How to Maximize Family Savings
Almost a full year ago we paid off the last of our student loans and began to build up our savings. Being debt free, other than our mortgage, gave us such a feeling of a weight being lifted off of us we didn’t even realize we had. But that was just the start of our journey. Once we paid off our debt, we then built up a 6-month emergency supply. This savings would let us take care of ourselves if my husband were to ever lose his job or one of us got really sick or some other emergency. Having a savings in place has given us peace of mind. Along the way, there are a few things I have learned that have helped us as a family to more easily save. Here are my tips for maximizing family savings:
First, it is important to have a savings account in place. I have found it works best to have a savings account that isn’t at the same bank as your checking account. When I previously tried to save, it was too easy to transfer over the funds or set up my bank to automatically transfer over from my savings if my account ever went low. Having my savings set aside where I don’t see it daily when I look at my checking account balance really helps to keep from tapping into our savings.
Next, make and stick to a budget. I created a simple budget planning worksheet in excel that I called my “cash flow”. I wrote down what days of the month bills would go out and what part of each paycheck I could assign to each of those bills and other monthly expenses. Then, at any day of the month I can compare my checking balance to this cash flow spreadsheet and see how much of a balance I should have and quickly see what bills are coming up next. This had made a huge difference in understanding where my money is and goes and working with my budget. Be sure to assign every dollar a “name” whether it be for a bill, to pay off debt, to add to your savings, or for groceries and other expenses.
Display your goals and make it easy to see your progress. I created a聽goals chart that we’ve been using this year and marking off what financial progress we have been making throughout the year. It can be hard to feel like you are accomplishing anything when your money just goes into a savings or retirement or towards other goals. I have found that having my goals and progress displayed somewhere I see them daily makes it easier to keep moving forward towards those goals without getting distracted.
What steps do you take to maximize your family savings?
Right now we unfortunately do not save too much money. I have huge amounts of student loans that don’t leave a lot of wiggle room for saving 馃檨 I dream of being student loan free….
Yay for paying off student loans and saving!! It’s great to have a budget and to save.
Thanks for the savings idea’s, I’ll have to talk about it with my husband.
I tried to get my husband to sit down and do a budget, but when I told him to base it off of 40 hours a week, we didn’t have enough money to eat or get gas. Unfortunately, his hours vary from week to week so our budget is a very fluid thing. I hate it.
In your situation, start your budget off of what the minimum you think will come in throughout the month. Then, make a list by priority for any additional income if he does meet the 40 hours. For example, if you did 20 hours of income and then got to 25 you could put money towards the first 3 things on the list (more for groceries or whatever it might be for your family). It is hard to work with a budget without a set income but that can at least help.
What my husband and I now do is we live off of all the money we made last month and we don’t spend a dime of the money we make this month…until next month. It took a while to get enough built up so we could do this but it helps make life so much easier when you have an income that varies. Just an idea!
Fabulous idea!!
thanks for this great info, I am always looking for ways to save money.
I’ve actually found it easier to save by having them at the same bank. I am constantly transferring money INTO my savings because of that!
Ha, glad it works for you! 馃檪 I still of course transfer money to my savings, but it just goes as an external transfer and is just as easy.
I was thinking of opening a savings account at a different bank than my regular bank so I don’t always have access to it.
I totally love the idea of not having a savings account linked to the checking. That is totally brilliant!
One of the ways we maximize our savings is by reusing things. For example, we had some old, rickety furniture to get rid of, and my fiance broke it apart and used the wood to build an awesome new cabinet and countertop in my kitchen. I’m so lucky that he’s so handy!
PS, AWESOME job you are doing on your budget!
Wow, that’s really cool! I can’t even get my hubby to take out the trash without grumbles. lol. And Thank you!! 馃檪
Looks like you are well on your way to a balanced budget……now if we could get Washington DC to do the same!
It is great to get on a budget. We keep trying to do this and then my daughter has another medical emergency. 馃檨
So sorry to hear that! To keep your budget “safe” from the big medical bills try to build up an emergency fund, even if you just start it by working your way up to $500 or $1000. Then, when you have one of those emergencies you can hopefully tap into your fund for it and keep your budget in place. I had some big medical bills last month and they are NOT fun at all.
It was such a relief when my student loans were paid off. Thanks for the great advice! I am a very visual person, so writing down goals and looking at them regularly really helps.
you are very smart to do this,,ive been on a budget for years an stuck to it,,as I am now retired,,before I retired my homes(3) very small ones were paid for,,our vehicles(3)a 1997 van,i bought new years ago,,a 2005 truck,an a 2010 colbolt,,it makes retirement so much easier when you arent rich but dont have to worry about daily bills an a nice vacation once a year,,we dont live above our means,,we rent one of the smallest house for extra income,,if you start young to start spending wisely,,an saving an within your means,,its totally possible,congrats for being smart,,
Love that and totally agree! Getting things paid off brings so much less worry. We will save up and pay cash for any future cars or vacations to keep out of debt. 馃檪
These are great tips. Thanks for sharing them.
I have a spreadsheet and try to aggressively pay down our car whenever we find extra money. It’s so freeing not having a car payment.
These are good tips. We really need to work on setting and displaying our goals as well as creating the budgeting worksheet. We are doing all right, but I know we could do even better if we started doing these things.
I love this spreadsheet idea!!! Being that I am already obsessed with google docs, that will work perfectly for me! We do not budget enough… right now it’s hard to just get by monthly.
I am totally a google docs junkie, too! 馃檪