I'm not going to get holier-than-thou. We've all bought things that we didn't plan for - big-ticket items that we just had to have. (Right there! Right now! Gotta have it!)

And while the sticker shock is always tough to digest, the remorse of monthly credit card payments can be even harder. Long after the shine has faded on a new purchase, it's easy to find yourself still making minimum monthly payments plus 15% interest. "Was it really worth it?" we wonder. It's enough to take the joy out of splurging.

But it doesn't have to be so painful - or 15% more costly. Buyer's remorse can be a thing of the past. With a little forethought and setting money aside these kinds of big expenditures can be easy, fun, and even empowering. You're buying something outright, with cash that you set aside for just that purpose... How's that for being responsible and autonomous?

At SmartyPig we want you to break the vicious cycle of credit card debt. We want you to enjoy the empowerment that comes from managing your money, and making big purchases without fear of crushing credit card consequences. And we want you to benefit from that process. While you save for your item at SmartyPig, you're earning an APY of 2.01%, one of the best rates around. Once you've met your goal and are ready for that new item, you're able to redeem your goal to one of our retail partners including Amazon.com, Best Buy and Overstock.com offering boosts of up to 6% - giving you the most money for your money.

So when a purchase seems overwhelming, sit down and think about how much it costs and how long you want to be paying for it. Then, go ahead and buck the trend. Set your plastic aside. Figure out how much you want to save, when you want to save it by and how much you're able to save each month. Before you know it, you can be watching the big game on your new flat screen or soaking up the rays next to azure waters. Your indulgences can be guilt free and SmartyPig can make that happen.

As the economy continues to hopefully stabilize, it's critical that we do not fall back on old habits - spend more than we earn, abuse plastic, etc. Researching and reading up on websites and tools for your best options are a ticket to financial success. Following personal finance bloggers helps to establish a strong understanding of your own personal finance interests and needs. Blogs like The Simple Dollar and Wise Bread share insight and tips for creating fiscal fitness. They also let you know that primarily many of us are in the same boat. The times have been scary, yes. And the damage has been fierce. But we at SmartyPig share in the belief that with a renewed interest in saving, and an overall attitude adjustment toward money, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

These experts implore their readers to create a plan and stick to it. SmartyPig was built on this exact way of thinking. We offer a competitive APY, the option to make your goal public so friends and family can help and cash boosts from top retailers to help you get the most money for your money. And from beginning to end the process could not be simpler for people who want to crate a plan and stick to it.

We have even added the latest and greatest in Web 2.0 technology and created partnerships with terrifically innovative companies to help you even more. By using SmartyPig's Visualizer, you can see how much you've saved and your total progress. To contemplate the bigger picture of your finances and how SmartyPig positively affects them, we offer integration with sites like Mint, Thrive and Wesabe.

Your personal finances are a journey. And there is a lot of help available out there to make it a more pleasant one. SmartyPig is just a small part of it. But we feel strongly that if you implement the idea of saving up first, of owning what you have, that getting from here to there will be a lot easier and more rewarding. Good luck with your goals!

Silicon Valley Blogger at Wise Bread recently wrote, "We all have our own ways of handling our finances - and that's why it's called 'personal' finance. What works for one person may not necessarily work for someone else…" She poses questions about budgeting, about paying yourself first or last, and the debate about paying down debt versus funding an emergency account. Then she gave us this to chew on: "Is there a right way to save?'

If you're looking to save for something specific, if you have a goal, we think SmartyPig is for you. We don't want you to stop paying down debt, stop funding your emergency account, or even leave your current bank. But if you want to take a vacation or need a down payment for a new car or have to replace your refrigerator, SmartyPig gives you the most money for your money.

SmartyPig offers one of the most competitive APY's on the market (2.75%); you can get a boost from top retailers when you've reach your goal; your friends and family can help get you there faster; and, to make it as simple as possible, you can set it and forget it. After a while, you won't even miss the money being automatically deposited into your SmartyPig account. And, most importantly, when you reach your goal, you will own whatever it is you purchase - not your high-interest credit card company.

