If you're asking why saving money is a good idea and looking for ways to do this, you've come to the right place. And great timing, by the way.

At this very moment, I've walked into a tire center in my home town with my crippled car barking its way down the road at every mile. In fact, some old Y-shaped pipe that connects the exhaust system to the make a lot of noise system (that is to say the engine) gave up the ghost about three weeks ago. If I'd saved up money, I would have avoided waking up the neighbors and their dogs and sleeping children for the past three weeks as I scrambled up and down the block on the way to living my busy, if under-financed, life.

I might even have gotten thepart onlineand saved myself even more money.

Instead, I suffered from three weeks of dogs barking at me as I go by and every head turning as I trolled down any street. I got particularly impressive stares from people on motorcycles. They make a bit of noise themselves, but they still like their privacy and having no muffler sounds like you've invited yourself in a stranger's house and sat down to bowl of potato chips before you introduced yourself.

Do I make myself loud and clear? For the past three weeks, I did.

Then, finally, that rarest of events: A check arrived and I now find myself in a waiting area in which two different people are mumbling to themselves. The audible one, a woman in a light, summer shift, makes it clear that she not only failed to anticipate the cost of a new tire, but she also just got abandoned by a generic boyfriend who took everything but the clothes on her back. This is what she says, audibly and clearly and to nobody in particular.

The guy who is talking to himself only does so when he stands up and paces. When he sits, he is quite, looking at the floor as if it were about four stories below his feet, even though we are in a one-story auto center.

So there's one reason to save money wisely: Less talking to yourself when the bleep hits the fan.

Also:

1) If you save every penny, your spouse will have one less reason to berate you in the lean times.

2) Saving creates more saving. Why? If you have spare money, you fix your brakes when they squeak instead of when they grind your rotors to metal shavings. Hence, your expenses actually go down because you fix things in a timely manner.

3) More purpose in life. Face it, long-range goals suffer at the frivolity of short-range goals. Sure, it's nice to go to the movies everySaturday, but it's also fun to go to Italy for two weeks next summer.

4) You can take advantage of sales. If you are poor, you cannot wait for a sale day to buy various necessities. As such, when a sale comes along, you have to watch it go by, because you have no rainy day funds to spend when it is to your advantage to do so.

5) Homemade is fine. For example, I decided to keep driving past the coffee (aff) shop by saying to myself, “I have the fixings at home, sowhy spend $2.50 for coffeehere.” You'd be surprised how quickly this makes a different — $2.50 times 20 days of the month — that's a nice bit of extra each month.

6) It feels good to save, because it feels good to stand up for yourself. As an example, I shunned coupon shopping for years (and years). Why? Because what's the point of saving $1.50 on a gallon of milk?

I know now how short sighted that was.CouponBox.comyields considerable savings per item, and suddenly using coupons with a little gusto was like finding $150 each month. Free money! That $1.50 savings on a gallon of milk and that $1 saving on cereal suddenly adds up to $600 to $1,000 per year. I mean, who can turn their back on $1.50? Everyone. But who can afford to walk away from $1,000? Not me, that's for sure.

7) Toothaches are very, very mean. And there is just so much that cloves can do.

I mention this, of course, because who has adequate dental insurance, anyway? So, you better save up for that surprise root canal. It's not like you get much warning. One day ouch, the next day you're wondering how so much pain could really fit in your mouth, anyway.

And, let's be honest. It's pretty unlikely you will save up enough for your surprise appendix surgery, so you better get some insurance for that. Otherwise, you face the wrath of fate. Maybe you can survive a toothache, but when it comes to general health, don't try to do it alone.