Are You A Bank Thief?

**staceyy** · 10-21-2005, 02:03 PM

What do you do to prevent yourself from dipping into your savings?

**sanderson76** · 10-21-2005, 02:20 PM

Nothing..i think that is one of my problems

**Jayne** · 10-21-2005, 03:06 PM

Savings

?????...What savings???

**Mamaw** · 10-21-2005, 05:00 PM

Actually, I am just starting on trying to save. Until now, everything has been spent! Now I have automatic withdrawal into 401K plan. I have started an emergency fund and am committed to paying down debt. Also I am finding that I dont really need or want all the latest and greatest stuff in the stores. When I look in my house at all the things I own and dont use I just cringe. What a waste! Not only of money but also of my time and peace of mind. After all, I have to clean and take care of all this junk! What ever was I thinking!

As I get older I find that I am much more content with what I already have and I am slowly weeding out my possessions. Simplicity is my new mantra! And how many darn sweaters can one person wear anyway! So, to get back to the subject, sorry for rambling, I am hoping that as I learn to be content with less and therefore buy less, my debt will reduce and my savings will grow!

**SHOPGIRL** · 10-21-2005, 05:18 PM

Well, I've started an emergency fund. I've only had to use it once in the last few months. It was quickly replenished with more money added. I use automatic savings. I have money taken from my paycheck each pay for my retirement account. I also contribute to my ROTH IRA monthly. That money is also automatically taken out of my bank account. So, I really don't miss the money. I'm paid 10 months of the year so I have to save money into my savings to cover bills for the other two months. I really don't have a hard time not dipping into savings. I just need to continue to add more money.

**pita1213** · 10-21-2005, 07:24 PM

i don't let dh know how much is in savings. if he knows, he wants to spend it, or i make it clear that the money is in there for a specific purpose and he leaves it alone. other wise he thinks it's spending money.
i just try to me content with what we have and plan how we spend money.
having a emergency fund helps to keep from having to dip into savings, though right now our savings is our EF. i am slowly building it up with survey checks, once it's built up a bit, i'll start buliding up my personal savings account that i had to open to get a loan from the bank( had to have my own seperate account for some reason) it's an out of sight, out of mind account, not one we can readily veiw when we log into the bank. it's it not something we look at everyday, it's not burning a hole in our pocket and won't get touched. but is there if needed in an emergency.

**Jerseygirl** · 10-21-2005, 07:47 PM

I keep the big picture in mind and keep enough discretionary spending money in my checking account so if I really NEED to have something (chanel bag, gucci shoes

etc) I can do it without dipping into the savings. I only dip into the savings for things like a car, timeshare etc. Otherwise I save in my checking account for specific items like a piece of furniture, art, holidays, even vacations. It keeps me from falling back into bad habits.

**Shell** · 10-21-2005, 11:39 PM

I lock mine up as soon as I save $5,000.00 so I am not tempted. It really works for me.

Now, for all you ladies in The Emergency Fund Challege get over to the Emergency Fund Challenge. I'm waiting for you!

**Jenna** · 10-21-2005, 11:58 PM

I stash it away into an ING account.

I'm a spender (more so than a saver) so it's tough to KNOW I have money that I'm not supposed to touch.

**britbunny** · 10-22-2005, 05:45 AM

DH and I have a savings account each, one is emergency fund (thanks Shell!

). The other is savings for things that we want/need - eg. new bathroom, car, central heating etc.

We have rules about what can and what cannot be paid for out of this money. This way it's *easy* to stop dipping into it.

**Jos** · 10-22-2005, 07:40 AM

I put money into our savings each month on the day that OH is paid. This money can then not be touched without at least four days notice, and a months notice if you do not want the interest effected. This works for us as you cannot simply impulse buy using savings as it is effectively locked away.

**sarathom** · 10-22-2005, 08:56 AM

I think, for me, it has been an attitude change. We have our savings account and it is for a down payment for a house (which I'm happy to say we are going to purchase in the next couple of months). So, that money was just completely off limits no matter what!

I also have an EF set up that we may have to dip in but that is becoming less and less as we don't spend as much money anymore.

And then we have the RRSPs, mutual funds and education funds where the money is not accessible. The money for these is automatically taken from our account so we never see it, never touch it.

But I have also started taking inventory of all the things that we DO HAVE. And I am actually impressed with how much I have and how content I am becoming with what I have. My need to buy things is not there anymore. If we do want something, we put the money aside and save for it.....usually.

This has worked for us and in less than one year, we have saved for a down payment for a house and on one income!

**ironmaiden** · 10-22-2005, 09:58 AM

Easy. We have 4 accounts.

401Ks which are considered untouchable.
A checking account which the monthly bills come out of
A savings account

And a "CASH ACCOUNT". It's a small savings account with an ATM card. This is all our wild spending money. Dinners out, CDs, etc. All the wants. If there is money in it, we can spend it, if not. Oh, well we do without. This account is not linked to anything else. We can't just transfer ourselves a little advance.

All these accounts are direct deposited into from DH's work. So we don't futz with the amount of money going into them.

The extra money that was growing in the checking account has gone to fixing up the house.