Super-savings: I am working on saving "ahead" so that rather than dipping into my regular savings, I first use my "ahead" money. My goal is $2000 in savings-over-savings.

I currently have $85. However, I just checked my phone service (I actually wanted to add voice mail as I am going back to work). While that wasn't available where I live, the consultant suggested that I change my national phone service plan to one that requires long distance (at a nickle a minute) to Canada - where the only contact I have uses Skype!

The point is, however, that this saves me over $9 a month and preserves my national plan - which I need, as many of my friends and new colleagues (going back to work part time as a contractor) are in other area codes!

Over a year, this represents about $111. 

This strategy is a subset of a "pay myself back" strategy that I invented last summer when I had some medical copay bills to pay off. (They came out of my regular savings and were about $7,000.)  Essentially, I treated my savings as an interest free credit card - making minimum payments to my savings account such that I could pay the whole thing off in a couple of years. 

Once I paid that off (with part time work and careful saving!) I realized that this saving strategy could work in the opposite direction as well - not just a "payback" or even "savings" but a pot of money for variations in need. 

I'm using the same strategy to repay my savings for my new truck. I keep rigs for about 10 years minimum, so $60 a month of my regular savings is designated for that purpose.  Because my retirement check is direct deposit, I've opened a slightly higher interest "super-saver" account that peels off that amount into the account... which is actually available to me (one withdrawal a month) should there be a real emergency.