For me, when I was saving up for my first savannah, it was much more difficult for me to set aside larger chunks until I knew the kitten was born. I did have a savings going on with enough for a deposit, but boy did my priorities change when the right little girl was born. It was amazing how priorities changed... everyday luxuries such as eating out, buying more expensive groceries, household items etc were put on hold at once.
I definitely agree that having a savannah is no more expensive that having any other pet, but pets in general are expensive and things do come up out of the blue. I had a DSH years ago that was free but I ended up spending more on her over the course of her life with us than I have on any savannah I've had yet! I put $50 away every pay check now for any sort of feline emergency that might occur in addition to our regular emergency fund.
Our bank actually has "buckets," I like to call them where you can have several different named funds (ie CAT FUND, EMERGENCY FUND, HOUSE EXPENSE) within the same account. This has made saving much easier for me because I can quickly look and see how much is within a particular bucket and makes saving more exciting, for me at least. I think at one time I actually had about 20 different buckets! I've since simplified. A lot of savings accounts offer penalties such as waiting periods for withdrawing money (no penalty for transferring from bucket to bucket within the account) so that makes it harder to spend on something spur of the moment and helped me save for my savannahs.
Wish you luck with saving! It is always a time consuming process but oh so worth it when the day arrives.
