Pennies from Heaven

It's time for me to get serious about replenishing my savings account and preparing for retirement. I took the first major step in 2008 - eliminating all of my debt. What a relief! And now I'm always looking for creative ways to reduce costs and save money.

One of my first steps was to sign up for Bank of America's Keep the Change program. I'm sure there are other banks that provide this service, and it's also possible to do it on your own. But, since I'm already a BoA customer and it's a mindless way to save, I decided to do it. In a nutshell, whenever I make a purchase with a debit card (which represents 100% of my expenses other than rent and utilities), the purchase amount is rounded up to the next dollar, and the additional amount is transferred into my savings account. In additiona, BoA matches 10% of my Keep the Change deposits each year (up to an annual total of $250).