In April, I started making "birthday resolutions", and I split them into the categories of personal and financial. My first financial goal was to build my savings account to cover 6 months of living expenses, and my second goal was to increase my retirement contributions by 25%. 6 months of living expenses is hard to save PERIOD, not to mention when you don't have all that much saved up to begin with. Although saving even the smallest amount is better than not saving at all, I would save $50-$100 per paycheck and call it good. It was always the last thing I did after paying bills, maybe treating myself to a couple of coffees, buying my dog a new treat...you get the idea. It was not exactly a priority. My checking account, on the other hand, always had enough money. Then I thought "Why do I keep all this money in my checking account?". Let me be clear - it's not all this money (I work in nonprofit), but more, what is this money doing in my checking account when it could be used more effectively somewhere else?After April, I decided I was going to transfer everything that remained in my checking account into my savings every time I got paid. In a little over two months, I have significantly increased my savings account, nearly tripling it. I will have met my October savings goal by the end of next month. Pretty impressive, right? But I have to tell you, it's kind of fun! I'm a competitive person by nature, so seeing how much I can save makes me want to save more - I've become addicted to saving!
What are your savings strategies? I'd love to hear of other ways I can get competitive!
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ReplyDeleteSaving is for suckers. You know how the Bronson's save? Vegas. We take take what we have remaining at the end of the month and put it an empty 2 liter of Diet Rite. After a few month's we kind of average how much we got in the 2 liter buy peeling off the label. Then we book a trip to Vegas. The day of the trip we empty the contents of the bottle. Usually it is not nearly enough to cover the trip so we draw from savings to cover the cost...stay with me. Upon landing we embark to the nearest roulette table and bet the bottles contents on black, Wesley Snipes style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTDeOPFr9e4
ReplyDeleteWe always win and the trip pays for itself.
Love your blog just found it....
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are very frugal with our money, we have worked out an electronic (excell) envelope system, that way every month for every bill the money is there ready to be paid there is no wondering where it will come from, by doing the "envelope" type system we are able to pick what we want to buy and then when there is enough in that catagory we purchase the item. I could go more into detail if your interested..
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