Do you always meet your saving budget?

Hi kingparker, I try and spend lower than my budget I save every penny that's possible to save.

My husband and I are kind of on this, we don't know we're going to buy it until either we want to, or we're doing so for a birthday, to help someone, etc. That being said, we almost always have room to implement whatever spur of the moment plan that comes up. My husband does the figuring after we've agreed, and then he lets me know how we're going to put the plan into action. We have a savings / spending plan right now for things we plan to buy, and also enough room to have money for our vacation this year. We're not sure how much money we're going to have for the vacation because it also depends on what I make online. We have one bill we're going to pay off at the end of this month, and that was a planned thing too. We're doubling up on payments and getting the bill out of the way so we can save more money. One thing I can suggest to you is look at your expenses and see what bills you can pay off within a year, and what bills will take a few years, also look at the recurring bills such as for phone, electricity, etc. If you can figure out how much money of a fluctuation these bills have (that is to say does the electricity go up and stay up, or does it go up and down depending on the season of the year, and how much time you spend at home.) I would suggest figuring this out and then start saving say $10.00 a month to go towards "Money to use for bills in case of an income shortage"... Then take another $10.00 and put it into a "Money to use for impulse buys and other things"... The rest after bills can be used for just saving... I hope this makes sense.

I have saved over 20% of my income ever since I started working and continued to do this even after becoming unemployed over 20 years ago. Because I saved when employed, I have been able to live off of the earnings from my savings and also to save at least 20%. I live frugally doing such things as using coupons, shopping sales, not going out often, etc.

We are on a debt management plan in our family so we are forced to use far less money than we make right now because the payment for the DMP is going to come out of our account every single month whether we like it or not. Of course this means that we don't have a lot of room for saving in our budget, but in the long run we are going to have plenty of room for saving in our budget. This month marks my school getting paid off so that is going to give us a bit of savings room and then I also hope to pay off my Target card this month as well (it is my husband's credit cards that make up the dmp.)

I think what you need to do is start with baby steps for now. I mean, if you are not saving anything at all at the moment, anything will be better. So make it a goal to save something every month, and do it. Don't set your goal too high as it will only discourage you. But if you do stick to it, and save something, it will be easier to continue, because once your savings account starts growing... you want to make it bigger, and bigger, and bigger... you get the drill! Good luck!

It's really difficult sometimes to stick to your budget. What I is usually list all my expenses that I need before my payday. So I know how much I have left. then set aside the amount that I need to save. I'm having challenges too so you're not alone. =) But the point is to keep on trying.

I am also having trouble saving money since I start working. My problem is I am an impulsive buyer and I just buy whatever on my whim. I just work on it seriously when I am already have so many debts in credit cards that I know I am in trouble. Good thing my husband know how to manage my finances well and now I am out of any debt. We are starting to save as much as we can but still to hard as we have to kids to finance as well. We bought some insurance and investment for the two kids and have it deducted to my account automatically. That way, we can save for their future.

I know saving is hard. It is hard for my husband and I because his work hours change so much and his boss still finds ways to cheat my husband out of pay. Next week my husband will be getting his financial aid money and we will be saving some of it for our trip to Las Vegas this Christmas. We have cut back on spending by changing our phone service to Magic Jack and also getting rid if the cell phone. We decided to go back and get out Sattelite TV (it is only 40.00 a month). I make extra money on here and I will also be going back to school so that will help us a lot. I am also in the process of launching an online store and I am sure that will help our income as well. Have you tried opening a separate savings account? If you open one that may help you save. Also, you can keep your money in your paypal account without having to withdraw it. I am trying to save some money in there so I can use it on something I really want.

I am actually pretty good with keeping to a budget and always manage to save more than I should if I really try hard. The problem is, I can also be pretty impulsive and spend on something on a whim, like getting the train home instead of the free bus. It works both ways here - it would be another hour before the bus arrives, it's pouring down with rain and I'm really tired, get the train now and I'll be home in 20 mins. It all can be a bit temperamental with me. So in the end I end up spending the same amount of money... :)