How to Save for a Rainy Day

It is important to save for a rainy day. You never know when something bad will happen, when you want to do something special for your family, or when an emergency will arise. Here are some tips for saving just enough money for those situations.

Pack your Lunch

While it's awesome to eat out, you must remember that each time you do so you'll be spending at least $20 on lunch. If you're eating at the cafeteria provided at work, you'll be spending anywhere between seven to $15 per meal.

It's easier to just purchase designated TV dinners during your grocery shopping that you can take to work and eat for lunch. Alternately, you can cook a little bit extra when you make dinner, and take the leftovers to work. Cooking a little bit extra cuts down on spending considerably. It's estimated that you can save between $140-$300 per month just by packing your lunch. This estimate is based off of spending between $7 and $15 per day on lunch.

Multi-Shop

Try to do all of your shopping in one or two trips throughout the week. People sometimes underestimate the amount of gas it takes to get you from point A to point B; if there are various points within your trip you can cut down on gas by logistically doing all of your shopping in one trip from closest to furthest. Otherwise, you'll be doing grocery shopping in one place, coming back to your house, the next day you'll be leaving your house and going to point C, coming back to your house, and leaving the third day to point B.

Each time you take a full round-trip to do your shopping, is more gas that you were spending. You can save about half a tank of gas per week by doing this. Depending on the vehicle you drive, that can be anywhere between $10 and $40 in savings.

Avoid Unnecessary Spending

For just a few months, avoid spending unnecessary money. Necessities include groceries, bills, and certain subscriptions. Pay your bills on time so that you know how much money you will have left over. Sometimes many families make the mistake of making their budget, which includes their bills before they pay them and end up overspending and having late charges. When making a budget, it's always best to pay your bills, and go from the amount left over, than to view and your overall money before bills are paid.

Avoid buying new video games, avoid renting expensive movies, shopping for clothes, shopping for shoes, shopping for household decorative items or kitchenware. Here are some examples of the things you need to stay away from:

New towels
A new tea set
New casserole dish
A new set of knives
A new outfit

These are things that may "seem" necessary at the time because you really want them, but you should only stick with the bare necessities. Try this for about six months, and you'll see how much money you have left over.

Every family should have an emergency fund in the bank and also have emergency cash at home. In your savings account, you should have at least $1000 for emergencies. At home, you should have at least $600 in cash in a safe place. Avoid dipping into your emergency fund to pay bills. Over the course of six months, this plan should save you about $1500; this is enough to fund your emergency account and have some cash at home.

Keep in mind that this is not a fund to be used for special occasions or parties. You should have a separate fund for Sweet 16s, wedding gifts, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and all other events throughout the year that will cost you money. It's always best to save some money for these occasions out of your yearly tax returns.