In the end, deciding to save, creating a goal and sticking to it is one of the best moves you can make for your wallet. It is the "right way" to save. The long-term benefits of saving are obvious, but the habits it will help form are potentially even more valuable. "Do whatever works for you, whatever's comfortable for you," Silicon Valley Blogger writes. What's most important is that no matter which way you choose to start saving, getting started is a huge step forward toward getting you on the road to fiscal fitness. We could not agree more. Click here to get started today!

It's a slippery slope. Using our homes as ATM machines and living on plastic got us where we are today, no doubt. A few years ago, folks on average were spending $102 of every $100 they made. Now, on average, they're spending about $93. The old way wasn't working out. People made a collective change. There is one problem, though. Almost all of those new savers work for or own companies that have been depending on that extra $9. So are we doing more harm than good? Well, positive change can sometimes feel quite negative.

In the article, La Monica writes, "This newfound sense of frugality is undeniably a good thing. If consumers are no longer willing to amass unhealthy piles of debt for things they can't afford, then we can hopefully avoid such severe recessions." But there's more to it than that. We don't have to abandon the car; we just need to put on the brakes. Saving isn't just for a rainy day - no matter how long this storm seems to be lasting. The silver lining: you CAN afford the things you want, you just need to shift how you go about paying for them.

Setting saving goals for the things you want in life puts in place a solid plan for the future. It's not money borrowed from a bank or from a high-rate credit card company but cash earning you interest while you reach for that goal. And while instant gratification is difficult to move away from, and while it's even more difficult to watch businesses hurting, in the end, because of changing the "buy now, pay later" mindset, the entire economy and all who make it work will greatly benefit.

When the founders of SmartyPig set out on their journey to create the social money space they understood the key was a constant conversation with younger, tech-savvy individuals and their families about what they needed. SmartyPig is obviously for anyone who has a specific saving goal, but when it comes right down to it, it was created for people like me. I'm 22. I have college loans to pay. But I want to go on vacation this year. I want a new iPhone. And I cannot afford to get upside down with my plastic. So many of my friends are starting out in hole that seems terribly daunting, close to impossible to escape. Life isn't free. They're learning about it the hard way.

So if you ask me what SmartyPig does - and people always do - I have never changed my answer. Not once. "SmartyPig solves a problem." SmartyPig offers a sensible, smart solution to prepare and educate people like me get started on a sound financial future. SmartyPig is simple to use, as Erin at The Broke Yuppie professes. And the ability to set your monthly contribution at a level comfortable to you means that anytime you'd like to edit your goal, it's just a mouse click away. Setting a goal for years into the future along with automated monthly contributions, paves the way for good habits and a problem solved before it ever began.

Starting early is the key. Ask my friends. You make wise spending choices. Build a nice cushion to fall back on right out of the starting gate. And save up for the things you want. There's no time like the present to start securing your future.

After hearing about SmartyPig through a friend, Shannon Swilley knew our site was something she had to check out. Established in her career and recently engaged, she and her fiancee understood registering for gifts at a department store wasn't something they were looking to do. They wanted to jump into life both feet first and buy a home. When they came across SmartyPig, they knew it would work for exactly what they wanted. Swilley was delighted that friends and family could contribute to this goal knowing that she and her fiancee were saving for the house as well. It was the ultimate gift - a life changer. Seeing SmartyPig as a total package, she set up a public goal and added the SmartyPig widget to her blog for readers to see.

As home mortgage rates dip to all time lows those interested in purchasing a new home have never found a better time to do so. But being financially prepared to purchase that new house by having enough money socked away is paramount to a successful start - especially in a market like this. So we've made it simple for you to save for a down payment on a house like Shannon by adding the new category, House Down Payment. Even better, with the social twist of SmartyPig, your friends and family members can help out!

It's likely the second biggest decision Shannon has ever made. Using SmartyPig made it a bit easier. We congratulate her and all of our first-time home buyers!

Uncollected debt hit a record high, increasing 3% from February 2008 to February 2009. Write-downs increased 8.82%. Delinquency rates also rose above 6%. And aside from it all being grim news, what is even worse is that these numbers are expected to rise. In this piece from CNN, Moody's credit card index predicts, "... The overwhelming influence of the negative economic environment should continue driving delinquencies to record-high levels by mid-year." Pretty scary and disheartening, yes. But, more and more, our customers are telling us and the people they know that SmartyPig can help prevent these problems... permanently.

