State-by-state listing of how we're doing saving money

If a rainy day hit, do you have an umbrella?

Before the economy fell apart, it seems like if you asked somebody that question, they always had another trick up their sleeve. There was always another credit card they could run up, or a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to be tapped. But that is no longer the case.

Now comes word from the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED,) a think tank and advocacy group, that just under half of all households have basically no savings at all.

That means you're running on fumes when an emergency comes up or if you lose your job. And that creates anxiety.

People hear the conventional wisdom about how you should have six to nine months of pay saved up. And they think, "That's such a mountain. I can never get to that. Why should I even bother?"

If money is unbelievably tight for you, start with saving just $1 or $5 a week. Start small and build up step by step.

The CFED has a state-by-state ranking that shows how some regions do better than others when it comes to saving money. Below are some highlights:

• New England is in better shape than most other regions. Vermont came in No. 1, leading the rest of the region.
• The Great Plains states also did very well.
• The Southeast did very poorly. Coming in at No. 51 behind the District of Columbia was Georgia. Florida also made a very poor showing.

How about you, how are you doing? If you're at zero and are lucky enough to have a job, start somewhere and build up some savings.