Savings Skills

Good morning budget concious buds.

One of the few positive things about the current financial situation we are in is that people are going to relean the skill of putting a little away for the future. Most of us have learned to live right on the edge of financial disaster. I'm determined to get out of debt as soon as I possibley can. It scares me that we can't live on just one of our incomes.

We have started doing some little things to both get in the habit of holding onto our money and to have trip money without having to stray from our journey to get out of debt.Erica bought a couple of those big Coke bottle banks at Disney and every day out pocket change goes in. We carry the pennies with us so we just get the silver change back when we buy something.

Every week I put a $20 bill in an envelope for 'Trip Cash' then when we get ready to take off on a trip we already have the cash and don't have to hit the ATM before we leave. The checking account doesn't take the hit either. Like having extra money so doesn't hurt the budget.I put a $100 into a savings account each week when we get paid. I transfer it to savings and look at it as though our pay check was $100 less and we don't have it to spend. This is the vacation fund but also the emergency fund for stuff like the fridge quit.

The ecomomy can hit any of us unexpectedly and we should start getting into a 'what if' mind set so we can plan for it. Right now nobody knows how safe their jobs are. Even if we don't get laid off there is still sickness or injury.

One of the ways that Erica and I have been saving for quite some time is getting water to drink at meals when we go to sit down or carry-out both. That soda that a lot of people get with a meal can add quite a bit to the eat out bill and isn't healthy like the ice water, with a lemon slice.

Thanks or reading and if you wanna share little saving ideas please do.

Thrifty Panda