It is hard to save money. The problem is that there is an infinite amount of wants and unfortunately only a finite amount of cash in our lives. Even though we saw our worst recession in America since 1929, the savings rate of U.S. citizens was only a paltry 6.4% at the height of the recession. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was only 4% this past July. And, now that the worst of the crisis seems to be behind us, the savings rate is starting to retreat again to 3% in August.

We are a nation of horrible savers when we compare ourselves to other countries. In Europe, citizens save over 10% of their income. We know as Americans that we are not saving enough. We recognize the problem, but how do we motivate ourselves to save? I think that for each of us it is a little bit different. I know people who motivate themselves to save by turning it into a game. Others motivate themselves by writing their goals down either in a journal, on a prominent place in the house (the refrigerator), or even write down their goals on their credit cards themselves as a reminder to save. I motivate myself to save money by actually forgetting about money altogether. That sounds kind of counterintuitive, right?

These are a few ways that I "forget" about money:

1. Coin Jar: I do not pay for anything with coins unless I absolutely have to. My wife and I only use dollar bills when we make purchases in stores. We keep any change that we get back from the cashier and put it in a piggybank on our nightstand every night. Over time, that money builds up because we never touch it. It’s a great way to save when you think that you cannot spare another penny.
2. Automatic Deduction: Money is debited from my checking account each and every month and transferred into several savings accounts and other investments. It is an automatic deduction, and I never even notice that the money is gone. As soon as the money comes into my account, it is gone again. In my mind, it was like it was never there to start with. Of course, I am only talking about a small amount of money, like $25 every paycheck. But, no matter how much money you deposit, it will really start to add up if you forget about it.
3. Overpaying Bills: I recently paid off my car, and this is the first time that I have not had a car payment since graduating from college. I keep making my car payment now, but I do not make the payment to the bank. Instead, I have been paying myself the exact same amount of my car loan payment on the very same day that my loan payment was due. My savings account is growing fast with all of the additional savings. If I didn’t keep "paying" the car loan payment, I know that I would have just blown that money on frivolous things. This is a great way to raise your emergency fund quickly to the three or six months of expenses that should have been there already.
4. PayPal: From time to time, I sell things on eBay or Craigslist. And I use PayPal to receive the payments for my items from the buyers. I do not spend the money in my PayPal account except to ship the items to the winning bidders. Over time my PayPal account builds up as I sell more and more items on eBay. I also let my PayPal account build up when I get paid for completing online surveys and other money making ventures online.
5. Bank Cards: I love the cards that pay you back either as a percentage of your charges, in the form of reward points, or the new debit cards that round up your purchases to the nearest whole dollar. This is kind of like the fancy way to save money in the coin jar. When you make a purchase and pay for it on your debit card, many banks now will deposit the change when they round up the nearest dollar into a separate savings account.

I remember asking my mother when I was growing up if she invested in the stock market or had money saved for a rainy day. She told me that she could not afford to invest after she and my father paid the mortgage and all of the other household bills. My mother may have said that they could not afford to save money, but I will tell you that you cannot afford to not save money and invest for the future. Of course this was almost 30 years ago when my mother told me this, but the same is true today just as it was back then.

With today’s economy there has never been a greater need for an emergency fund for a rainy day. If it has not already rained on you this past year, you can be sure that more rain is coming. Now is a great time to begin saving money for the inevitable emergency. No matter how much money you deposit, it will really start to add up if you just forget about it. You can motivate yourself to saving without even realizing it.