For those of you who have been around for a while, you may remember this and this will be a refresher for you. For the newbies out there this is a super simple way of saving a little money without it hurting!!
There are no strict rules to this, you do what suits you and what is good for you. I will give you a couple of examples of how to do this, and you pick what's best for you.
Its a simple thing I do. I split the year into three, four month blocks. Every day for the first month I put 25 cents per day in the pot. In the second month I put 50 cents per day in the pot. In the third month I put 75 cents per day in the pot. In the fourth month I put $1 per day in the month.
I then start over again, for the next four months, and then again for the next four months. If you do that you will save the following:
January: $7.75
February: $14.00
March: $23.25
April: $30.00
May: $7.75
June: $15.00
July: $23.25
August: $31.00
September: $7.50
October: $15.50
November: $22.50
December: $31.00
For a total of $228.50, all by following that simple plan.
Another thing you could do is the following:
January 31 x 25 cents = $7.75
February 28 x 50 cents = $14.00
March 31 x 75 cents = $23.25
April 30 x $1.00 = $30.00
May 31 x $1.25 = $38.75
June 30 x $1.50 = $45.00
July 31 x $1.75 = $54.25
August 31 x $2.00 = $62.00
September 30 x $2.25 = $67.50
October 31 x $2.50 = $77.50
November 30 x $2.75 = $82.50
December 31 x $3.00 = $93.00
for a total: $595.50, that's pretty good by just putting your change away.
Of course at the end of each month you could put that money into your high interest savings account and make even more money!!!!
The goal of this "club" is to get you into the habit of saving money on a regular basis. As even if you only put away 25 cents per day for the whole year, you will still have saved up $91.25 by the end of December 2010.
I think it would be good to start this on January 1st, 2010. I will post daily reminders for the first month or so, then after that every now and then. For those of you who will be tempted to "dip into" your box or jar, get a large jam jar or box. Cut a hole in the top so you can slip your money in it, like a piggy bank, then super glue, tape or seal the lid on so it is a pain in the butt to get it off without a struggle...LOL
Here is a photo of my box that I keep my money in, its on my desk.
Tomorrow, I will talk about another simple way of saving money for Christmas, birthdays, etc, that I have been doing for years now.....
17 comments:
I followed your saving rule to reduce the last three digits on my current account to zero, eg: £164.23 would become £160.00 and the £4.23 would be transferred to a savings account. I looked at my current account every day and I have over 2009 saved £989.00!
so how much is that in sterling ? I'll give it a go !
High interest savings account?? Was that tongue in cheek, or do you really have such a thing in Canada? Cost-of-living makes hash of any savings here now. Interest is less than 1%.
I've had the younger saving pennies and nickels to show him that little bits do add up. I have jars for dimes and quarters. . . . . . I think there is something about paying cash that makes you watch more carefully what you spend.
Liz, in the Republic
Oh this is a wonderful and clever idea Gill thank you
You are full of such great ideas....I'll try and give it a go! xxx
what a great idea! you are clever! xx
I participated in this savings plan with you a few years ago on the other site we frequent together. It is a good, simple plan to follow ~ and it's not difficult to catch up on if you should fall behind because you don't have any change that day. Heehee!
Gill,
If you scale down the amounts this is a great tool to teach children the habit and value of saving! Thank you for sharing.
Deborah
Great idea!
However for me, since I never use cash, I never have change. I do much better by just having the money come directly out of the paycheck into savings. If I never see it, it's like I never had it, so I don't spend it.
I would totally bust into the change jar. ;)
Count me in : )
I've followed your blog for quite awhile now and I love this way to save. Both C and I are doing this. The will be doing the first way and I will be doing the second way. C also saved her toonies for several months and at Christmas had $98.00 worth. Not bad!! Thanks for doing this again. Can't wait to see how it all goes.
I have a budget book where I will write down the amount for each month. It will be just like a bill payment...automatically in the bank at the end of the month. Hugs
OK Gill, let me try and comvert to see what amounts I should be doing in Omani Rials. I really like this idea.
Great idea, Gill. I don't spend every day, so sometimes i have gobs of change, and sometimes i don't.
When i was single and first out on my own, i treated my savings a like a bill. I still do this, although am not as faithful as i need to be.
Perhaps the daily drop into the piggy bank will help to re-establish the habit?
megan
BH and I do something similar to this, but not quite so structured. Whenever either one of us has been out we always put whatever change we have in a series of jars after returning home.
When we go out again, we have no change (just a bit in the car for parking) so must use bills to pay which means in turn that we get more change for the jars, lol. This would be very useful for anyone not able to 'bank' all of their change though and so suprising how it all adds up!
Gill I'm in!!!
I'm going to get my secret box all ready for the New Year I can hardly wait as I found your blog later in the year and thought the idea was wonderful so now I'm joining the club.
I'm hoping to post before the New Year and I will try and mention your post and your fabulous idea.
Ladies and Gents let the savings begin.
Thanks again Gill, This is such a wonderful idea.
Same as Lindsay- we do the skimming trick too and it is really good.
I do this the really unstructured way - empty whatever change is in my wallet into the money box each day. Somedays that is a lot, today it is a lone 5 cents :-).
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