If you are like most people, change doesnāt mean much unless you need to feed the parking meter.
It used to be like that for us until we started saving our change; every last penny.
The old way for us was to toss it in a drawer, place it on the counter, shove it in the bottom of my purse or dump it on the carās console. (We have a futon for a couch, so there is none in our couch!)
Now, we have an old fashioned piggy bank. Itās kind of silly, really but we picked up a counter piggy bank at the goodwill and it actually recognizes the various coins put into it and keeps track of the amount of change. It is so fun to watch it add up.
Can you believe just by doing this for one week we saved over fifteen dollars in change?
If we kept this pace for a year, we could have a nice weekend getaway on just the change that was being hap-haphazardly tossed around!
You could easily not stress about things like doing laundry at the laundry mat, cleaning supplies, pizza night or even a date once a month if you just saved your change the previous month.
Try the experiment. Save all your change for just one month. You will be surprised at how fast it adds up and how much money you are just tossing out of each paycheck. This means all change. Resist the urge to use change to pay for anything. If something is $3.25, donāt give that cashier that quarter you have in your wallet. Just take the 75 cents she will give back to you and put it in your piggy bank.
Know something really neat? My husband is a manager at a fast food restaurant and he knows a lady that rain, snow or shine goes out early in the morning (very early, think 5 or 6 am) every morning and gathers the dropped change in drive through windows at various places. You know, the stuff that people accidentally drop while they are getting thier change back. JUST by doing this, she is able to take a trip to Hawaii or somewhere else every year! Now that is using your noggin!
Let me know! Save your change for just one month and see how it ads up.
Photo via flickr by adam*b
Our change is my treat money. My hubby gives me all his change, and I use it to treat myself to starbucks or other yummies. One time I had enough money to buy myself a $16.00 book that I wanted…. Change is my favourite thing!
‘Awesome tip!
They have something like that at a local bank. When you pay with your debit card, they round up to the next dollar amount and put the change in your savings acct. Then they match it. So if you spend $6.75 they will charge your checking acct $7.00 and then put 50 cents in your savings acct ~ 25 cents from you and 25 cents from them. It does add up! :0)
I hadnāt thought of doing it with my change from using cash to buy stuff.
Thanks for the tip!
K
Great reminder. We have gotten out of the habit of saving our change. I have been passing it on to the grandchildren. I may need to re-think this. Maybe give half and save half.
We have an old metal coffee can we throw change in. Then our church had a “fill the baby bottle” campaign for our local pregnancy resource center. I brought home four bottles and filled them up. I had help 22 years ago when I was pregnant; time to pay it forward.
We save ours and our children do as well.
Our daughter is excited to have $9.00 in pennies š I point coinage out to them when weāre out and about, Iām cleaning or when itās in the car. They love to collect it all š
Great post!!
Hubby and I have been collecting our 5 and 10 cent pieces for a few years now, it all goes into a little box in our loungeroom, maybe one day weāll start adding bigger change and have enough for a trip away together.
That lady is smart doing that! I save change the best I can, but we hardly use cash now. š