Money Saving Tip Tuesday!

With only four weeks left to offer "money saving tips," I am narrowing down which ideas I present to you.

I have asked family members, friends, and have reached out to Twitter and Facebook friends to get an idea of how others regularly save money. For my last "Money Saving Tip Tuesday" post (in a few weeks), I plan to compile a list of all of the suggestions I have been given. Therefore, don't be afraid to leave a comment or get in touch with me about what works best for you. I'd love to know.

The advice I have to offer today revolves around something I have been meaning to do for years. Literally.
Yet somehow or another, I've always found a way to put if off.

What I'm about to say may seem like second nature to some, but it's a rather foreign concept to me. What I'm about to encourage you to do may seem silly (because why wouldn't I already do this) but that's okay. Maybe this will force me to actually do "it."

And by "it" I mean ... open a savings account.

I'm not completely sure why I don't have one, considering I have a checking account, but for some strange reason I don't. I feel like the two "go together" like peanut butter and jelly, and that you really shouldn't have one without the other. But what can I say ... whoops?

Let me explain why I think a savings account is necessary:

• It's important to save money (duh!)
• A separate account for "savings" allows you to keep your "spending" separate
• Some saving accounts require that you keep a certain amount of money in them - otherwise you're charged. So you can set a minimum amount that you never want to dip below and if you do, you have to pay a fee. Muhaha.

Basically, whenever I try to "set aside" money within my checking account as "savings," it never works. If I had a separate account that perhaps I didn't have easy access to ... it would be easier.

Therefore, I highly recommend opening a savings account that you can only access by visiting the bank. This will make you take an extra trip to "take out" money and hopefully will make you rethink your decisions - do you really need this money? What do you need it for?

Take the time to think it out and then decide.

Another idea is to only "take out" a fixed amount of money each week. For example, say you don't want to spend over forty dollars each week. To make stay within this budget, only take out forty dollars in the beginning of the week and then ditch your wallet. As long as you have your license what else do you really need your wallet for?

Remove the temptation.

For next week I'm going to try and create a budget for just what need/typically end up spending money on. On Sunday, I'm going to try and get only that amount of cash out of the ATM - to use for the week. I will keep track of my spending and see if I can keep it within the amount of cash that I have. I plan to leave my wallet at home.

Join me for the challenge? If I can do it, anyone can.

I will present my budget later this week and I also have some interesting updates about being "textbookless." As the quarter winds down at RIT, I'm having some second thoughts about refusing to buy textbooks.

Here's to positive thinking!