A savings account acts as a financial security blanket. Ideally, this savings account will be for future large wanted purchases like a wedding, a home, vacations, and your children’s college tuition. This is an account that should never be touched to withdraw money from – money only gets deposited into it. However, these savings accounts also come in handy when unexpected payments come up. A good example of this would be the sudden need to pay for bail.

Bail can be thousands of dollars, even if a person is bailing out of jail with a bail bond. Instead of having to scramble to get the money for bail, this person can hopefully get most, if not all, of the funds from their savings account.

There are many ways to grow a savings account, which include the obvious: saving a portion of each paycheck and looking into investment options. There are additional ways to save money every day that most people do not consider. These are often very small savings, but as you know, small savings can add up big very fast.

• Dine out less. Cook and eat in more.
• Create a grocery list before hitting the supermarket. People who shop without a shopping list tend to over-purchase.
• Most financially-conscious people split their paycheck into three: X% goes towards necessary payments like rent and bills, Y% goes into savings, and Z% is for leisure spending. Do the math again – if you can take even 1-2% more from your leisure spending and put it towards the savings, that helps!
• Cancel old or little used subscription services such as magazines and Hulu. In fact, if you have Hulu, Netflix, and cable TV, cut out two of those services.
• Quit the gym and workout outdoors, especially if you have a gym membership and do not really go often to get your money’s worth.
• Drive less. Take public transportation if it will save you money. Or, you can carpool more often as well.
• Move bank accounts to take advantage of the best perks and interest rates.
• Look at your credit cards; as much as possible, use the one that gives you the best rewards like cash back.
• Only use ATMs of your bank or credit union. Other ones will charge you a withdrawal fee.
• If you take any medication, over the counter or doctor-prescribed, see if you can go with the generic brand.
• Use less detergent when doing your laundry. Detergent today is very highly concentrated and powerful and most people actually use too much detergent. You can use less than what the product recommends and still get the same clean clothes. Sometimes this is better because there is no leftover soap in the clothes. Also use the water and energy-saving cycles on the machines if they have them.

There are so many other ways to save money in your daily routines. It will take a little time in the beginning to get used to and figure out but in the long run, you will be saving well!

Leaving a child at home alone for the first time can make any parent nervous, even if the child is old enough to take care of themselves. Some states set laws that tell parents their child must be of a certain age in order for them to be home alone. Other states, like California, leave it up to the discretion of the parent to decide if their child is mature and ready enough.

California urges parents to consider their child’s maturity level, not just their age, when deciding if it is okay to leave them at home without an older adult around. For example, a 10 year old may show considerable maturity for their age while a 12 year old is still a bit of a trouble-maker. Perhaps in this case, the 12 year old is not mature enough to be left home alone, but the 10 year old is.

To prepare for the “big day” of leaving a child alone at home, parents ought to first discuss this with the child: are they, themselves, ready to be left alone at home, or not? If they are ready, then additional precautions need to be laid out, such as what to do in case of an emergency, leaving contact phone numbers, setting rules like do not answer the door, do not use the stove or oven. Parents will also want to notify trusted family, friends, and neighbors in case they are needed during an emergency, or the child feels uncomfortable. Before leaving a child alone for an extended period of time, the parent should do a “trial run” by leaving them home alone while they make a quick trip to the store.

When the time is right, a child and parent will agree when they are both ready to be apart with the child home alone.