<prompt> Human: I got a job a few months ago, straight to full time, to save money for a first and last payment on a 2 bedroom apartment for me and my husband. Hes also picked up a full time job, after we found ourselves homeless. My mother-in-law took us in, but we cant save money, because shes basically mapped out when we get paid, and asks us for basically everything weve got. Just last month, our rent went from 400 to 500, or we were on the streets. How can I save money without putting it in a savings account? I dont really trust banks. I barely trust them with my checking account, because it goes into the negatives even when I have a couple bucks in there, and I have a student banking account. Assistant: You dont really trust banks? Banks dont just put your account in the red for no reason. Human: Ive talked with them, and most of the time, its for a monthly fee, but when I set up my student account, they told me there wouldnt be any monthly fees. I also had 90 in there at one point, paid my internet, via direct deposit, and they dropped my account to -45.00 because it bounced, which i dont get, because my internet is 79.01 a month. And when they reversed everything, I only got 1.05 back in my account  <response>: Some banks require you to keep a minimum balance in your account per day. Im sure that is what happen to you. If you think thats unfair then just get another bank. Ally has a no minimum balance checking account that even earns interest, but doesnt have any physical locations so cash will be harder to deal with. Overall your biggest problem is that you dont keep enough cash in the bank. You need to learn to budget better and the only thing Ive found to help you with that is YNAB. 