By Kris Swanson

With a new year comes New Year resolutions and new beginnings.  It is also a good time to include a financial resolution to start something that will build a cash reserve for yourself.  Some call it an emergency fund or stash of cash or cushion.  Whatever helps you to identify a means to build extra money into your life, to SAVE, is a good beginning for a new year.

Saving Those Bills

Some people put away every twenty-dollar bill they come across.  For lots of people that is too much to sacrifice.  Others save all $10 or $5 bills they come in contact with.  Excellent idea for those people who use cash in their transactions.  My college son uses a debit card for all his transactions.  And for me, I use credit cards so I rarely have cash on me but a few dollars.  By the way, I do pay my credit card balance off each month.  So the idea of saving a $5 or $10 bill would not get me a decent stash of cash in any reasonable amount of time.  But stores that have machines that allow debit and credit card users to add cash to their purchases at check out, then an extra $5 or $10 taken at that time could then be tucked away later at home.

Saving coins

For some, saving just their change may be a better idea.  Or just save all quarters.  Emptying one’s pocket or purse each night into a jug may surprise even the frugalist person.  It would eventually add up to a few hundred dollars that could be used at Christmas or for a mini-vacation or just saved as part of the cushion each family needs to have.

“Initial” Saving

Another idea that I recently came across was looking at every $1 bill for your initials. To the left of good ol’ George is a letter. If it is one of your initials, save it. Now that sound like a fun idea. Get the whole family in on that one. Each family member could save their own $1 bills and contribute to the ‘pot of gold’. Unfortunately, my son has the same first and last initial so he may be more limited in his contribution.

Coupon Saving

Others who use coupons when they shop also put that exact savings into their cash stash, via writing a check to their savings account or adding the cash savings to their stash.  And others by using their checkbook are able to save. When writing checks they round up to the next highest dollar in their checkbook when they post the transaction.  I personally would rather balance my checkbook and bank statement to the penny, but to each his own.

Automatic Savings Account

And lastly, open a separate savings or credit union account and add 5, 10 or $20 every week to it, religiously. Do it automatically and you won’t even feel it coming out of the family budget.

Let me interject another reminder here about the emergency fund. Every family needs at least $500 in an emergency fund ($1000 is even better) for unexpected repairs, medical treatment or crazy mishaps that occur that upset your family’s financial tranquility. Save this stash first, by using one of the above ideas, and then feel free to use your other new found money in whatever way you like.

Happy New Year and happy saving!

Here are some other ways to save.

BeatingDebt.org

–Convincing People To Stay Away From Debt–