Should we save enough for a year + hiccups?

I have Amazon and Paypal as well. I work mTurk on occasion and use that to pay for some of the diapers and wipes for the baby. I usually transfer the money out of my paypal account to buy things like flea medicine or "wants" during the year. Around Christmas I take advantage of all the freebie and discounts for Christmas items. For our extended family I try to only spend money out of my paypal account (we have 16 people to buy for if we buy for everyone). Last year I did really good, we cashed in points form our debit card, Disney Movie Rewards and MyPoints to pay for gifts and gift cards. With discounts and freebies, I ended up spending $20 out of pocket for extended family gifts. Trying to continue that trend this year.

Having two savings accounts is a great idea. I also have money sitting in PayPal and Amazon that will take care of some incidentals. I will use it to pay for a new antivirus for my computer, and I ordered a new pedometer today. I will be getting the flea treatment for my cats out of there as well. I have had some emergencies in the past four years that my PayPal has covered and I have been glad it was there.

To Both Of You : My husband and I had thought of opening up another savings account at the bank that are in Wal*Marts, I think we would've gotten $50 for every person we brought in, but we decided against it. We have one checking and one savings account and both are joint. With our savings, any time one of us swipes our debit card one dollar from checking goes to saving until about $300.00. I am on sites like Mturk, MyPoints and Gather but don't use any of them enough to get anything. I don't use MTurk at all anymore, and the same can really be said for MyPoints. I do try to use Gather but if you were to see how many emails await me for gather alone you'd cringe. sedel1027, you have a really good plan going for you and I am glad you were able to only spend $20.00 for the extended family out of pocket. My husband and I don't shop but for his parents, his grandparents and ourselves. My family just doesn't celebrate Christmas anymore. My dad's side does and we did get my dad something for Christmas last year, and most likely will this year as well. I could've collected Unemployment from work when I was laid off in February but I didn't. I suppose it's mostly because of laziness, and not being sure how to do it. I know a few people who have and have had unemployment, one of them I am not sure of her situation she seems to be able to get by with what she has, but she also has a child, and I am not sure if the amount you get is affected by that or not. I thought it was always to do with what your last job's pay was, and so I am just not sure. When my husband signed up for insurance he signed up for BCBS, I had insurance at the time so no need for me to do so. I will probably sign up under him with the BCBS at some point, but right now we don't really have the money to do so.

LOL, yes the duck. I'm not familiar with the BCBS, but it's good that you have something. I don't keep up with the economy talk, but listen a few times a month. Depending on who you listen too some say it's turning around others say it will be years before we see any changes. I just know here that things aren't turning around. In talking to people the have taken cuts in pay, taken second jobs (a few) others have had hours taken away. I also see a lot more people standing on street corners or going through parking lots asking for money. It's a lot more than what it was 4 years ago when I moved here.

You mean the duck or whatever it is that says AFLAC... Yeah that's true I've seen the commercials, my husband had BCBS though. It works for him, and though the added benefit of paying the monthly bills would be nice if he did need to be out of work, at this time we won't change it. Yeah I don't know how things are turning around either, though I'm not up on the latest of what is going on with the economy so I can't really say much as is.

BCBS is Blue Cross Blue Shield, I am not sure how many states they offer the insurance in, but I am in NC, and I assume the surrounding states have it as well. I think with all things, the economy is helping those more fortunate before it goes to those who are not as fortunate, and with all things as well, the government grants people need, and government assistance people need isn't as easy to get with the qualification level maybe being stingy in some areas, while it's not in others.

It is already tough to save with my husband being the only one working. Lucky enough we don't have all that many bills right now so to save up for a year's worth of our bills wouldn't be as much as others. However, we are wanting to get our own place which means more bills and less money to save with. I wish we all could get ahead so we could save more, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

It sounds like you have some very good ideals to work from. Keep focused and you will do fine. I don't think I will ever be able to save much. I am on SSD and it is tough.

I am glad you have that to fall back on, which makes me want to save even more just in case we need it to fall back on. My husband is the only one working, I know I need to get a job but I don't think I will truly look until I overcome my fear of being rejected and / or get some job training so there's something good to put on my resume.

I can understand the fear of being rejected or not being sure whether or not you are qualified to do a job, especially since some of the job descriptions can sound quite daunting. When you actually have to do the job, though, sometimes you find it is really simple, but the employers just make it sound a lot more complicated than it really is. I had a similar experience when writing a resume. My old boss looked over my resume and reworded it, and I looked at him and said "I can't do all that" and he told me I already was doing all of it, but the words that he used to describe things just sounded a lot better and more complicated.

My husband and I could not deal with the stress if we were to come across any big hiccups in the financial road. We stress enough as is, which is why I do want to save enough for a year + hiccups so that we won't have to worry down the road. The economy is uncertain, and jobs can go like that (snaps fingers) so it's much better to be safe then sorry. I hope you can manage to get ahead so you can save.

