Anyone able to save money

[arlington]

Was anyone able to save money after filing a 13 or is saving money not even an option.

[MOMof3]

The short answer is YES.
BUT:
Because there isn't a credit card handy, we have been saving & then having to spend bits of our savings on things like a new (used) wash machine, repairs for my car, home repairs, etc... I feel like we are getting used to our new budget & I am learning to budget FOR these unexpected things so that I can truely SAVE! If you are worried about not being able to DO anything, I am able to budget money every month for extra things, we recently went on a weekend vacation that I saved up for & my kids are wearing nice new school clothes, etc..., it's just that I have to plan & budget for this and be wise about it. For example, I'm already planning and saving for Christmas. I'm scoping out what gifts to buy the kids, how much it's going to cost and when financially I "should" have a little extra here and there to pay for it. I think this is a good thing for us because we used to just get what we wanted and worry about it later....

[lrprn]

By planning ahead carefully, budgeting to stay within what we make, and using a cash and carry system, yes - we've been able to save money while we're in Ch 13.

[COrnguy]

I thought that maybe the trustee......

would latch onto any savings and disperse any extra monies figuring they didn't ask for enough. Very encouraging!

Have read here where people are talking of having their payment raised, what am I missing or not understanding. Thanks in advance!

[$$only4ever]

In my monthly budget, I have a specific dollar amount that is dedicated to savings. So far so good. I have managed to put a few dollars away in case of an emergency.

[Granny]

We finally received a long overdue IRS refund that went directly into savings only to be tapped into the very next month for dental work. We have a plan for savings, but haven't been able to add to it yet due to start of school expenses and of course, Christmas is coming up, but we believe we will be able to sock away about $100.00 per month.

How? Because there are expenses built into our budget that do not occur every month but are expected to occur in the future, such as home maintenance costs.

My opinion is, I was given a set amount I should be spending on food, clothing etc. and I won't go over that amount. I was given a set amount I should expect to spend on home maintenance and I should be saving that amount every month so I can cover those expenses when they crop up.

[qwertysue]

We're able to budget ourselves down even more than our official plan at times, so that money goes into savings. It's not much, but it is more than we had been able to save in prior years.

That being said, much of that savings is there for big ticket expenses that may crop up--car issues, etc. We're definitely not planning a world cruise with the savings.