How I save to spend

This is a process that has taken me a few years to work out, but as I see "budgeting" becoming more and more en vogue, I think it bears writing down.

I don't have some big huge emergency fund that will cover all expenses for a determined amount of time. That idea, when I got to baby-step three was way too abstract for me, for one thing, and I never managed to put money into savings.

But, one day I noticed that my monthly renter's insurance, which was only $11/month, included a $3 "monthly service charge." Hmmm. So I called them and I said "if I paid this off for the rest of the year and went to annual payments, would that fee be included?" And I found out that no, it would not. So I could save $3/month, or $36/year, simply by paying $96 one time? Umm, that seemed like a good idea to me. This was late in the year, so I think I only had to pay about $30 to finish it off, and the $96 bill would come in January.

I did that and didn't give it another thought.

That November, work had a potluck, so I bought the ingredients to my infamous cheesy-ranchy-bacon potatoes, and spent over $20 on a side dish and had no leftovers. Hmm. Then my girl's night group also had a potluck. And I purchased Christmas cards...and stamps.
When December came, I was already in the hole.
Then came Christmas presents. Hmmm, and about three more potlucks.
Oh, and sometime in there, my auto insurance bill came, as did my car registration and taxes...and the statement for that $96 renter's insurance.
.
.
Visions of brokeness danced in my head that holiday season.

So, I started a savings plan. That first year it was $75/month, which would give me just enough to pay renters insurance, auto insurance and car registration the following December.

The next year, I added up how much I spent on the "holidays", divided by 12, and added that to my automatic savings withdrawal.

By 2010, I was putting 1/3 of my take-home pay into savings, and keeping an in depth Excel sheet of where it was going, not just those 4 items above, but also:
Travel
Car Maintenance
New Car
Gifts (not holidays)
New Clothes
Home Decor
Medical


I think what I discovered was there is very little I want to consider an emergency. I would never take money from my e-find to go on vacation, for example, so until I had money set aside FOR travel, I couldn't take a vacation!


I suspect, now, that perhaps I have denied myself a bit too much. After all, 1/3 of my money goes into savings automatically each month. Perhaps I could cut that back to 1/4 and eat all the pickles I want?