Saving for a Specific one off item

Are you a spender or a saver?  Does it even pay to save in this economy?

Many people will tell you that you are better to pay off your mortgage rather than save in times like this with interest rates being low. You often are better paying off any debt you have rather than saving.   However, you can find Online Savings Accounts with good interest if you look around, so that if you are going to save you ensure that you have the best rate possible.

My husband who is an accountant would also tell you to make sure that you look at opening the Best interest ISA and Cash ISA you find, as this is a tax free way of saving.

We have been saving for a holiday to Florida in November this year, so have been using both a cash ISA and an online savings account.

There is something quite rewarding watching your savings increase, especially when you have a specific outcome in mind for them. 

I also think that regularly saving a small amount is a good habit to get in to, but not at the exception of building up debt.  

I have been encouraging my children to save and explaining the concept of interest to them, so both now have online savings accounts and once we are back from the holiday they will be encouraged to save 50% of their pocket money.  

It is important to me to encourage my children to save up for big ticket items rather than see credit as an option when they are older.  I do not want them to make the same mistakes as we have had, when credit was to freely available.  I want them to be disciplined in their saving.

Also I regularly put a set amount each month into a savings account for christmas, so I can buy the boys christmas pressies and not worry about finding the money for them.  I like being able to look and see how much we have saved and to also have money available to use from the savings account if I see anything during the year that is really good value that I know they will love. 

Do you save for things?