You may not realize it, but this week is very important. It's America Saves Week, which means over a hundred organizations have pulled together to emphasize the importance of saving for your future.

I know what you're thinking: Saving? I can hardly make ends meet as it is. But interestingly enough, during the last quarter of 2008, the personal savings rate in this country was at its highest level in six years. Why? Because as this recession worsens, people are shying away from spending and instead, stashing away any extra cash they come by. We are finally realizing the importance of an emergency fund, of saving for retirement, and of having cash in hand instead of relying on a credit card with high interest rates.

So this special week, and the events in honor of it, couldn't have come at a better time. Now that people have the drive to save, they need the tools, the knowledge and, let's face it, the means, to make it happen.

-- Identify your target. An emergency fund, in normal circumstances, should equal three months' worth of living expenses for a two-income family, and six months' worth for a single person or a one-income family. In a recession, you need to aim for nine months, either way. It sounds daunting, but remember, this fund consists of living expenses, not your salary, and it should be bare bones living expenses at that. If you lose your job or suffer a medical emergency, you're not going to be going to the movies or having dinner out. You're going to need money to cover your bills, your mortgage, and to put food on the table until things turn around. "Taking action is the key thing. There are people who are in crisis right now because they've lost their income, and most people are fearful of that. For these folks, it's even more important to take a hard look at their expenditures, to pay down high-cost debt, and build emergency savings," says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, one of the organizations participating in America Saves Week.

-- Look at the facts. Finding the money to save means spending less, period. You need to know, in black and white, what is coming in and going out each month. I know I've said it a hundred times, but the only way to do this is to track your spending. You can do it with pen and paper, saving receipts and writing them down at the end of the day. (At www.americasavesweek.org, there is a budgeting template you can follow.) Or, you can do it with a program like Quicken or one of the new online budgeting web sites like www.mint.com or www.geezeo.com. Either way, once you have about a month's worth of data, look it over and identify the leaks. Often, it's the little things that add up fast; the bag of chips from the vending machine, or the newspaper or magazine you buy on your way to work. Just getting a subscription could mean considerable savings. "If you know where you're spending, you can evaluate that and then look at ways to make concessions and changes," explains Paul Golden, a spokesperson for the National Endowment for Financial Education, another of the program's participating organizations.

-- Do a services check. You should do this once a year, no matter what the circumstances: Go over all of the things you pay for on a regular basis -- your utilities, your insurance, your mortgage, even your gym membership -- and start looking for areas to save. Pick up the phone and call your cable company and ask them if they can give you a better deal. If they won't budge, start calling around to other providers and see if they'll do better. (If you find one who will, often all it takes is a call back to your company with the competition's quote for them to lower your payment on the spot.) Call your home and auto insurance carrier and see if they can do better or give you a discount. If the two policies aren't under the same roof, consolidating them might get you 15 percent off. Finally, mortgage rates are very low right now. If you plan to stay in your home for a while, it's worth a call to your lender to see if refinancing is an option. That alone could put a few hundred extra dollars in your pocket.

-- Pay attention to fees. The world, unfortunately, is full of them, and most of them come straight from your bank. The average charge for using another bank's ATM is $3.43, according to www.bankrate.com's latest fee study. Bounce a check and you'll pay an average $28.95, not including what the check recipient might charge you.

Maybe you're thinking that you don't bounce checks -- you're careful to track your balances online -- and you only use an out-of-network ATM once a week. Seems like nothing, but you're wrong: It adds up to over $178 a year, and if you invested that money instead, you'd have over $20,000 in a thirty-year period.

-- Make saving automatic. "Once you've plugged your spending leaks, you have to be diligent about taking the money that you're now saving, and moving it over to a savings account," explains Golden. The best way to do that is by automatically having your bank account transfer the money out of each paycheck. Calculate whatever money you have left over at the end of each month, divide that by the number of times you get paid a month, and then have that amount immediately pulled out of your checking account and put into your savings account. These transfers are generally free, so even if it's a small amount, every little bit helps over time.