Keepin' My Money Tuesday

A favorite trick of mine is the 'ol pay yourself trick.

When I get my paycheck the first thing I do is pay God. That is my tithe. There is a lot more to be said about that!

Second, I pay MYSELF. This is easier said than done. Often I would pay a bill or use the money and I would find myself saying over and over...there is just no money to put in savings ... we are just too broke.

Then, I found ING. At first I thought, I just don't know how much I can afford to put in savings. We just don't have ANY extra money. Then I finally committed an amount. Later I even made it a little bit of a larger amount! It doesn't matter - just save SOMETHING!

ING has an online savings account that yields 3.0% (at the time of this post). I use ING because it automatically drafts the money out of my checking account and into my ING savings account. It also had a high yield (in comparison to my local bank). Your local bank can probably do the same thing. I went with ING because I like it being separate from my checking account ...that way I am not so tempted to dip into the funds!

With ING you set it up one time and tell it how much you want to be drafted out and which day every month you want it to be drafted out. For instance, you could set it up to draft $200 every month on the 3rd of the month. I am a teacher so I get paid once a month - at the end of the month. So I have my ING account draft it out on the 5th of the month. That way I know the check will already be deposited into my account and the money is sure to be there.

After you set it up - you don't have to fool with it! If you want to change the amount or the day that the money gets drafted than you can ...but you don't HAVE to.

This really works for me - I don't see it ... I don't miss it. And, now I have a nice little emergency fund, vacation fund, college fund for my kids (you name it) all set up. And you can set up more than one if you want! You could have one for emergencies and one for vacation, etc.

That's how I'm keepin' my money! I am terrible at saving money in the bank, I am always pulling it out for this or that (things that I think are emergencies)! So, this has helped me to just leave it alone!

If you are interested in starting an ING account email me or leave a comment and I will send you a referral - You'll get $25 for signing up with my referral and I'll make a $10 for referring YOU. Then you could refer someone and make yourself a little extra money! (My brother referred me when I got started!).
*You need $250 to start an account.

Last, leave a comment if you have questions or comments about posts you would like to see on "Keepin' My Money Tuesday." - Be it ideas for the next posts like "How do you... " or "What have you found that...." etc. If you have a great idea for how we can "Keep our Money" email me and maybe you could do a guest post! Finally, I will be happy to answer any questions. If I don't know the answer I will point you to someone who does! :)