What are ways as young parents are saving money for retirement/future in this ecomony?

Good Day! - posted on 01/24/2010

Two words: BANK DRAFT

LOL...it works. Once a month, have your bank put a certain amount from your checking to your savings. You don't even have to think about it. Then you won't spend it before you remember to save it.

Tah - posted on 01/24/2010

retirement through our jobs and savings

Jamie - posted on 01/24/2010

Actually we just ask all the people that normally send out kids gifts to send cash (yes it may seem rude) but once we have collected all the cash we let the kids get a really nice toy and take the rest and buy either savings bonds or silver coins. My kids are 3 and 4 and each have a couple thousand dollars worth. By the time they graduate they will have money for college or a car.

Rachel - posted on 01/24/2010

I also have 3 kids and we try to set a budget for weekly items we need. Right now we are trying to potty train our 2 oldest to save on diapers/pullups. I also base our meals on what's on sale at the grocery store, and only getting the things we need. We also have a budget for birthdays $20/kid for presents, $100 total spent on kids at Christmas, and have decided that it would be easier for me to spend $10/month buying kids presents throughout the year for Christmas, and by then we'll be done shopping. We also put money in savings accounts for us and the kids each paycheck. Buy in bulk, lots of places have sales on canned goods, stock up on those. If you are a good bargain shopper than you'll be ok, I never pay more than $5 for any kids clothes, because they're not gonna wear them forever, Target is the best place to get good deals like that. Hopefully some of this helps you.

Jen - posted on 01/23/2010

Well you named the biggies lol. I always look at the store ad before grocery shopping and base my meals on that. By having meals already set up I know that I won't put random things in the cart and spend more money. If it's not on the list, it doesn't go in the cart. We're only a family of 3 though and our bill is about $80 each trip to the store which is probably twice a month. We also have WIC for milk, eggs, cheese, bread, juice, and fruits/veggies, but we still have to buy a couple of gallons of milk in addition to what's on the checks. We also buy some things in bulk. We buy diapers/pull ups, wipes, fruit cups, napkins and paper plates at Sams Club. We also shop for certain things at Big Lots which saves a lot as well. We usually get toilet paper, clorox wipes, and laundry detergent there. I also use freecycle and have gotten some nice clothes from there. We don't have to cut off our cable as my husband works for Comcast. The newest thing we've done to save money is set our air conditioner to only be on certain times a day. We won't know until next month if that is helping, but at least the air/heat isn't running when we're not home. As for retirment stuff. My husband has a pretty good 401k and my job automatically pulls out some money into an account. I also budget everything and I'm always a month ahead. I take half of my student loan payments and day care out of each pay check. As for the other bills they come from my husband's check and he pays certain bills with each check depending on what is do at what time of the month.