Are your Pennies Counting?

By: Martin Lukac
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:16:08
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher |

Rating:

 

Do you really see the rewards of living frugally? Are those saved pennies just disappearing?

Every time I save some pineapple juice or something like that in the freezer, my husband asks me if I am really saving. Am I saving anything in the little frugal things I do?

I like to look at it as having what I need without a trip to town, which does save money and time. But from a purely financial standpoint, you have to phsyically be putting money into savings for it to count.

We often save pennies in living frugally. How often do you take that twenty dollars you shaved off the electric bill to your savings account at the bank? How many times to do put that extra five that you saved by not going through the drive-through for lunch into the cookie jar?

You have to start paying yourself for being frugal. After all, it is a job. You are letting money slip off into the wide blue if you aren't keeping track of your savings.

You have to write down what you are saving. Then, you go to the bank and put that money into your savings. When you use coupons, put the amount you saved into your savings. If you don't want to take three dollars to the bank, create a jar at home that you contribute to on a daily basis. Put all of your spare change and savings into the jar. When time goes by, you'll find you have saved enough to make a deposit.

It sounds a little silly. You save five cents on something, so you have to put a nickle into your jar. But believe me -- it will work. Try it for a month. You will really begin to see where your savings are paying off.

And don't only pay yourself for savings, but for making wise frugal decisions. For example, you see an outfit you really like. But you make a decision not to spend the money on it because you have plenty of clothes. Go home and put the money in your jar. You saved it. Pay yourself for that.

Watch and see how your savings grow. After a month, add up all of your savings. Mulitply it by twelve and see how much you could save a year by sticking with this method. It makes you stick with putting what you save to a good cause. Many of us never see what we are saving by living frugally. We simply let the money go somewhere, but not towards our goals.

To save money, you actually have to put the money in savings. You have to pay yourself.

Each time I save pineapple juice from a can of pineapple, I put the cost of a bottle of pineapple juice in my jar. I know that I am saving money by living frugally.

Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!

Article source: Expert Articles