down payment for our house. They also have better interest rates that your average savings account. Good luck :)

[amandabarugh]

We haven't got the saving thing down, either. We did have several hundred dollars saved up for Aidan, and we had to spend it when she had her surgery.:( One day we'll have it built back up again.

[meganmecrazy]

We live paycheck to paycheck and have no savings either. I worry about this a lot. Every time we do get a tiny bit saved up we have to use it on something like getting the car fixed or having to buy or fix something for the house. it sux. :(

[Leah]

lol this seems like a really silly topic.. but really..... how does anyone ever save any money? LOL I think I missed an important topic in budgeting 101.

You and me both baby! You and me both... *sigh*

[AllieP]

I think it makes it easier if it's a direct transfer out of your acct. Like twice a month when you get paid, have automatic transfers out of your checking. I also like ING because it's separate and if I don't "see" the money, then I don't remember to use it. :) I also think if you start saving $100/month, then you get used to that amount, and you can start increasing it. You have to start somewhere! Also, $1,200 will start to add up! Good luck!

[Leila]

We weren't saving much (as in nothing) until we opened our new bank account. Because I'm too lazy to switch it over to the new account, I left the cable bill to be pulled from the old one. Andrew has his direct deposit to set to put double the amount of the bill in there each month (he only gets paid once a month). After that bill is paid we're only accumulating about 3% of his monthly income, but it's more than we had before.

Also, our checking account is interest bearing. We're not getting much, but the $5 or so each month is $5 we didn't have before.

[lauren grier]

with you guys using ING.. are you using the stocks thing or the regular savings acct?

[mimip1978]

I'm right there with ya!!! It's not comforting to know, but we do need to live right now too :unsure: As soon as I'm done with school (decided at the age of 28 with 2 children to go back to school for a bachelors in nursing :confused:) hopefully we can build something up?! I can't imagine how hard it would be to do it all on my own. I can see that you're a really strong person and somehow it always works out in the end.

[Megan Turnidge]

Ugh. Story of my life! Since we're both students, there's not a whole lot of options as far as good paying jobs so I very much know the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. I can't stand it. We need to budget better, but it's still hard. We try and save, but just like many of you, something big will come up.... like hubby needing an appendectomy, or the car breaks down, or my dental insurance sucks and I get a massive dental bill.... how the heck am I supposed to save if my savings is wiped out every 6 months?!? :cursing:

*sigh*

[Shawna]

These days I am happy to have enough money for bills, and essentials *sigh*

Ugh us too, supporting five people on a elementary teacher's income is rough especially when we only get one paycheck a month and now the district wants them to take a cut in pay! We're lucky to still have enough for gas & groceries by the time that last week before payday rolls around :unsure: It seems like anytime we get a little bit put aside in savings something happens like the van or car needs repairs or a doctor bill. I think the separate account is a good idea, if it's not as easily accessible then maybe that would work better.

[Teresa]

I've had an ING savings account for years (interest is basically nothing now compared to what it used to be) and we pay all of our monthly bills through an ING Orange Checking account. Doing everything online helps a lot with organizing finances for us. I read this book about 5 years ago and highly recommend it. The Automatic Millionaire (http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Millionaire-Powerful-One-Step-Finish/dp/0767923820/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1250131889&sr=8-7). Bottom line- pay yourself first when you get a paycheck and make the amount automatically go into savings (like into that ING account) so that you never "see" it and have the temptation to spend it. Lots of common sense and easy to understand stuff in the book that really does work. I'd also like to check out a few of his other books someday, but they're llikely very similar. :)

[4noisyboys]

I still suck at saving money, and I'm almost 50 years old!! Something happens each month that zaps all our extra money though. One month it might be the van breaks down, the next it will be the truck. Last month, my brand new car got a screw in the tire, and it wasn't repairable, so that was $300....for ONE tire! I didn't think about how expensive low profile tires were at the time of getting my car!

Three of my sons don't have insurance, and I paid $750 last month for one of them with the doctor and medicine. This month will be a little less...about $600. My other son heard a noise in the garage today so my dh went to check. The hot water heater is leaking so I have to have the plumber come out tomorrow. Who knows what that will cost.

I'm thankful right now that I have the extra income to pay for these things, but the fact that I can't put it into savings instead is killing me. I don't know what people do that don't have it. We've faced that before, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I was making myself sick with worry all the time.

