I have that habit of saving money whether coins or paper bills. The pocket of my handbag is my temporary piggy bank. The loose change, including small bills, go there and when I reach home, the loose change is deposited to one of my saving places - wardrobe closet, unused handbag in the storage cabinet, and many other places that you wouldn't suspect to have money. But I'm not keeping it secret, the purpose of keeping money there is just to make me unconscious that I am saving something. I was doing that since we moved to this house. Last December, there was this advisory from the Central Bank that old peso notes will be demonitized. It's a good thing that I remembered my savings. With the help of the people in the house, we rummaged in my secret depository places. You wouldn't believe that the total money I had saved amounted to 75,000 pesos, that's just slightly less than $2,000.
Other than the retirement savings my wife has at work, it's extremely hard for many people to save money. There always seems to be either a vehicle payment going on and/or some type of repair to be made. A family vacation today isn't cheap at all. And, for people who are retired, it can be very hard to save money as well. Just think of those folks that don't have a company monthly retirement coming in and have to live solely on Social Security. On top of that, those that are still working may not make enough to save. Without a college degree and/or some type of certificate, a person's salary can be quite low. For those jobs that don't require a college degree and/or some type of certificate, again, the job salary is fairly low. A number of high paying jobs, like construction, CNC Machine Operator and other fairly physical jobs, require a person to go thru an Apprenticeship Program that, in itself, isn't cheap to do. Saving money can be done, but some folks who do it, do have a so-call "life". A lot of them live the "bare-minimum" lifestyle. My BIL is just that way.