Save up for it: how long it takes, and how much to put aside each time

How the page counts

• Everything is counted in whole cents.
• What is still to go is the cost minus what you already have for it.
• How long: what is still to go, divided by the amount each time. A part of a time counts as one more time, and that last time is smaller.
• How much each time: what is still to go, divided by the number of times. Cents that will not divide go one each to the first times, so nothing is lost.
• The first time is time 1. From the first time to the last there is one gap fewer than there are times.
• With a date: every week is 7 days later, every 2 weeks is 14 days later, and every month is the same day of the next month, or its last day when that month is shorter.
• The page only divides. It adds no interest and takes off no fees.

Examples, worked by hand.

• It costs $600.00 and you have $120.00: $480.00 is still to go. At $60.00 every 2 weeks, $480.00 ÷ $60.00 = 8 times. From the first time to the last is 14 weeks. If the first time is Friday, October 16, 2026, the last time is Friday, January 22, 2027.
• It costs $500.00 and you have nothing for it yet. At $60.00 every week, 8 times is $480.00, which is not enough, so it takes 9 times, and the last time is $20.00. From the first time to the last is 8 weeks.
• $1,000.00 in 12 times does not divide evenly: 4 times of $83.34 is $333.36, then 8 times of $83.33 is $666.64. Together: $1,000.00.
• It costs $350.00 and you have $50.00. In 10 times, that is $30.00 each time.
• $90.00 at $30.00 every month is 3 times. If the first time is Sunday, January 31, 2027, the second is February 28, because that February has no day 31, and the last time is Wednesday, March 31, 2027.

The examples are made up. A program checks them, and 400 made-up sums done a second way, every time the page is built.

Where saving sums trip people up

• The last time is often smaller. $500.00 at $60.00 each time is not 8 times and not 9 full ones: it is 8 times of $60.00 and one of $20.00.
• Times and gaps are different counts. 9 times, a week apart, is 8 weeks from the first to the last, not 9.
• Every 2 weeks is not twice a month. In a year of 52 weeks, every 2 weeks is 26 times. Twice a month is 24 times. At $50.00 each time that is $1,300.00 or $1,200.00.
• Every week is not a quarter of every month. $25.00 every week for 52 weeks is $1,300.00. $100.00 every month for 12 months is $1,200.00.
• What you already have counts. The page takes it off first. If the box is empty, it counts from zero.

What this page does not know

• It does not know interest or fees. If the money sits in an account that pays interest or charges a fee, the real number will differ from the one here.
• It does not know whether the price will change before you get there.
• It does not know your other bills, or whether the amount each time is one you can spare. Money plan and Bills are the pages for that.
• It does not know your paydays. A payday that moves for a weekend or a holiday is not on its calendar.
• It does not know whether a benefit you get has a rule about how much money a person can have saved. The office that runs the benefit can say.
• It never says what to save for, how much to save, or where to keep money. Those are yours to decide.
• It holds up to 20 sums on this device, and they do not move to another phone or computer by themselves.

If money is short right now

• On this site: Help with money lists places that help with bills, food and rent.
• Calling 211 reaches a local helpline in most of the U.S. that knows what help is near you.