The newest savings figures are out from the Commerce Department, confirming my earlier suspicions (see "The online holiday retail breakdown -- Where's your silver lining?").
According to the Commerce Department, Americans saved an average 3.6 percent of their after-tax income in December (one of the year's monthly highs). So indeed, people weren't just shopping over the holidays... they were socking away their killer discounts into long-term personal savings.
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Comments: 24
I'm delighted, however, to hear that those of you who did receive a check did do what's best for your own bottom line (and ultimately the bottom line of our economic stability), and who filed it away into some sort of savings plan.
Thank you Richard for sharing that research here. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Me too Beverly. When reading former Senator Bill Bradley's book , "The New American Story," I was chagrined to discover just how low America's savings rate is in comparison to the savings in other countries (like China). Here's an excerpt from my "American Story" review published here on Gather:
"Consumption now represents 71 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, and savings 1 percent. The Chinese, by contrast, have a consumption rate of only 38 percent of GDP, a personal savings rate of 35 percent, and a fixed-investment rate of 48 percent, compared with America's fixed-investment rate of 17 percent."
In my book, a boost to savings is a boost to our economic stability.
For example, I'm using the MagicJack, at a cost of $40 for the unit and $19.95 per year after the first year for round-the-clock local and long-distance phone service. (My only other expense is the electricity to keep my computer/Internet connection running during that time.) Before that I used Vonage, at $32 per month with taxes. If your current bill is now $60 per month, arrange to take whatever savings you can get and file into a separate savings account that you maintain for the family.
Other good sources for savings are credit card interest rate and courtesy-fee-removal negotiations, monthly modem rental fees for cable or Internet (just buy your own modem instead), and -- if your hubby is a frequent dry cleaner user -- switching to a less expensive cleaners. The dry cleaner down the block from me charges $1.25 per shirt (the dry cleaner cannot discriminate by charging more for women's shirt of the same fabric), and $2.50 for all other items, saving me hundreds of dollars each year over what I was paying before. Or, try one of the dry cleaning bags that go into your own dryer or one of the new Woolite-style washing machine options for "dry cleaning" at home. Then pocket the different for savings.
What do you think of this idea donna. Will it work for you?
I actually am the one who does the bills...that is why we still have all we own! I have called Credit cards to negoiate rates and I am very good with the wheeling and dealing of money..like using a rewards card to get points or cashback, rebates etc..
But he likes to spend and he does not care one bit about saving.
Donna, what a tough spot to be in. You're certainly doing everything you can on your end.
Maybe an incentive like saving for something he really wants could get the ball rolling? Every time the amount he spends falls below what he's currently spending, then you'll put the difference into an interest-bearing savings account just for him to allocate for bigger purchases.
Otherwise, now may be the time to separate the finances. He gets a slightly lowered amount of "spending money" in cash or a separate account, and you get the rest for bills AND savings. One idea...
For me, the penny signifies savings. The penny might not be worth much, but 100 of them equal a dollar. If you notice where your pennies go, the dollars will soon follow. Noticing is a large part of savings. You must become aware of where your money is going if you hope to accumulate savings.