What does saving up mean?

amother

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 7:44 pm

A few times I saw ppl write that they're "saving up" for a wig, a baby nurse etc.

What does that mean? I don't understand that.
Our paychecks get deposited into our bank account and our credit card get paid from there. Whatever is left over stays in our account .

If there is a big purchase, we discuss it and decide if we have enough money and if it's worth it.
How does "saving up" work? You put x amount of money a month into a separate account?

amother

Currant

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 7:46 pm

I get cash gifts for bdays Chanukah etc that I put in an envelope.
And one paycheck from a certain job gets withdrawn in cash and put in an envelope. I’m saving for a watch

hodeez

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 7:46 pm

Maybe they're holding back from getting takeout or buying clothes.

zigi

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 9:14 pm

Yes savings account or put away cash for something. Not everyone uses credit cards.

amother

Freesia

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 10:24 pm

I have what I call my "stash" - a plastic envelope hidden somewhere that here and there I put cash into. Sometimes 20s, sometimes a hundred, recently I got cash gifts a few times and it went into there. It's money just for me, if I want to buy myself something that's not in our budget. (Pretty much nothing extra is in our budget!)

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 11:26 pm

From whom do you get cash gifts after you are married? That's not my world.

amother

Freesia

Thu, Nov 10 2022, 11:45 pm

amother Saddlebrown wrote:

From whom do you get cash gifts after you are married? That's not my world.

I don't usually!
Recently I got a few very generous gifts from students so I put that away, and then my mother gave me a very generous cash gift from a specific extra income she had that she wanted to share.

amother

Springgreen

Fri, Nov 11 2022, 12:32 am

To me it means spending less now so you'll have more later. When we saved for kids to go to college, we put money into 529 accounts. Usually, though, it just means curbing spending.

amother

Red

Sun, Nov 13 2022, 6:42 am

We have a budget. We don't just pay our bills at the end of the month and save the leftovers.

We have a certain amount set aside for each monthly expense - and that is in our regular checking account. The excess gets split up into different accounts.

We have a maaser account in a gmach where we put our maaser money (he lends the money put to people in need while its building up, and when we have a significant amount we donate it to a worthy casue, this way its a double give)

We have an account with 6 months of monthly expenses + we add every month a certain amount for "yearly expenses" like taxes, yomim tovim, camp, clothing.... if I want a big extra like a sheital/vacation I cut from some of our other categories and add to that account until I have enough to cover expenses. sometimes we have had to dip into the 6 month fund (extra large tax bill/ clothing prices jump, unexpected car expense) and then we cut down significantly in our monthly budget until we are back up at that sum.

Any additional savings are split between our 401k and our children's savings accounts. This that actually increase in value/ vs the funds in the bank that decrease in value. Of course, this is not liquid, which is why we have the 6 month fund.

imaima

Sun, Nov 13 2022, 6:53 am

amother Saddlebrown wrote:

From whom do you get cash gifts after you are married? That's not my world.

Relatives