Savings Challenge

[annaswan]

I was watching Alan Greenspan on TV this morning, and of course he was talking in terms of percentages and treads - but he seems fairly certain a recession is on the immediate horizon. I know Christmas is fast approaching, and the last thing we want to think about right now is debt - but one of my goals in ‘08 is to start a savings plan. Remember the savings account? LOL Remember when our parents had a little pass book in their pocket with all sorts of notations, and a balance? It’s been so long since I heard someone say - “I’ll have to take it out of savings” - I seriously wonder if our generation HAS a savings. So - 08 is the year to turn back the financial clock and restore the savings account. I can tell you the year we closed our savings account - the year we got our first credit card.

How quick can you go through a $20? Do you even think about it when you spend one? For most of us, a $20 is an amount that we can live without - and suffer no serious side effects. So - if all you deposit in savings is $20 a week - you’d tuck back $1,040.00 a year. That’s a pretty dern good reward for doing without $20 a week, huh? The mistake I’ve made in the past was skipping that weekly deposit and thinking - oh I’ll catch it up next week when I go to town. BAD ANNA! It’s harder to part with $40 than it is $20 - and for most of us - parting with $80 to $100 hurts. So - inevitably - I’d skip my deposits and never reach the jackpot at the end of the year. My goal for 08 is to do it every single week - without fail. Also, when your account is growing so slowly - you really have no big desire to go spend that money - because - well, it’s not much money. LOL

We’re a pretty family oriented bunch anyway, but I also want to concentrate even more on the family in 08. Life is so very short, and kids grow so very fast - time passes faster every year that I get older - so I really want to focus on making each day count. And I challenge you guys to do the same! In 08 I wanna read blogs that say - “We had SO much fun today!” Let’s be really selfish in 08 and spend every single day making ourselves and our family happy. And whenever possible - let’s commit a random act of kindness on an unsuspecting stranger too.