Who has a saving plan?

[NaturallyCheap]

Who has taken control of their financial situation dearly to heart?

[yourbeginnings]

I am using the pay yourself first plan. The first "bill" I pay is my savings account. I am doing 10% of my net pay (twice a month). It really has worked for me.

I have my savings account at ING, so it is not easy to get to the money. When I had my checking and saving at the same bank, I would regularly tap into my saving and thus it never grew.

[rachael24]

How are the IR's on ING savings accounts, if you dont mind me asking

[changed4life]

I have ING accounts and I believe they are currently at 3.10%.

[Finally_Frugal]

I created sub-accounts within my ING direct account, and in February I started putting a certain amount away each month to take care of future tuition costs, auto insurance, and water/trash payments. Once my budget is in better shape, I'm going to do the same for my average utility payments---this is an easier, "baby step" way for me to save an 'emergency fund' without putting a painful giant chunk of money into savings each month.

It's working out well for me. I have to pay tuition next week, and instead of floundering about wondering where the money is going to come from (e.g. a credit card), I have the money in the bank!

[rstlne]

I'm a lousy example because I do not budget and, apart from some automatic transfers, I do not have a savings plan.

Instead, I've chosen to approach financial planning from the other direction, by limiting my "wants". Over the years, I've strived to simplify my life, focusing on experiences instead of stuff. It has gotten to the point where there is a significant excess every month and I move that to investment accounts at the end of each month.

Paying yourself first is a psychological trick to fool yourself into thinking the money isn't there to spend. But think about it, if you can use that trick to make yourself spend less money, can you build your self control to the level where you won't spend that money even if you didn't pay yourself first? Can you then exercise that same self control in other areas of your life? It's a powerful idea. I have to admit though that although I now spend much less with no special tricks, I still eat a bit too much, so I have more work to do there.

[kav122]

I do what rstlne does. Although I didn't realize that it was a brillian psychological tool My family has tried to curb our intake, and really analyze what we buy. We are left with surplus, so after paying the bills, we move the rest to our ING account. I think that it is helpful, like yourbeginnings said, that it is not in the same bank as my checking, so it is not easy to get to. Right now we are concentrating on building our savings until we hit our mark, then we will return to paying off debts. I find that when we save with urgency "we need XX amount by XX date" we will save better. If it is "oh, if I have extra, we will save it," doesn't work as well for us.

[mandashouse]

My husband and I (and our son on a smaller scale) follow the "Dave Ramsey" plan. It is amazing and we have done so well on our tiny income. I highly recommend it. We are never worried how we are going to pay a bill & we have a savings.

[NaturallyCheap]

I personally don't have a saving plan. Just live simply and stop spending money! There is an automatic transfer!

[khorrell]

We take retirement savings off the top, via payroll deduction and automatic transfer. It is the only way I can be disciplined enough to actually save.