Earn a Dollar, Save a Dime

As a child, I can remember my parents giving me my weekly allowance and telling me, "DON'T SPEND IT ALL IN ONE PLACE!" Then I'd go to my room and put half of it in my bear bank <-- I never had a piggy shaped bank. That little five dollars seemed to last me a full week, and I would still have some left over by the time the next week's allowance was due.

Those were the good old days. Now it seems like I can save ANY money at all. In fact, it feels like the more money I make the less money I have. No matter what I do, no matter how much I try, I always seem to break even after paying all of my bills every month. There's got to be a better way, than just living from pay check to pay check. So I talked to a financial advisor to get a few tips on how to better manage my funds.

Pay Yourself First

The way that this concept works is, once you get your check, set aside an amount that will be strictly for you to do with what you please. The catch is that the amount is all the money that you can use for your wants and desires. If you spend it all on those BAD shoes by BCBG then that's on you, but you cannot cheat, or steal from yourself as my mama calls it. Once your want money is gone ... it's gone.

Set Up a Savings Account

Now I was already a step ahead of the game with this one. He said to set up a savings account and start with a little then slowly work your way up in the amount that you save. Even if it's just five dollars a week to start out with, at the end of the month that would be $20 that you have saved as opposed to having nothing at all. Savings accounts earn a little interest as well. The important thing is to PRACTICE DISCIPLINE and DON'T TOUCH the money that you put into your saving unless it's an emergency. ((A sale at your favorite store, is not an emergency!)) If it's possible, have a certain amount deposited straight to your savings each time you get paid, that way you don't even have to think about it.

Invest in a C.D. at Your Bank

For this method, you need to have money to make money. You have to have at least $500, to invest in a Certificate of Deposit at most banks. The C.D.s work is that you invest into the bank your choice for a certain amount of time <-- most banks have time periods of 9 months, 15 month, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, and some even have 15 years, and in return, the bank will pay you interest on you investment. The interest varies at each bank and for each time period. This method is good for if you have money that you can afford not to touch for awhile, because if you try to withdraw it before the allotted time there is a penalty that you'll have to pay. Once the maturity date has hit, you usually have about a week to withdraw your money, or it will automatically be reinvested. Once you've opened the C.D. usually the bank will let you add money to it, but if not, then just continue to let the amount roll over like Cingular's cell phones minutes.

I think that I'm going to try all three of these methods and see how it works out for me.