Do you do anything unusual or interesting to help you save money? I try new things all the time. Making savings a game can be very motivating for some people.
One thing I’ve done consistently over the years is to save my coins in a large glass container. If I’m planning a large purchase or a vacation I wait until it’s closer to that purchase or trip to cash in the money at my local bank. If there’s nothing special I’m saving for I wait until one of my smaller jars are full- one of my jars hold about $50 worth of coins so I know an estimated amount I should expect to get. (Be careful your money holder isn’t too thin if it is made of glass. I have had a thin glass break after I had it stacked with quarters. You my find other unique money holders may serve you better.)
Most banks have a free coin machine that will count your coins for you. You may have to be an account holder at the bank in order not to incur a small fee. Try to avoid coin cashing machines that you see at your local grocery store or supermarkets. These machines can take up to an 11% fee if you choose to redeem your coins for cash. Of course, with the pandemic and coin shortage I haven’t used as many coins lately. If you purchase things in cash it is surprising how saving all of your coins can add up to a larger sum than you’d expect.
Nerd Wallet had an interesting article about a 52 week savings challenge. I’ve seen this in different formats around the internet. Every week you save a particular amount of cash inside an envelope. Each time you place money in the envelope you cross out that amount. Some individuals encourage you to start with $52 and work your way down, or you may start at $1 and work your way up. Still others encourage you to just save any amount of money during any particular week. I chose the random method this year. If you complete the 52 week challenge you should be able to save $1,378 by years end. (I’ve included a picture of my envelope below.)
Another popular savings challenge is to save a particular denomination of cash throughout the year. The most popular dollar currency to save is every $5 bill you receive from a purchase or from the bank. An NBC reporter, Julie Compton, wrote an article about one woman saving over $40,000 over several years by employing this method.
One thing is for sure, no matter if you complete the 52 week challenge, or if you save all your coins or $5 bills… you’ll be closer to your savings goal than before.
~Quiet Turtle
Next post: We’ll look at small ways you can save if you don’t use cash.
Quest for Fi 