We have all heard about saving money for a rainy day. But what does that mean and when will we know if it is raining hard enough to use the money we have been saving?
I got into the habit of saving ten percent of whatever I earned about two years ago. I have plastic jars that are labeled with various things like Play, Vacation, Give, and Financial Freedom. Every month I put cash into the jars and every few months I put the cash into special savings accounts I have set up at the bank. The interest is only a few pennies, but I wanted to set a limit on how much cash I was keeping at my house.
The question now is when is it a rainy day? I have taken the money out of the bank two times now. The first time was when I bought my two dogs, a Yorkshire terrier and a Maltese. The breeder would only accept cash so I did it automatically. The next time was when I ran out of money and knew I would not have enough to pay my bills for that month. It felt good to have the money saved and available when I needed it so desperately. But was it truly raining then?
This time I am going to promise myself that I will only use the money for its designated purpose. Every three months I will give away the money I have set aside for that purpose to a charity I care about. I will save the money I have designated for vacation when I go away next summer. And the money I have in my financial freedom account? I am not sure. Perhaps that is meant to be used to invest in my business or to learn more about my business. I just know that it may not rain for awhile so the money should be safe with me.
