This is a very simple script which I use often to create temporary backups of working directories. As complexity grows, I needed to have a script to save locally the state of my work, so that I can easily revert to a previous state. It came out that I also use it for backups. See it:

 #! /bin/sh
 #
 # F.Mariotti: taritdate.sh
 #
 # Simple help text
 if [ -z $1 ]; then
 echo "please give a dir name."
 exit 1;
 fi;
 #
 # Make sure we have only one argument
 if ! [ -z $2 ]; then
 echo "Sorry but we only accept ONE directory only."
 exit 1;
 fi;
 #
 #Check that it is a directory
 mydirname=$1
 if ! [ -d $mydirname ]; then
 echo "At present you can only tar a directory."
 exit 1;
 fi;
 #
 #Define the date format
 # mydate=`date +%d%b%Y` #01May2013
 mydate=`date +%Y%m%d` #20130501
 #
 #Remove slash at end if present
 thisdirname=`dirname $mydirname`/`basename $mydirname`
 #
 #Build first part of the tar name
 tarprename=${thisdirname}.${mydate}.
 #
 #Start trying with a plain name
 tarname=${thisdirname}.${mydate}.tar.gz
 #
 #If it exists add trailing decimals
 if [ -f $tarname ]; then
 i=0
 while [ 1 ];
 do
 i=$(($i+1))
 tarname=${tarprename}${i}.tar.gz
 echo "WARNING: Tar file exists.. trying: $tarname"
 if ! [ -f $tarname ]; then
 break 1;
 fi;
 done
 fi;
 #
 #Create the tar archive
 tar -czvf $tarname $mydirname
 #

In my ./bin directory is called taritdate.sh and the use is pretty simple:

[mariotti@localhost tmp]$ ll
drwxrwxr-x. 2 mariotti mariotti 4096 May 1 08:41 tmp-work

[mariotti@localhost tmp]$ ll tmp-work
total 0
-rw-rw-r--. 1 mariotti mariotti 0 May 1 08:41 file1
-rw-rw-r--. 1 mariotti mariotti 0 May 1 08:41 file2
-rw-rw-r--. 1 mariotti mariotti 0 May 1 08:41 file3

[mariotti@localhost tmp]$ taritdate.sh tmp-work
tmp-work/
tmp-work/file1
tmp-work/file3
tmp-work/file2

[mariotti@localhost tmp]$ taritdate.sh tmp-work
WARNING: Tar file exists.. trying: ./tmp-work.20130501.1.tar.gz
tmp-work/
tmp-work/file1
tmp-work/file3
tmp-work/file2

[mariotti@localhost tmp]$ ll
drwxrwxr-x. 2 mariotti mariotti   4096 May  1 08:41 tmp-work
-rw-rw-r--. 1 mariotti mariotti    176 May  1 08:43 tmp-work.20130501.1.tar.gz
-rw-rw-r--. 1 mariotti mariotti    176 May  1 08:43 tmp-work.20130501.tar.gz

Very simple but I still use it after years… feel free to adapt to your own use.