It seems the more I made the more I spent, until I decided to try a special way to save money.
Each month, when I get paid, I subtract an amount of money that I am going to try to save. Once it is subtracted in my register, it seems like it is not there but it really is should a serious emergency arise. I try to make it an amount that is pushing my saving limit.
At the end of the month, I have to decide what to do with it. I either save it or purchase something that is really needed such as tires. In times past, I would just go out and charge tires on my credit card and hope that I could pay it off at the end of the month. This way, with a little patience, I will have the money in hand before I buy tires.
I also got a small raise this year. I am going to do the "invisible" thing with my meager raise as well and by the end of the year, I should have a little something.
Good luck in our new financially challenge world! With a little effort, you can avoid the pinch and pain of our economy.
By Paula from GA
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I move money from my checking to savings every two weeks and have really saved a lot of money the past two years. If I pay my bills and have left over that I don't think I will need, I move to savings also.
I have been reading up on saving and paying off debt. Most of the articles I've seen say "Pay yourself first".
Thank you for reminding me of this good advice.
When my children were little I used to write in my register the exact amount of the check or debit card transaction and then I would round it up to the next dollar when I subtracted it out of the balance. I would leave that money in the account especially if you have an interest bearing acct.
I let my bank do the moving for me. I have it set up to automatically transfer a set amount to savigs each month. Also I have it set up with no ATM card. And for the statement to come in a separate envelope from my checking account statement. I only look at the savings statement once every 3 months. Between times--don't see, don't remember, so don't spend! I also have all the securities that are offered by my bank attached to both my accounts to help with fraud.
I tried rounding up amounts in my checkbook but it drove me crazy when I tried to balance. If I'm off it's a lot of trouble balancing when rounding up. I do all my banking online so I have a dollar amount transferred from checking to saving every week. But with this economy it seems I'm constantly having to go online and transfer monies back to checking.
Paula,
You go girl! It is so awesome to hear from people who are making a positive difference in their lives. A year or two down the road, you will be in so much better financial shape than you can even imagine, and what peace of mind that is.
That is a great idea and so simple. You could also have a direct deposit to your savings account every month on a set amount.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