We understand that current economic times are more painful than ever, and many of us are nowhere near where we'd like to be financially. But we also know that two years ago, the average American spent $101 for every $100 he or she made, and today that same person is spending $95 and saving the other $5. That is tremendous progress; and it shows that there is no time like the present to begin creating good habits for the future. Saving money for bigger purchases instead of charging them and creating emergency funds for unexpected expenses are crucial elements in restoring financial stability across the country.

Credit lines are dwindling, available credit is shrinking and credit card companies are closing accounts in order to stabilize their bottom lines. Simply put: things will never be the same. It's time to start saving for purchases, saving for emergencies, or simply saving to start becoming a saver. Charging now and paying later has helped to tip over an already wobbly economy.

Jessica at pjmommy.com recently wrote that she and her husband use their credit cards for a majority of their purchases and they, luckily, are able to pay their entire bill each month. But after she found SmartyPig and she realized that saving for purchases is all the more rewarding once you've met your goal, charging to plastic just isn't all that great anymore. SmartyPig puts the fun back in your funds. And while you earn one of the highest APY's on the market, your money does the work for you. Setting up your account is simple, and once you've started saving for your goals, you'll wonder why you hassled with high interest rates and credit card payments in the first place.

How many times have you told yourself that you'd like to save more? That you want to use the extra funds in your checking account to get started? That it's time to use the ease of the Internet to help guide you to a more prosperous future? That there is no better time like the present? And the... it goes nowhere. A few credit card charges here, some spare cash tossed around there and all of a sudden, you're back to wishing that "whole new you" will take charge - next month.

In a recent guest post on Timothy Ferriss's blog (The Four Day Work Week), Ramit Sethi (of I Will Teach You To Be Rich) stresses the importance of automating your finances. Sethi points out that taking even the tiniest of steps forward in automating your finances may be the push needed to jumpstart good financial habits. It's as easy as just trying. Like the infomercial says, "Set it, and forget it."

With SmartyPig, you decide how much you want to save, when you want to save it by, and SmartyPig does the rest. It's automatic. On the day of the month that you've chosen, SmartyPig will pull those funds from your existing savings or checking account and place the money toward your goal while earning one of the most competitive APY interest rates in the country. Need an emergency fund in these trying times? We do that. Need to get away for a weekend wedding of a friend? We do that. Need to simply start saving first before you buy something? We do that better than anyone, and make it more worthwhile than ever before. And if you do have extra cash, you always have the option to add money at any time, as well. With SmartyPig, we work tirelessly to make it as simple as possible for you to sit back and watch your piggybank fill up.

So what are you saving for?

The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We'll be bringing back a trusted method in selecting three gift card winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter.
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Friday, March 27th at 11am CST.
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

Credit card companies have situated themselves smack dab in the middle of college campuses across the country and have set the bait for uninformed, sometimes naive and ignorant students, fresh on the college scene. In a recent Newsweek article, author Kurt Soller examines the effects on credit card companies' invasion on college towns. Luring uninformed kids in with small incentives such as free sandwiches or coupons, they cast a line and, sadly, far too often reel 'em in. Within months some of those kids are up to their eyeballs in debt from trying to keep up with the crowd. The credit card companies offer "freedom." What a majority of students end up with is a form of debt jail. As the old saying goes, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

According to Experian, of all college seniors, 96% have credit cards, and the average indebted young adult spends 25 cents of every dollar paying back debt. Factor in taxes from a first job, and it's going to take you some time to simply get out from under. A survey conducted by Transunion.com stated for the third quarter of 2008 that the average bankcard borrower debt increased nationally 1.57 percent to $5,710 from the previous quarter's $5,621, and 6.0 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007 ($5,387). And delinquency is on the rise as well. Nationally, the ratio of bankcard borrowers delinquent on one or more of their bankcards increased in the third quarter of 2008, up 4.8 percent over the previous quarter. And on a year-over-year basis the national delinquency incidence rate has risen 5.8 percent. Staggering, huh? Well, just think of the billions credit card companies are raking in on late fees as the cherry on top.

