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Successful Saving Strategies

July 17, 2009 By Kelly 7 Comments

cc Flickr photo credit: Ken Wilcox

Americans saved nearly 7% of their income in May 2009. Saving money is in.

Try These 5 Successful Savings Strategies

1) Automate it. If you don’t see it, you won’t miss it.

2) Use a savings account at another bank. Out of sight, out of mind.

3) Plan for the unexpected. You’ll always have an unexpected bill (car repairs anyone?), or a stupid mistake (Had a parking ticket before? Me, too.).

Every tip is short, to the point, and helps you make the most of your money and your time, making everyday life less hectic and more enjoyable. Collected over the years by financial expert and Debt-Proof Living founder Mary Hunt, Cheaper, Better, Faster: Over 2,000 Tips and Tricks to Save You Time and Money Every Day of advice are sure to make your life easier, one tip at a time.

4)All savings, and no play makes for a dull life. Saving isn’t sexy. It isn’t fun. Make sure you leave some room in your budget for fun or you’ll fail.

5) If you use it, replace it. If you need your emergency money, or your savings use it, and then focus on replacing it. No guilt, no worries, that’s what it is there for. Don’t let your inner spender talk you out of saving!

Learn more: How I Fight My Inner Spender

How I Make Financial Saving Work

After months of trying to get my budget right, and planning for rare or occasional expenses (like car repairs, back to school expenses, etc), I finally hit on a solution that works for me.

Learn more: 4 Ways To Save Big For Back To School

I set up automatic deduction for 5% of each paycheck to go into our ING Direct Savings. Right now we only have 1 account there. It’s labeled Emergency Fund. I don’t see the money since it disappears the same day we get paid. I don’t even account for it in the budget.

Our emergency fund is only to be touched in case of medical emergency, job loss, or some other big deal. I’m trying to think about what else could apply, but then I started worrying, so we’ll just say it’s there if I need it and avoid a panic attack.

If you want to find more deals for your family check out the tips in this book: Extreme Savings: 7 Strategies for Saving Money in a Busy World.

Next, I take a set amount from each check (different amounts due to where our bills fall) and transfer it in a high interest savings account at our credit union. That account earns 7% interest on the 1st $500. I try to keep at least $500 in that account to maximize the interest. It’s pennies, yes, but every penny counts when you’re getting out of debt.

The goal of this savings account is to ensure any one-time or rare expenses are covered even if they aren’t budgeted for. It’s my Budget Busters account.

Learn more: 9 Quick and Easy Tips To Manage Money

Having that savings account in place makes it easier for me to stick to a budget and ensure that any money we spend doesn’t go on the credit card, or get spent from our emergency fund.

How do you stick to your savings plan? Are your savings automated?

Kelly

 

About Kelly


Kelly Whalen is the founder and editor of the Centsible Life. She started the blog in 2008 as her family faced a mountain of debt and the fixer upper they purchased became a FIXER UPPER. The website was born out of her desire to share what was working (and what was not) on her family's journey to financial security. Kelly lives in Minneapolis with her family.

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Filed Under: Money Tagged With: building savings, Money, save, savings


Comments

  1. Brent says

    July 22, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    We’re going to have to automate ours. We’re currently working on paying off debt but when that is done we’ll be automating it so we never even see that money and don’t have the temptation to spend it. Good Article!

  2. Rachel says

    July 18, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Great idea to have a separate account for special off-budget expenses. I think those expenses are what make budgeting so difficult for people, because they’re not sure how to account for them.

  3. Liz Muirhead says

    July 17, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Oh yes! We allocate the max to our 401ks, so that’s out of sight. I also have money go, each pay, to my mutual funds. Then, at the end of the year, if I’m eligible for a Roth contribution, I move the money from my taxable account to my roth.

    And we participate in a Dependent Daycare account, which means that I have nearly $200 per pay ($5000 annually) being saved up throughout the year that I can tap into either to pay for daycare, or to move right from the account into savings.

    Automated savings is awesome!

  4. Jenn says

    July 17, 2009 at 10:29 am

    Automating our savings is what helped us to really get ahead. If we don’t see it we don’t know it’s there. I determined what we need each month and then put what was left in an ING account and a small amount into another savings account that acts much like your Budget Busters account, it’s there if we need it. But the best thing we ever did was save via direct deposit!

Trackbacks

  1. AbleBanking Money Market Savings Account & Exclusive Invite Code — Centsible Life says:
    June 12, 2012 at 11:08 am

    […] = true;s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js';s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1);})(); Saving money is the cornerstone to building wealth, and getting out of debt. One of the first steps to digging […]

  2. Looking for ways to Save Money? says:
    March 8, 2010 at 9:54 am

    […] successful saving strategies […]

  3. Weekly Round Up: Going Out of Town says:
    July 25, 2009 at 7:04 am

    […] Successful Saving Strategies […]

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Hi! I'm Kelly Whalen, writer, frugality expert, debt slayer, and money nerd. Welcome to the Centsible Life, my corner of the internet, where I help women live happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. My goal is to help you save time + money, so you can spend both how you want.

Want to know more about me and learn how Centsible Life has helped readers like you? Click here.

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