It’s not easy saving money. Often, it requires focus and deliberate actions to keep your money in the bank. If you aren’t paying attention, you can easily overspend and find yourself without a savings when you really need it.

There are many ways to conveniently save your money, often with little effort on your end.
 

1. Have Multiple Saving Accounts
 

If you treat your savings account as just a place to hold your money and are constantly transferring out of it to your checking, there is a better way to save your money. Instead of watching it constantly dwindle, open up two separate savings accounts. One can act as a holder for the money you might need in the near future and the other saving account is for your actual savings.

Especially if you are saving for a big goal like buying a car or home, you don’t want to touch it till it’s time. Keeping that money in a separate account helps keep you accountable for it and prevent you from draining it for other needs. Just be sure to add money to it regularly so it can keep growing.

Pioneer’s Special Purpose Savings Account is perfect for this scenario. Your regular savings is the one you can pull from for more regular expenses your checking account can’t cover, and your special purpose account is to keep funds protected till you reach your goal.
 

2. Set Up Alerts for Price Drops on Big Items
 

If you can wait to buy something, it means you can save money on it. Prices go up and down all the time for merchandise, and you should be using that to your advantage. Especially when it comes to larger purchases, waiting for a good sale can save you a ton of money.

There are tons of online tracking websites you can use that conveniently monitor pricing changes across the web. When a price drops, you’ll get a notification or email telling you, often with the information of how much money you could save. 

Here are just a few price tracking services you could use:

• Shop It To Me: Great for clothing tracking, especially items in your size
• CamelCamelCamel: An Amazon tracking service where you put in what items you want to watch for
• Slick Deals: Tells you when prices at your favorite stores, category, or products drop

3. Automatically Transfer Money Into Savings
 

If you struggle with the act of putting money into your savings account because you start thinking of all the things you could buy with it, take it out of your hands. Automate your savings so you don’t even have to think about it.

One way to automate your savings is to direct deposit part of your paycheck into your savings account, rather than have all of it go straight into your checking. For example, have ten percent of your paycheck go into a savings account you don’t touch and the rest into your checking. That way, you are regularly adding to your savings without even thinking about it.

Another method is to save money automatically every time you make a purchase. Pioneer’s ChangeForward account rounds up every purchase made with your Pioneer debit card to the next dollar and puts the change into a savings account. While it might not seem like much at first, adding a few cents here or there, it can build to something quite large.
 

4. Put the Money Away, Earn Higher Interest
 

It’s healthy to have some money in your savings account, easily accessible in case of an emergency, but at a certain point you should put your money to work. The suggested amount to have in your savings is enough to cover your bills for three to six months. If you have more than that, you should put that extra money to work earning you even more money.

Invest your money so it grows your finances even further. You can reach savings goals faster and feel more secure in your financial situation. Pioneer members have access to partners who can assist you with investment options.

If you want something less risky than traditional investments and still want to earn a higher interest rate, you should check out Pioneer’s Term Certificates. You select how long you want to put your money away, and at the end, thanks to high interest rates, get even more money back!

Open a Term Certificate