I also love to spend money. It's a problem I've had....like for at least 35 years!!!

[AllieP]

with you guys using ING.. are you using the stocks thing or the regular savings acct?

I don't use their stock acct- just a regular savings acct. Right now their interest is like 1.4%, which doesn't seem like much, but most savings accts at banks are like .3%. Last year our ING acct was getting like 4% interest! PM me if you want to set up an acct... I think if I refer you then you get like 10 or 20 bucks!

[DawnMarch]

I think the easiest way is to have a little taken automatically out of your pay or income and put in a separate account. Even if it just seems like a little bit, if you don't touch it, it does add up after a while.

[jaylensmom]

when i did have a job (sniff sniff) i would have $$$ deposited directly into my savings account...i save for myself, my son, and for vacations...oh and christmas...each account has a different amount going into it...the remaining $$$ are deposited into my checking account. i'm good at working with what i have in my checking account...if it's not in my checking account i don't have it...

it's hard getting started but once you see a few $$$ it feels good to know that you have a cushion just in case something happens...

[alien21xx]

I have ZERO savings, La. So in the liquidity department, you and I are on the same boat. :p

I am paying for a house though, and probably buying another. So that may contribute to the fact that I always don't have any money. Hopefully after both are built and rented out, I'll manage to start an actual life savings for myself.

[jessica31876]

well what helped us save money was to have a savings account linked to our checking and I set up an automatic transfer every week of 40 dollars. On top of this I had the keep the change program with my bank. Basically what that is is when you use your checkcard say the transaction is 4.28 well the bank rounds up to 5.00 and then takes that 72 cents and transfers this to your savings account. They do this for every transaction at the end of everyday (except weekends and holidays). They match 100% for three months and five percent after that. Try not to touch that money and it adds up. Of course when my husband lost his job we had to go into our savings. We had absolutely no money coming in and managed to survive for nearly five months on what we had in the bank and what we got back in our tax return. Probably could have lasted alot longer but we didnt exactly cutback far enough. think about the savings as a bill....kinda like you are paying yourself and set an amount to put in the account every single week no excuses. Even if it is just 5 dollars to begin with KWIM? Then maybe add five dollars to that in a month or two when it becomes a habit. I think 10% of whatever you make is a good aim to put into savings every week. It doesnt seem like a whole lot when you first start out but it adds up afterawhile. With our keep the change savings alone we managed to save over 2000 dollars over like 2.5 years.

[Nettio]

It sounds like what a lot of you need is not neccesarily savings so much as an emergency fund. We're Dave Ramsey followers and he recommends starting off with $1000 in a fairly liquid account (ours is a savings account attached to our checking acct). This is to cover all those surprises mentioned: car repair, health, etc. You need to start off with a safety net or else you'll never make progress in paying down debt or saving for other things because these surprises will come up.

As far as saving for things like trips, we do it through our budget spreadsheet and just leave the money in our main account. It works for us but if your worried you won't leave it alone putting it in a separate acct works too. I've also done the auto debit into savings and had good luck with that too. What I think really helps is setting some money and/or time goals. It will give you a better idea of how much you need to set aside each month and you'll be able to actually see progress being made.

[kristine]

We have no savings either, we spent it all on the downpayment on the house. I've always been really bad at saving, but I try to get better. One thing that works for me is that every time I log on to Internet banking I transfer money to my savings account so the balance on my regular account is a round number. If I log on and have 578 kr in my account I will transfer 78 to my savings account, so I have 500 left. It's not a lot but it really adds up over time. Obviously one krone is worth less than a dollar, but you can always do it with the nearest 50 dollar or the nearest 10.

I never notice the money being gone, because I transfer so little at a time, but it does really work.

[nikkiARNGwife]

When we decided that I would not work anymore (before we had children) we did Dave Ramsey's method and paid off all our debt. Well after all our debt was gone (except house and truck note) we found it pretty easy to just go ahead and have 1000 dollars a month (which is about what we had "extra" after paying off all our debt) deducted from DH's paycheck each month..so essentially we were "paying ourselves". We started it before we got used to having that money available that used to go to various credit cards etc. and we've done it ever since. Having it deducted so that we never see it and never got used to having it makes it way more easier. We've had to dip into savings a few times for big purchases, but for the most part we make it fine on what he brings home minus 1000 a month into savings. We also give 10% to the church. We get a pretty big refund each year at tax time and almost all of that goes into our savings acct. But it took some work and some "rice and beans" years for us to get to this point. lol And I can't really take any credit for it...if I were on my own I'd probably not have a cent in savings lol. DH is the money brain in the family. I just spend it lol

We use ING also. I'm not sure of all the details of it but DH claims it's the best way to go. He's also invested a portion of our savings in stocks and we've made a good bit that way.

