“Income that is not consumed by immediately buying goods and services is saved.”
Do you have any personal savings? As you can see by the above chart, the rate of personal savings is way down here in the US. We just aren’t saving our money. You’d think with the recent downturn in the economy and the drop in housing values that people would begin saving more. You just don’t see it in the numbers.
So, if you currently don’t have any savings…or, maybe you have some savings, but you’ve stopped and find it hard to get back on track, then it’s time to kick start your savings habit. Here are some great ways to do just that:
1. Economic Stimulus Rebate Check
This one should be fresh on everyone’s mind. Hopefully you haven’t already spent it?? I know saving this money is probably the opposite of what the President would have you do, but this rebate would be a great start your savings. If you haven’t already spent it, plan on using this money to begin or re-establish your savings. Don’t know what you’ll get? See the 2008 Economic Stimulus Package explained.
2. Bonus and/or Raise
This is the time of year when a lot of people are getting either bonuses or raises at work. Commit today to put that money in savings (bonus) or increase savings percentages (raise) to your 401K or other automatic savings plan. An old boss of mine once shared with me that if he could have continued to live off of the salary he made early in his career and simply saved every raise and bonus he had received, he would have become a very, very wealthy man. Granted, life does get more expensive with kids and other things, but you get the point: live within your means and avoid spending more when you make more.
3. Dine-In (at Home) Only
If you are the type that dines out a lot (4-5 times) during a week (which more of us are these days), then you could quickly come up with more money to save by simply grocery shopping and eating at home more. Make a commitment to eat at home for one full week and see how much money you suddenly have for savings. Do this two weeks out of the month and you’ll have no more excuses for not saving. Also, when you do dine out…spend less.
4. Tax Refund
It’s tax time. Expecting or already received your 2007 tax refund? Why not skip the big purchase this year and use that money to get started saving? If you have a refund, the Government has essentially been holding your money for you in a quasi-forced savings account. Why not just take it from them and put it into a savings account of your own?
5. EBay-It
If you’re like me, you’ve got way too many DVDs, CDs, Books, and other stuff you’re not using just laying around the house. Why not list some of those items on EBay, or the free (local) service Craig’s List? You could also use a store like Half-Priced Books to return the items OR just have an old-school garage sale. Commit to start a savings account based on what you make from these sales.
6. Start with Free Money
Saving money is easy when you get it for free. There are lots of incentives out here to start saving more…bank bonuses for example. I happen to use ING DIRECT’s Orange Savings Account for my short-term savings. They will give you $25 to get started with one of their savings accounts. You can visit my ING DIRECT Savings Account $25 Bonus page for more details. Not into ING DIRECT, check out my friend Hu$tler Money Blog for more bank bonuses.
7. Make it Automatic
Lastly, I’d share that one of the best ways I’ve found to consistently save money is to do it automatically. By automating your savings you take the pressure off of yourself to be disciplined enough to do it alone. No habits needed. Whether it’s through your company’s 401K or direct deposit into a savings account, setting it up automatically can be a powerful way to increase your savings ability. Good luck getting started.
I know I missed a few. Do you have any other ways to kick-start the saving habit? How did you do it?
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Great tips. I don’t recommend going to Half Price books though… you won’t get much money from them. In many cases it would be better to donate your items to the local library. You will providing them for many people to use, and you will also get a tax deduction for them.
This is what I plan on doing after taking my books and DVDs to Half-Price Books. Half-Price Books just can’t offer a lot of money for good items because few people want to pay much for used items. That’s just the way their business plan works.
Thanks for the mention.
No problem on the mention, Patrick. Your summary was excellent. Why duplicate great content, right?
I agree that half-priced doesn’t pay much, but every little bit helps and if it kick starts a saving habit then i’m all for it.
along the lines of Ebay – try a yard sale. we always get more than $200 from ours. if you dont have time for ebay, find the closest dropoff spot. my tool will help you see the future value of your savings.
Excellent ideas for jump-starting a savings plan! We plan to use a combination of the economic stimulus check and some snowflaking (eBay, private sale or two, etc.) to double our current emergency fund.
@Frugal Dad – Thanks for stopping by.
#3,
The food in our office canteen is way too expensive and the bad thing is, it isn’t delicious. So me and my buddies decided to prepare our own meals.
#7
I have an auto deduct in my salary directly to my savings account. And I promised never ever to touched it unless I badly needed it
Great guide! Thankfully my parents had me saving since I was young. I always look forward to bonuses so I get to invest more
Number 3 is the biggest for us. We eat out MORE than 5 times a week unfortunately. Starting in june we’re going to have a budget of $100 to eat out every month, so we’ll have to cut back. I’m positive we’ll have more savings after making that change.
@pete – that’s the biggest “budget buster” for us as well. seems many people are spending more and more on dining out. i remember when I was young we dined out *maybe* two or three times a MONTH.
Wow, the last time I dined out was on a 2 Cheeseburgers for $2 deal at Macca’s?
(Just kidding, we did treat ourselves earlier this month at a wonderful Thai restaurant on Brunswick St, Carlton (MELBOURNE CITY – AUSTRALIA)
I received my tax cheque which I SPENT straight away on some highly watched & researched shares on the Aussie Market – boy that felt good!
No debt – increasing savings day by day!
I live in Canada and it has officialy snowed for the first time. My own piece of advice is to suggest that you shovel your own drive away instead of outsourcing this simple task.
Good idea, Studenomics. Stay warm up there.
Yeah, getting rid of stuff in your garage you don’t need and around the house is a great idea. Selling it or put it up for sale online can bring in extra money.