Sometimes just “saving” in general is not enough incentive to keep families on the budget track. You need a goal to get started. To use a diet analogy, it’s easier to lose 10 pounds when your high school reunion is around the corner. A goal not only gives a family something to reach for, it makes a savings plan short term.
     Knowing you don’t have to give something up forever makes the sacrifice easier. Once you’ve reached your goal, you can abandon your strategy or apply those savings to a new object.
     That approach worked for Cynthia Mclntyre, who launched a search for extra savings after she spotted an antique table that fit perfectly in her living room – but not in her budget.
     McIntyre went over her checkbook carefully and realized she was buying 10 books every month. A lifelong reader, she couldn’t wait to rush out and snap up a new release. “It was a $400-a-year habit,” she says. The worst part was, many of the books didn’t live up to the reviews and McIntyre gave them away. Now she gets the latest bestsellers from the local library. “Reading them a little later doesn’t spoil the story,” she concludes.

Cynthia McIntyre was trying to save up money for ___.