You've hung around cincysavers.com for a while now and have learned how to save a pretty penny.  But what are you doing with all those savings?  If you don't make a plan for what you're going to do with those savings at the store, then you'll end up spending the money elsewhere.  That's not really saving money.  Okay, you're saving money now.  Now what?   Saving money is a great thing.  But saving money wisely is even better!  I have four suggestions on what to do with your savings so that you can be saving wisely! 

• The first month, take a look at your receipts. Take the before sales and coupons totals, and subtract the amount you paid out of pocket. Now, take that amount you saved, get it in cold hard cash, and put it into a separate envelope or account earmarked for stockpile shopping. If you do this the first month, and then the first week of all subsequent months, you will now have all the funds you need for purchasing coupons and other stockpiling deals!

 

• Begin figuring your savings, and depositing a portion into a savings account like the Park National ForYouFund, designed to help you stash money for when you really need it.. Most Americans do not have a 3 month cushion in savings in case of emergency. As your savings at the checkout grow, you can be developing a healthy emergency fund!

 

• Take your savings and apply them to debt. As you begin to save money at the checkout, you will become stingier and stingier with every penny, and you will greatly despise sending out money to your credit card company. Debt does not make financial sense in most cases. Use your savings to pay off your debt! Don't let those greedy companies continue to gobble up so much of your money! Soon you'll have it paid and have even more money in your pocket!

 

• Start a vacation fund, or a Christmas fund, a travel fund or even a spa-day fund! What is it you've always wanted to do more of but couldn't afford? Start to bank the savings, and you'll soon have the funds for it!  I personally love the Park National ForYouFund for this.  Put the money somewhere where it isn't easily accessible for withdrawals so you aren't tempted to spend it on small purchases instead of the larger ones you've been dreaming of.

 If you simply walk out the door of a store, figuring your savings but not taking them out of your account, you will spend them somewhere else.  We all know how it happens-"its just $5" adds up very quickly!  And it will be even more appreciated in that savings account when you take your dream trip!  I know we couldn't afford to put the full amount of savings into a savings account in the beginning-and I think as everyone becomes proficient, that will be true for most of you.  I save over $600 a month-and there's no way I could have put that much in my savings account back when I started.  But we started with $100 a month into an emergency fund, and another $100 a month into a "fun" fund-for trips, missions, things around the house.  Like with stockpiling, the fund grew steadily.  We now both participate in two missions per year with our savings! Now, THAT's what I call saving money wisely!