Making saves a limited resource is definitely not something that would be popular these days It did add to the tension though, made you wonder whether you should save now or risk a few more rooms first. Problem was it didn't account for reasons that you might want to save outside the game.

But yeah the game should give you at least the first ribbons and typewriter fairly soon, I believe Ayen is right about when. You don't actually need to worry about save point locations too much because of the way the game is structured - once you reach the cop shop you shouldn't ever be far from one, just a few rooms at most, and the way you gain access to more of the building means you typically go through or past safe rooms pretty regularly.