i have alot of trouble keeping money in the bank?

Question

now that i got a raise ill be making about 300 more every two weeks. any suggestions on financing? i have a cruise coming up in november and i wanna make sure i have enough spending money

Answer 1

Create a separate savings account, apart from your checking account. Every time you get your paycheck, skim off the $300 and put it in the savings account, and DON'T TOUCH IT. By November you'll have a nice pad of money.

Answer 2

You are managing without that 300 at the moment so, open a savings account, as soon as you get paid transfer the excess into the savings account and don't take it out again however tempting it is.

If you have trouble controling your spending try keeping a spending diary for a few months. Write down every penny as you spend it. It will help you see where all the money is going and might make you think about it a bit more before you spend it.

Answer 3

Well, I use Microsoft Money to track my finances. Before this, I couldn't tell you how much money I had in the bank. I constantly overdrafted my account, and I was broke all the time.

It took a little while to set up, but I became very excited about using this program. Basically, you just tell it what your bills are, how much money you have in your account, then when you withdrawl money, you say what it's for (gas, groceries, whatever)

I started in March of 2006. I can tell you exactly how much money I spent on specific things since then (like how much I've paid to the electric company each month for the past year)

Now I never run out of money (because I know how much I have) and I'm never late on my payments (because Money lists your upcoming bills)

It took about an hour and a half to set up, and I spend about 45 minutes each week, updating my records. I love this program!!

Answer 4

For long term savings, if your employer has a 401K or similar savings plan, use it. It puts the money where you can't easily get it.
Otherwise, see if you can have a certain amount directly deposited from your check to a savings account.
To save for your cruise, many banks have "Vacation Club" accounts. You make a deposit each week and cannot take the money back out until a set date several months down the road. Ask your bank if they have a similar program which will work for you.

Answer 5

you'll get about 20 paychecks between now and Nov. 20*300=6000, do you have 6k in savings right now? if you do, you can buy a cd for 9 months and you won't able to touch it until it matures.

if you don't have 6k right now and depending on the raise to pay for the cruise, then write a check for 300 to someone you trust like your mom every time you get pay and ask for the money back when you need it. make them promise not to give you money until Nov. they can keep the interest earn on the money as a gift, not gonna be much.

Answer 6

Setup an online savings account ( with ING Direct or Emigrant) that automatically takes the extra money every two weeks in order for you to have enough for your vacation.

Because its done automatically you wont even see it coming out of your paycheck. Plus you dont have to be disciplined to save cause this will be done automatically for you. Hope this helps!!