Why Do You Save?

I follow several national money-saving blogs.  Recently, I read a post that someone had written about why she saves money.  The woman talked about how she started saving money when she and her husband were married for certain goals.  She wasn't necessarily raised as a saver, but he was and she learned a lot from him.  She also went on to discuss how saving became an addiction and one day she started wondering what her purpose for saving had really become.

This got me thinking.  Why do we try to save as much as we can?  In my younger years it was because it was what I was taught to do.  Since marrying and becoming an "adult" it has meant different things.  First, it was to pay off student loans and save for a home.  Next, we wanted a bigger house because our family was growing and we would also need a bigger vehicle.

More recently, my husband was laid off from his job and it became apparent that the saving was a really good thing because we made it through that unscathed.  He found a new job quickly and while it has many advantages that made us realize that God had a plan with the lay off, he took a pay cut.  Now, for a woman that has a bit of her self-worth tied up in the number in the bank, this was a difficult thing to take.

I now think that we are saving for whatever is around the corner, good or bad.  This leads me to the question, why do you save?  How do you find a balance between living life to the fullest (not with things, but with experiences, etc.) and making sure you are ready for what life throws at you?  Let us know, do you follow a budget, make room for fun things or simply just save as much as you can?  I am curious.