Even though I've been very broke for the last four years, I've managed to go to Cedar Point. I only stay for the day. But I start saving for it in January. I occasionally purchase stuff with cash, and when I come home with a spare five or ten dollars, I put it in my Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank. I do that every few weeks or so. Over the course of five or six months, I manage to save $160 painlessly. It takes about that much to get to Cedar Point, eat one meal, and get back. If I want to have a little more fun and have more food choices, I need closer to $200. I rarely play skill games, but I might play that ring toss game that I enjoyed last fall. If you buy a hatful of rings, you get to keep the hat. Sure, the hat probably cost 20 cents to make, but I felt better spending $10 on a skill game knowing that I'd get something.
But I did start a Christmas Club account at Fort Financial Credit Union. It's the time of year I could use more money. Not because I have gobs of people to buy for (I don't) but because of my schedule, I have time off then, and I'd like to be able to go to movies, and perhaps take a road trip to Indy or Chicago, and of course, go skiing. Skiing is about $100. That includes gas money and equipment rental. That leaves about three bucks over to eat. So saving up the $100 to ski, I'm okay, because I usually have enough in my checking account to eat something at the ski lodge and on the way home.
Time is on your side when it comes to saving. That's why I start saving in January for Cedar Point. It would probably also apply to retirement. I have an IRA, and I'm guilty for not contributing more to it. But I should probably take the same approach to the IRA as I do the Cedar Point fund. If I can spare $5 a week to put in an IRA, sure, it's not much, but at least I'm putting SOMETHING in it. And something is better than nothing.
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