I am sorry you are having such troubles, and I know how it feels to be worried about saving enough. I hope the online ventures pay off for you but remember to never pay anyone to make money it's always a scam. I hope your wife's job stays secure, and the medical bills are paid off and on time. My husband and I had to pay off a medical bill of mine and it amounted to about $1,300 after everything I would say. Good Luck to you.

Thanks for your sweet wishes, suggestions and the blessings. I think we need them badly. Regards, Sids.

My husband and I have been fortunate enough that things have not come up for us that we could not take care of. Before we married I did have debt, and I believe I talked about it here. We were given money by his family to pay it off so that it would not mar his credit once we married. Now that we are married we do not put anything on our secured line of credit unless we can pay it off, and while we do need help when it comes to saving and not heeding to our impulses, we are lucky enough to not have to worry too much about bills now. We have a credit card bill, his health insurance bill, car insurance every six months, and of course gas. We also have the storage fee to pay, but those are the only bills we do have. Neither of us are prepared to have our own home because we've seen from others that things add up quickly. We have the want, as I've explicitly expressed here on mylot, but I am beginning to realize that we do not have the means. I am more of a creative mind, a romantic mind, while my husband is logical. I need his logical mind, and the minds of those here online to tell me of what they have been troubled with so I can hopefully learn before we make the mistakes. I am blessed every day that my husband works, and yet I don't show him enough that I am happy he does work. I find my mind wanders, and truthfully enough I've found that it's lead me to worry, stress and even paranoia. I know I can cure this if I have other things to do, other means to make money like a job for myself. I wish I could hide behind the economy and the lack of jobs out there but there are plenty of jobs for the kind of work I am qualified to do, I just am scared to go back out there, and knowing that my job history is poor, I am also afraid that the interviews will all be failures. I am sorry you've had your "hiccups" having to get a new water line and work done on the circuit boxes as well as new water heater, and then more thigns are still needing to be done. I do remember your discussion about you and your husband's training for a job and if I remember correctly it was a government job. I hate that the economy took that away from you. I am glad you could draw unemployment, something I probably should have done but is probably too late for me to do. My last job ended in February when the relative I was sitting with had to go to a home. I was told that I could draw unemployment, not by my bosses but through the grape vine. If you have a staples near you I would suggest going there or an HH Gregg for a laptop. My husband and I were in staples the other day and we saw a laptop, I believe it was $450.00 and it had Windows 7. Of course you might be able to find one through dell or another company that is cheaper, and E-Machines, a place I know does desktops might also do custom Laptops which might be beneficial for you. Here I am blabbing and I know I've probably unburdened some worries when I really shouldn't have, but if you've read this I appreciate you doing so and wish you and your husband the best. Thanks for responding and sharing.

I would be stressed beyond words if we couldn't save atleast a few dollars...

More then we have saved up right now.

You are right of course, but it's easier said then done to just stop spending when you're so used to it. Still, my husband and I are trying.

Lucky enough for us if I were to get a job we would be alright, until we moved out then we'd most likely be living paycheck to paycheck, or almost paycheck to paycheck.

You are right we should not save beyond our means, just like we should not spend beyond our means.

Exactly, savings is good for the hiccups in life!

Wants will always be human nature, it's how we handle those wants that will decide how we do with our savings. If you can start plans to save for the future and for the wants, then that is a good thing. Of course paychecks are usually already used up before you even get them with bills and such that need to be paid, and groceries that also need to be bought.

I am also willing to bet not that many people have money saved up for a rainy day. I am glad your roommate got food stamps, but I do wonder if it's really even enough because I know they base it on income and how many people are in the house, not sure if he could claim the housemates or not. My mom has food stamps and has had them off and on for most of my life. I hate your other roommate and co owner was forced into retirement, no noone can hardly live on just $1000 a month, not with bills and things like that.

I bet that is less stressful because the more we think about what we have to save, the worse we feel about what we're not able to save.

I hope your store takes off. If you would like me to put the link to it in my profile just pm me and I will do so so that you can have some more exposure. My husband and I do have the way to save money I've talked about a lot on here, and I totally forgot about it when making this discussion, but I think both of us would rather not touch it and just save it for our apartment, and from time to time when a friend of us has us buy things off of him so that he can pay his bills, or get gas money. I am glad you've got some financial aid money still left over that you are saving up, from what I understood of financial aid they only really give you enough for tuition and books, but maybe I'm mistaken. Good Luck to you and your husband, and may we all save for a rainy day!

Mylot is a wonderful place with vast knowledge on a lot of subjects. We have many interests here to do with frugality and penny pinching that may be of interest to you. You can also make use of the search feature to find topics on money and people who also do not have a job like me and you. I hope that you will come back to my discussion(s) in the future, and please feel free to comment amongst others here as well and ask them questions. It will not only expand your knowledge but also your wallet. I personally have found a lot of tips I will be using when my husband and I do get our own place, right here on mylot.