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I opened a savings account a couple of months ago and, a few weeks after opening it, I withdrew all my money and paid off some credit cards with it. I was reading finance tips on Dumb Little Man and it kept stressing to put some money away every month. Even if you still have debt. My logic with that was, if I'm paying 26% interest on this debt, it's useless to have money sit around and earn 4.5%. Thankfully I'm not paying ridiculous interest rates anymore and, while I'm not happy with my current state of debt, I realized that surely I can put away $25 a month. I'm sure I blow away that much on my morning coffee and muffins! I feel kind of good about this.

Another tip that I've been half using is the envelope rule. You withdraw x amount of money and keep it in an envelope. Depending on your expenses there can be different envelopes but for me, it's just one. Your goal is to make that money last till the end of your budget period (week, paycheck, month). I find that, for the most part, it works. I still end up taking out extra from my checking account but it's better than charging it!!

Now that I've started eating at home I've noticed I have more money in my checking account. It's a really nice feeling. I'm sort of getting back into cooking too. I made plain turkey burgers one day and I think I'll make them Mediterranean-style over the weekend!