I decided I am sick of having no savings. Sooo I went thru the house and found all of the loose change I could find, and put it in a big jar. I kept collecting it... everytime we broke a dollar the change went in the jar. So the other day I sat and rolled the change and had $47.50. I put that into our savings account. I think I will continue to do this, being that it's just change we won't miss it, and every month we could have $30-$50 deposited into savings... over a year that would be a nice start. What do you all think? My hubby has $$ taken out of his paycheck and invested into his 401K plan but only $10 a week right now and his company matches it. I know it's not much but it's a start.

If you are able to find it, read Small change : the secret life of Penny Burford . It is a very short story that will keep you inspired to remember the small amounts do count.

That is a good start, and it sure beats nothing in savings! Good job!
To answer your question....we are a two income family with no kids (other than our 4 legged ones..lol), so that helps. We will continue to be a two income family when kids come, so that will continue to help.
We too, collect our change, and it's funny you mention it, because I just counted all our currently rolled coins last night, we have $86.50! How cool is that?? I had no idea it would have been that much. Honestly, that money will probably go to our trip to Vegas in February. Otherwise, how do we save?? I've said it before, but I'll write it again, for the sake of your question, but all the income I make goes to all household bills, groceries, mortgage, cars, etc...everything. At the end of the month, there's still a good bit left over, so that can be saved. Then almost every cent that DH makes is extra that is going towards one debt or another (I just re did our plan on that two days ago, so things will get paid off sooner!)and a little goes into savings.
We also find a little money sometimes in other ways, we sell our textbooks online when the semester ends, if they aren't necessary for our jobs, I give softball lessons every week for an extra $60 weekly (which ends up being my fun money, or tanning money, or snack money or whatever, without dipping into our actual income), and DH does some AC work on the side for a few hundred bucks ever so often. You would think with all that, we would be saving a lot, however, we do have SOME SAVINGS (in the bank,automatically taken our for my 401K and our IRAs), but we are more focussed on paying off some things right now.
So, sell a few things, give lessons if you have a talent of some sort, tutor, babysit on the weekends, roll your change....there's money to be made, and sometimes you have to be creative! Good job on your savings, and don't think of it as "not much" think of it as "better than nothing!"

You are definitely off to a great start. You have to start somewhere!

I also get $50/paycheck put directly into my savings. At first I missed it and now I don't even realize it is gone. This is paying for our Disney vacation next year.

Also have DH increase his 401K investment every few months even if it is only $5 each time. It will end up making a big difference without you noticing the loss in take home pay.

We also take our tax returns and use the necessary amount to pay down a debt and the rest goes into a money market account which ends up giving a great interest return but makes the money available to us for emergency use. We just hide that checkbook so it takes a while to find it and we only use it for absolutely necessary things (like we just needed to replace our hot water heater). Vanguard had great programs for this.

Hope this helps.
It is so hard saving when there are so many bills!!!I totally understand

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Married to DH since 2003, Mom to Tanner (3) and
Braden (2) Baby #3 due 3/13/09

Where do you get the $$ for savings?

From our paycheck.

Pay yourself first.

If you think you can get $50 a month from collecting your change, then put the $50 in the bank FIRST and spend your change.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Generally, I "pay" us first, from Brian's paychecks. I usually put 10% (of his net) in our savings, and the rest is used for bills. He's an electrician, so any side jobs he does, all of that goes into our savings as well. It's been nice watching the savings grow over time. I also roll change, and just recently rolled over $100 worth of quarters alone!! WOOHOO I'll use that money to pay for some, if not all of, Christmas.

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~*~ Angie~*~
Wife to Brian
SAHM to Sarah & Andy 2/11/2000

Awesome ideas!!! I will certainly use them. I read articles by a man named Steven Snyder " life after bankruptcy" and he said with every pay check we should: 1) Give 10% to charity. 2) Save 10% 3) Invest 10% he say's that this can either be gross or net pay whatever you want. Question is, being only a one income family, how do you do this? That's 30% of your paycheck!!! anyway his site is Lifeafterbankruptcy.com
it is interesting to read if your interested.

I agree that you should pay yourself first. See if you have specify having a certain amount of your dh's paycheck deposited directly into savings.

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I get the money for savings by living below my means.

I also pay myself first. I used to think that was a bunch of muck, but once I started doing it I really didn't miss the money.

We save our change, stockpile food, toiletries etc. by buying a little extra each time and using drugstore rebates, we contribute to dh's 401k, and we save airline, hotel and any other types of points we can.