SmartyPig is a solution to this debt dilemma plaguing campuses and households alike. Paying exorbitant interest, and more often than not, making only a minimum monthly payment leads to years of heartache. By saving with SmartyPig for the things you want and need, you won't encounter the problems that come along with plastic. Creating goals and contributing to them each month ensures worry-free spending once you've met those goals. Save first, buy later. Some people have labeled it "Bank 2.0." We just think it's common sense for an upside economy.

It got us thinking about our own social connections. How many friends, family members and business acquaintances do we keep in touch with? So out came to the calculators. And the average number of people each individual who works at SmartyPig is connected to through social networking sites is 580! Could it be true that each of us corresponds personally with 580 people? Probably not, as routine would suggest otherwise. However, there's a comfort in knowing that at any given time you may connect with old friends from college, your step-brother, co-workers at a convention, whomever and for whatever reason.

In a Cosmopolitan New Etiquette Guide from the '60s readers were warned "Don't talk about politics, money or religion." That was then, this is now. We share salaries, we share photos, we definitely share our politics - and we share most all of it with the world. Open books, one and all. Well, at SmartyPig we want to put a little more purpose in the personal connectivity and sharing.

If you show your kids, your vacation photos, even your exact location at any given time, why not let people know what you and your family are saving for, as well with a SmartyPig widget on your social networking page? Furthermore, why not invite your friends and family to share in the experience? Aren't goals easier to meet when done out in the open with others helping out? And isn't any learning process more meaningful when it is fun?

Social networking is the way we communicate. We're plugged in. We're always available. Learning how to be financially responsible while letting others join in on the process is just another way - and one that can actually pay, and pay well.

Most Americans are in an extremely abusive relationship - with their credit cards. And more often than not, it's their wallets that are taking a beating. Americans have been so accustomed to putting everything on plastic and worrying about it later, that when banks recently started jacking up credit card rates and cutting back on who they would actually give plastic to try to save themselves (after bleeding you for years), it was a dose of harsh reality to people not living within their means. See, the jig is up.The days of living on cards are over, as are the days of cheap credit. No more posing or pretending. It's time to deal.

This brings me to an interesting article I came across on Fortune.com. Jeff Colvin questions readers, "Personal debt is much higher than before, and average pay is still going nowhere in real terms. So now how do we live as if our standard of living is still rising?" Quick answer: We can't. But we can change things for the better. And Smartypig believes we can help. How? By helping people save up first and begin to reverse the "buy now, pay later" credit card mentality that has gotten so many millions of us upside down financially. Save for your family trip, save for the holidays or save for a your home improvements, but just save!

When you use SmartyPig, you can put away an amount you choose every month for your big purchase while earning one of the most competitive interest rates in the country. Once you've started your goal, put to use the social networking aspect of the site, by sharing your goals with your family and friends that saving money is back and better than ever. And when you reach your goal, enjoy cash boosts of up to 5% on the things you need or want, from your summer vacation to new home appliances.

So whatever you classify as your good life, you can make it even better when you save up for it. It makes all the difference in the world when your things belong to you - not a high-interest credit card company.

Popping up across the web are sites like TripIt and Dopplr to help you plan and share your trip with friends and others from your area, sites like Trazzler to help you find the perfect trip based on your interests close to where you live and even GasBuddy, which finds the most inexpensive fuel, based on your location. And while these are all good ideas for hitting the road, what you really need is a way to get you where you're going in a financially sound way.

Putting your trip to Grandma's house on plastic will have the Big Bad Wolf in a mailman's clothing dropping big bad credit card bills in your mailbox for months. But if you use SmartyPig and create a goal for gas or plane tickets and maybe even your gifts, you'll have the next five months to make a dent in your holiday bottom line before it bottoms out - all while earning one of the most competitive interest rates in the country and cash boosts of up to 5% from America's top retailers and travel companies.

For many, spending the holidays with those you love most is a cherished occasion, an event that's anticipated for months. And when you save up with SmartyPig instead of racking up huge credit card bills, getting there can again be half the fun.