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.