[ColleenSwerb]

I'm AWFUL at saving $$. AWFUL! I make good money and so does Jordan, but I see that extra $$ and buy things, whereas Jordan rarely buys things for himself. It's a constant struggle for me, but I'm working on it. I got myself out of credit card debt last year, but now I have to work harder at STAYING out of debt, lol. Seriously, no willpower over here. And buying stuff for the wedding has not helped this year.

I had transferred most of my money out of my savings account and into checking to keep a bigger cushion for larger transactions (like our mortgage payment), but then I was always nervous that I didn't have anything in savings. So I started putting money away automatically each paycheck again. In the past I would dip into savings, but I've tried really hard not to do that anymore. Right now that's my downpayment on a new car, so I REALLY can't touch it, LOL!

[BrattyMeg]

I'm so touch and go with money...

DH and I are both Dave Ramsey fans as well and his method really works (I however do not pay "cash"..I do use money from checking but I'm not a cash carrying gal). We have no debt except a mortgage and just regular monthly bills. We don't use credit cards (but do have them) and we live on about 75-80% of DH's monthly income. It was hard for us to really make that change and be strict about our finances since we were used to a nice 2 income family and went down to 1 last year (and added an extra kid lol)

He does the envelope method with cash--get what you need for say 2 weeks out of the bank in cash and separate it into envelopes (your rent $$ in one...grocery $$ in one..extra $$ in one..etc) do not touch anything you have left over in the bank. Try just paying with cash and if you don't have it..you don't get it.

Saving $$ is hard work but once you get really disciplined about it and realize it's for long term goals instead of just $$ i can't use right now it'll make a difference.

[ColleenSwerb]

Saving $$ is hard work but once you get really disciplined about it and realize it's for long term goals instead of just $$ i can't use right now it'll make a difference.

That's such a good point Meg.

So for me, instead of "I really want that dress" I need to think "I want to send my kids to college" or "I want hardwood floors in the house" or "I want my friggen deck already!!" :p

[livelys]

I started a savings account for Alex's uni education (or what ever he chooses to do when he's 18/19) as soon as he was born, and our child benefit (£70-ish per month) automatically gets transferred into an account for him the day we get it. I did this so I wouldn't get used to the £ in our account, how ever minimal!

I also have a direct debit set up to transfer £100 each month directly into our savings the day DH gets paid, for the same reason - this is our 'rainy day' money. Every so often if there is anything left in our current account I transfer that into another account which is our holiday/ house decorating savings. Its not a lot but as others have said, it eventually adds up and is way better than nothing!! I have to say that if things go wrong - like the car - its the savings that bite the dust to cover it. Then we start again.

We also took out a credit card that gives us reward points - either £ off our shop or points towards tickets, days out etc (I usually get annual passes to our local theme park, and so am the best mum in the world for about 5 minutes!). We pay the card off each month so no lingering debt that way.

Recently our sofa decided to die on us, so I have taken out another credit card with 10 months interest free credit. I will be paying off the sofa in regular instaments over this time and at the end of it I will cancel it (I checked there would be no penalty to do this!) - to avoid any temptation.

That pretty much how we live!

[Stacey42]

We have 2 savings accounts, a long term and a short term. The long term has 2 months living expenses & we're trying to grow that to 4. It's with ING. The short term we try to keep at least $1000 in, it's with our regular bank. It's for car repairs, unexpected root canals, that sort of thing. Money goes automatically into each of them the day after DH's check is deposited so we never touch it. We also have a little account that the bank transfers a dollar into each time we use our debit cards as debit cards & not credit cards.

Then there is the money under the mattress. We mostly pay cash for everything now rather than use the check card. It has helped our budget a lot. At the end of the pay period any cash we have leftover goes into an envelop. We save it up and use it for random things we want but don't need, like more fruit trees for the yard.