Saving While Spending

Here's an interesting program that I just signed up for. It's Bank of America's Keep the Change. What they do is everytime you use your debit card, they round up the amount to the nearest dollar amount and deposit the difference into your savings account.

For example, let's say your grocery total comes to $55.35, pay with your Bank of America debit card and they will debit you $56.00 and deposit $0.65 into your savings. So the more you use your debit card, the more you save.

Obviously you won't be able to retire on your Keep The Change savings but it could become a nice little bonus that you cash out every once in a while. Sort of like keeping your change in a jar and bringing it to the Coinstar machine when it's full.

I think the best part about this service is that it makes it easier to balance your checkbook. All of the debit card purchases become nice round dollar amounts.