I have my credit union at work that takes $85/week and my 401K that takes 6% pre taxed and now I need to figure out what % I want to add to my stock purchase option. If I didn't have all that stuff taken out for me, it would be really hard to save. My advice to all who have a hard time saving, if your employer has direct deposit, just have a small amount dumped into a simple savings account (and don't have an ATM card attached to it, defeats the purpose). If you don't see it, you won't miss it. Actually, everytime I get an increase, I'll calculate what the amount is, divide that number into weeks and take that number and dump it into one of my savings options. So basically, I am still living on the money that I made when I first got the job. Hope that can help someone.