Personal finance - how do you save?

When I was your age, I said exactly the same thing. Now that I'm older & facing a very tight retirement, I've started paying myself first!!! I used to hear experts say it was the best way & I scoffed. Now, when I get my check, the first thing I do is put 25% in a savings account & then I make myself live off of what's left over. Come the end of the month & I'm broke, I take just a little out of savings to finish out the month. Then I start the cycle over. I've been pleasantly surprised how my saving account is growing. I've learned once the money is in savings I'll spend much less to keep from dipping into my savings. Say I deposit $300 in at the first of the month. Come the end of the month I only take $100 back out. I've gained $200 that stays there. If I can do that every month I've saved $2,400 for the year. Some months I'm tight enough, I don't take anything back out. I turn the interest paid in as game. I want to see the interest next month be higher than this month & it is up to me to see that it happens!!! Yes, the bad economy is affecting me too, but I'm still managing to save since I've STOPPED saying I can't afford it & just doing it!!! Just try it for a few months. Once the money is out of the checking account your brain thinks as if it's been spent & it comes up with other ways to cover necessities!!! Oh yes, Starbucks is NOT a necessity. Neither is eating out every meal. Another way is to pay with dollar bills & put all the change in your pocket. At the end of the day, empty the change out of your pocket & put it in a glass jar. NEVER take money back out of the jar, just continue adding to the jar. You'll be surprised how much you can put into your savings at the end of the week!!! It becomes fun to watch the change work its way up the jar.

Debts are always there. Try as we may to avoid it, we will always incur it. I have this rule that I will not use my credit card for purchase of basic necessities like groceries. As much as I can, I try to save even if its just 100 or whatever amount I can spare. What I do is have a budget twice a month. I always write my expected expenses for my first half payday and the second half payday but I always do this ahead of my payday so that I will know all the things I need to pay for. This always works for me. Another thing I do is that I estimate my meal and transportation for the next two weeks until the next payday. I withdraw all of that budgeted allowance for the week then put it in a jar then I just get 100 per day for my whole day allowance. Whatever is left of it I put in a piggy bank then deposit in a debit card when I reach 500 (since this is the minimum amount that the bank requires for the debit card) then I use that debit card to buy my groceries. It has not always been easy for me to save because I have once maximized my credit card limit. It was a time when almost all my salary goes to the payment of the card. But I am glad that phase of my life is over. I can truly say that I never want to go back to my old habit of spending.

true. i actually have money during the rainy days. what i usually do is consider my savings as part of my expense. its more of a necessity like bills, mortgages, food allowances, transportations, etc. its something that you have to do every month. but like other savings, you can't help but spend it. so if i really dont want to spend my savings, i remit it to my savings account in my homecountry or buy shares in mutual fund or put it in time deposits. i currently have 1 time deposit, shares in 4 fund options in a mutual fund. :) sounds fairly reasonable... i still have a long way to go though! :)

Before my husband's hours were cut and when I was working we used to save money. Now with the economy being bad and my husband's hours being cut we are unable to save. My husband's pay checks just barely pay the bills. I have been looking for work and have been so unsuccessful. I am online making a few bucks here and there, but it has not been helping as much as we thought it would. When I do find pennies and have a little extra change I put it in my Fritos Can.