pragmatica posted:

heatherette333 posted:

save money (even though i don't know how to)

Open a separate account from your usual one and have money automatically transferred into it every two weeks the day after your paycheck goes in, which is usually the 1st and 16th of each month.

So if you have your regular chequing account, open a high interest savings account at the same bank (or elsewhere, if you can find a better interest rate, as long as you can do free bank-to-bank automated transfers) and use the online banking view to set up a "recurring transfer" where $50 (or whatever) goes into your savings account every two weeks. Set it up to run forever on the 1st and 16th of every month.

Then you don't have to even think about savings: it just happens automatically.

That's the key to saving money. The money moves into a separate savings account before you even have the chance to spend it!

Dealing only in cash instead of credit cards or debit cards also helps make it easier to keep track of how much you are spending. If you have a budget of $200 in spending money for 14 days, withdraw that money the day after your paycheck goes in and force the cash to last 14 days. When you have no credit card to draw upon, you pay way more attention to your budget since you'll see less and less cash in your wallet with every passing day and don't let yourself take out any more money until your next paycheck goes in.

I hope this helps.

Always bank with no-fee banks, too. It saves a lot over time... $12 a month in banking fees adds up over the years.