Stash Cash

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I thought that there were some great ideas to help you and your family save up some money. Right now with soaring prices, every penny counts. Tricks and gimmicks really can help people to save their money, so here are some that might be able to help you.


1. Using finance software, you can just enter a check to yourself for $300 -- or $500, or $1,000, or whatever you want your pad to be. The check needn't actually exist or ever be cashed, but the software will treat it as an obligation and deduct it from your balance.
You can do something similar even if you still balance your checkbook by hand

2. Here's a twist on the classic savings tip of dumping your change in a jar: set aside certain denominations, such as fives or tens, whenever they make their way into your wallet.

3. Start a family tax, where everyone in the house puts a set amount of money into a jar every day.Usally the amount is between .50 cents to $1.00.

4. Employers can take weeks or months to pay you back for the expenses you incurred traveling or entertaining clients. By then, you may have already paid the bill. Instead of cashing the check, consider saving it instead.


5. Grocery stores tend to make this one easy by printing on the receipt exactly how much you saved. You can transfer that exact amount to a savings account or, if you still write checks, you can make one out for the amount of the savings and deposit that -- or simply round up.


6. Another popular ploy, for those who balance their checkbooks by hand, is adding or subtracting a few bucks from each transaction.

7. The usual (and excellent) money tip is to pay yourself first by making sure a certain amount of your paycheck is deposited into savings or investment accounts.

[dollardaze]

These are great tips. It's becoming harder and harder to save money, with our economy in its current shape.

I have another tip for you, it's the way I save a few hundred dollars per year, and that is to simply round up each checkbook entry to the next dollar amount when I write a check. I just save a few cents at a time, but after a year, I always find a few hundred dollars have accumulated, which can then be deposited into my savings account. (I also do this when using my debit card for a transaction.)