That Savings Feeling!

We are by no means "living the high life". We are stretched very thin financially because I'm a Stay-at-Home Mom. We sacrifice going out on frequent dates, seeing movies, eating out a lot and buying name-brand anything. We don't get to go on many vacations and we buy a lot from second-hand stores. We're not able to be brand snobs at the grocery store and we DIY as much as possible around our home.

However, one thing we're not willing to skimp on is our savings account. We learned a long time ago to "Buy Used & Save the Difference". We also learned that when you have a "Murphy's Law" account set up Murphy tends to stay away. Don't get me wrong. We still have plenty of "things" come up that require us to dip into our savings account, I.e. unexpected medical bills, car repairs, vet bills, etc. but we're prepared for it most of the time.

We have a savings account set up for each of our goals. We use ING Direct for our savings accounts.

Emergency Fund
- We set aside a certain amount each paycheck for our emergency fund. This account is only used for emergencies - car repairs, medical bills, etc.

FIJI Trip
We hope to go to Fiji for our 10 year Wedding Anniversary so we're setting aside money for that as well! We've got 4.5 more years to save up for this!

10 Year Anniversary
We plan to throw a 10 Year Wedding Anniversary Reception! We want to be able to "do-over" our wedding reception. We got married young and while our families blessed us beyond what was necessary we would love to really do it up! We plan to rent the same location but have a live band and a catered meal! Seriously, it's going to be huge and SPENDY so we're saving for that too!

Miscellaneous
Any time we want something that's not in our budget we save up for it. For example: my Husband wants a Chameleon so we're setting aside a small amount of money each paycheck until we can afford to purchase it. I really want my Husband to be able to take a good amount of time off of work once this Baby Girl is born so I've been setting aside money to cover the loss of pay we'll take once his vacation time runs out.

Basically we have a budget that we work hard to stick to and if it's not in the budget it's not getting purchased until we save up for it! Our budget basically includes Food, Poop Containment and Gas. It's hard to have that self control when you really want something but it's for the best! I promise!!! And your family will thank you for the security financial stability brings!

What are your tips for saving up?!?