I do a similar trick with expense checks at work. I usually know that in a given month I could spend up to $200 in gas driving for work so I budget for that amount. In reality, my personal gas bill is probably only about $100 a month (yay city living and limited need for the car!) When the expense check comes in it goes straight to savings. Since I had already budgeted for what I knew would be reimbursed it feels like I'm just getting extra cash!

I like this idea but I guess I'm not disciplined enough. I had to get the mgr at the local market to unlock the cash register since my bill was 1/3 of my club card savings. And I'm going back again today.

Even though I didn't specifically bank the savings during the month I bought  a new video camera for about what I've saved this month on coupon/rebate shopping. I guess that counts.

Wonderful tips. I'm one of those people who has to make a game of saving money for it to work. Here's my method: hubpages.com/.../EventheSmallestContributions

I love those money saving tips, please keep sending them. We have a few tips of our own. We have paid down 20,000 in aboout a year and this is how we did it. #1 any  extra money we received that is not a part of our weekly income we put it in savings, that include  tax return 3,000, birthday, anniversary monies, christmas bonus, salary raises,monthly milage checks, ect. #2 my wife call me the jar man, we have five jars for anything we like to save for, our daghters piano $100 a month, car repairs $100 a month, $50 out of both of our checks that's four checks a month $200 just for savings, at first my wife said it was no way that she can do that, well she's been doing it. Our daughter Tuition goes in one of those jars and so on. It works really well with the jars I'm not stress at the end of the month  having to pay a big bill out of our checks. I'ts always temting when you get a large check (tax return) to spend it, but I say why, that is a good time to start saving.

I don't like the library book thing because I'm a librarian... if I put money away for every book I checked out... I'd be broke within a week!  :-)  The rest of them work for me though!  Great tips!

We are saving our change every day.  We have a ceramic pig we put our change in and when he gets heavy, his "stomach" contents go to the bank.  They count it and deposit in my account.  If we get money in mailings, that goes in pig.  It's over $100 a year, last time it was $54.49, and the time before $87.00 and change.  

We also stopped the service to pick up the yard after our pets.  That was $40 a month.  I do that garbage pickup day.  The money goes into the savings account.

We also pick up cans.  I know that isn't much because people are using plastics more.  But each can is about 1.5 cents so we have a bin in the garage.  On our way past the recycling center we made a stop when the bin got full.  $6.30 for picking up trash.  (Bending over is good for your flexibility.)  

WE started a program with the bank of rounding up on your purchases and depositing the spare change in the savings account.  $25.00 in 6 months.  Not much but would you have saved that much change?