I'm $121.80 down. Did I get some new additions to my wardrobe? A new iPod? A whole bunch of TV on DVD? No, no, and no. I got a new cell phone . And it's full of whozits and wandangles and fun little thingamajigs—none of which I had on my previous phone, so I'm kind of like a little kid in a candy store with it.

But, I didn't initiate this phone switch. I guess when it all comes down to it, I blame it on the cat. Bill was playing on the floor of our room—looking cutey-cuterson like she always does. As her mouse toy found its way into the cords under my desk, so did Bill. And apparently my phone charger cord will always rank higher than any toy I buy her. Commence cord playing, phone dropping, and flip-phone splitting in two.

$121.80 later, I have a new phone and less money. Unforeseen expenses—the reason to have a cushion of savings. Ah, that cushion of savings ... I try, I really do try, to save, but I'm having a difficult time. You see, as soon as I start thinking I have enough money to start building that cushion AND manage my debt, one of those unforeseen expenses pops up.

So how do you save? This article  is targeted at adults, but those of us new to "the adulthood" can benefit from it, too. The basic idea is that you should only spend 60% of your monthly income—the rest should go to your savings. BTW, 60% is a very idealistic number for a recent college grad. It can be higher than that.

In theory, if you were bringing in $2,000 a month in your first post-collegiate job, you'd only use $1,200 each month. The other $800 would go into savings. So essentially over a year you'd be able to build up an almost $10,000 cushion.

Do you think you could manage that? It seems easy enough in writing ... but I'm going to test it. Keep reading, and I'll let youknow if it works in reality.

What ways have you found to build your cushion of savings, or haven't you?