Can you save money without cutting back?  

A lot of my friends at school are worried about the crisis in which our economy is in. A lot of people are cutting down on their lunch money. The economy hasn't really affected my parents' jobs though...

After economists officially declared that we were in a recession, my mom and dad weren't very worried, because they had pretty safe jobs, but we were worried for our friends, relatives, and others. But we have started saving money, just in case we need it some day.

At school, I don't spend as much money in the cafeteria. I used to be able to whip through $60 in about 2 weeks, so I continuely asked my parents for lunch money. Now, they said I have to learn about conserving money, for I would need to in the future.

We used to travel a lot, but now we have cut down on vacation money. We were going to Orlando, Florida this Christmas, but now we have canceled that trip, as well as any other trips that were in the near future.

My dad says that it would probably be at least 3 years before the recession is over, longer if we enter a depression. But I am somewhat grateful of this, for it has taught me what is really happening to the world outside of my boundaries.

I don't buy into any schemes that offer you savings while you spend - you are just fooling yourself really...
I have made a squidoo lens on saving money:
http://www.squidoo.com/makingmoneyquickly
using the principle that the fastest way to make money is to save it...
The only thing I swear by as a genuine saving is interest free credit cards for transfers when you have a credit card debt (I am on my third...!)

I have a limited income as well and I get paid twice a month. I also have a part time job. About a year ago, I created a spreadsheet budget and I accrue a certain amount of money for various expenses. If I don't spend what I've accrued, I put it into savings. I also get paid every other week from my part time job and I save a certain percentage of it for permanent savings, home repairs, and for travel. My bank doesn't offer rounding up but I do that on my own and save that as well. Another thing that I do is when I get my receipts from the grocery store and it tells me how much I saved by using store sale items, I save that as well. I don't use store rebate programs or anything like that because I find that when I do, I sometimes pay more for an item simply because I want to use a store rebate program.

I have a real piggy bank even if I don´t have the piggy bank age. I love vacations and they are not on my budget so my online earnings are all saved for that.
I have learned to do many gourmet unexpensive meals so I can have visitors for dinner and still stay on my budget.
I recycle a lot but I transformed this into a game with myself. That way I say to myself how clever I am instead of whining how poor I am.
I always go to the super with a list and stick to it. And I make an effort not to buy something that I don´t need just beacause it´s cheap or on sale.
I love your bank´s program but I like more the effort you make by putting part of your money on a savings account. I´m thinking that I should do that too. Thanks for sharing.

Of course you can. All you need to do is to have a more than proportionate increase in you total income. In this case, you will not need to cut back on your expenses. Moreover, you can afford to spend more than what you were able to previously. Even with the situation now, there are still jobs available for people. The only difference is that it may not be as easy to earn the same dollar you have previously. Cheers and Happy MyLotting...

may be. it is difficult but not impossible

My partner and I are on set incomes, pensions, and have very little leeway. Nevertheless, we manage to save money to some extent.

One way is bulk buying of meat, which we either cook up and freeze in portion sizes (I used to be a chef), or cut into portion sizes and freeze. This works out cheaper than buying individual meals as needed. If something we get regularly at the supermarket is on special, we will get a couple extra for the savings later. We also put aside money for rates and car insurance so they don't end up on the credit cards costing interest. At the moment we are also trying to lose weight, and have put ourselves on a diet primarily of soup, which is considerably reducing our food costs, plus out weight.

At the end of each fortnight, whatever is left over from the previous fortnight, even if that is only a couple of dollars, goes straight into a savings account. So does all our online earnings, and that is becoming a nice little emergency fund.

We did run into trouble a year or so ago and our credit cards, which we used to be able to pay off monthly and avoid interest, took a bit of a hammering. Things like the dog getting sick and costing $1000 over a month, and the car requiring unexpected expensive repairs, plus some needed house repairs, plus a poor investment I talked myself into. So now we keep everything we can off the cards, and are slowly reducing the balances and thus the amount of interest we pay. The crisis is not helping that, with credit card interest going through the roof, but nothing we can do about that in the short term.

Of course we don't get around much anymore lol, but at 64 and 52 and both of us in ordinary health that's no great hardship. Thank the Gods for computers.

Lash

well in my country, i need to budget a lot. and i don't have much money. though i will not say my family is out of money. but i don't depend much on my family. i just try to save teh money i have earned online to be used in more important things like personal things i would like to buy. anyways, it is really important to save my money . and learn how to use my money well cause money does not come easy now.

I have always tried to save money. Right now it is harder than ever as I am on a very small income. We do save a little every fortnight from our payments and we buy in bulk whenever we can to save money.

When we receive our income payments we deposit the whole amount in our high interest savings account until the bills are due and we have been saving money regularly this way. Not a lot but ever bit counts.

Yes I am saving money without cutting back by putting in the 10 peso coin to my good old piggy bank that I bought 6-months ago and happy to say to date I already save P5,000 pesos without realizing that I am already saving money from the spare coins I get everyday.