Do you pay yourself first?

[handmerounds]

I have heard about paying yourself first for a while now.  We just started setting aside $100 every week to put into savings.  It seems to be working good so far.  We have vowed not to touch it.  Just curious if anyone else does this and how it is working for them.    

[TwirlingRainbowSky]

I've heard that you should pay yourself first. My husband puts 15% into his 401k. Anything left of his paycheck goes to pay bills.

[thrifty gal]

Yes, we do. Any overtime pay that dh gets we sock it away, and if there is no OT we still sock a certain amount away. One of the best things a person can do!

[Michele Annette]

DH and I both have direct deposit savings and 401K taken out immediately. We don't miss it if we can't see it as "extra income" in our checking accounts. We also have a change jar that we both pitch into and an emergency fund.

[trelawney8]

I definitely do pay myself first, but I am trying to make sure to send part of that to the debt reduction first.

I like the safety cushion of available money, but it's only so useful if debt is racking up lots of interest

[sunshine]

I put a portion of each check into saving and a portion into a Christmas club account.

Once the savings is up to $2000 I put all extra money into debt reduction and just use the savings for emergencies. If I have to dig into the savings for something, then I pay just the minimums on debt and get the savings back up.

[britbunny]

Yes, I have started paying myself first and it's working really well. I pay an initial £50 into my EF when I get paid, if I do have any other money left over I throw this in at the end of the month. DH has just set up a direct debit to pay the money we were paying off one debt into this account too when he gets paid.

All of our debts (apart from mortgage) are fixed term and so there's not point in overpaying as we'd be charged for that.

I have saved more this year than I have done at any other time in my life.

[Mommy2five]

Our savings is taken right out of the check and put into the savings account, so we don't even see it.

I also consider the $$ we put into each of the children's account as a bill. It HAS to be paid monthly. We also have that just automatically come out of our account.

[MandiDawn]

I have direct deposit into my 401k (which is maxed out at 6%) and also into my savings. Once my savings is at a certain point, any extra in there is used to pay large chunks of debts. Each year I try to increase savings by $500. I dont' count any of that as income, it is not in my checking, so I can't use it.

[Shell]

Oh I really believe in paying myself first!!!! See the Emergency Fund challenge. I could NEVER save money until I paid myself first!!!

[AmyBoz]

If you are counting retirement money, then yes. Dh has the maximum amount deducted for his 401k every paycheck and I have money deducted every paycheck for my 403b (same as a 401k, but for public employees, like teachers). My paycheck goes directly into savings (direct deposit). Dh's paycheck goes into checking and then if we need money from my check (which we always do), we transfer out of savings. However, we do not have an emergency fund or anything like that. We should, but for right now, we are really trying to pay off our home equity loan. Once that's gone, then we'll talk emergency fund.

[mizniteowl]

I've been meaning to for a while but something always comes up (of course right?) But we'll be starting to get some more money into this household soon and I've got great savings plans figured all out.

[Juto]

We pay ourselves first. My husband and I both contribute to our Roth IRA's, and my husband contributes to his 403b. Whatever is left goes for bills and e.f. We also contribute monthly to our kids' college funds(as best we can)

[Kat27]

No we don't most everything is going to bills right now.

[srace]

I want to start doing this but desperatley need to get caught up on monthly expenses first. I am almost there and then I will start a savings account.