In case you couldn't tell by some of my posts, I am a huge saver. I call myself a cheapskate!!! I will save money on what ever and as much as I can.
I work very hard for my money, and I want to be able to enjoy it. What I save by using coupons, earning gift cards through email programs etc, I can then turn around and use on fun things like trips to Disney World!!
I just learned about this specific idea, but I have tried doing something similar in the past.
It's called the $5 plan. Basically what you do is try to use cash for as many purchases as you can. I know that is not always possible and/or safe. I refuse to walk around big cities with a large amount of cash, but I do try to carry some money on me at all times. You never know when it might come in handy.
With the $5 plan, anytime you use cash and receive a $5 bill, you set it aside in a cookie jar, lock box, or where ever you feel safe leaving it and you save it for the rest of the year.
Now $5 doesn't sound like a tremendous amount of money, but if you think of how many times you have used $5 bills over the last couple years, that would have added up to a lot!!
Ben and I did something similar to this a couple of years ago. We couldn't afford to set aside all those $5 bills, so we did it with $1. It did help us safe a decent amount of money that we then used on a vacation. Of course then we kind of forgot to keep saving, and we stopped.
I am going to start this up again and see what happens. As long as we have no major unforeseen expenses, I will keep saving until December. I will report each month how much we were able to save.
Would you like to join me?? I think this will be a fun challenge for anyone involved and a great way to set aside some much needed cash.
Another great way to save if you can afford it, is to set aside the amount of money you save with coupons. Say you go to Target today and you have $6 in coupons you will use. Why not put that $6 you didn't spend into a savings account, or even your cookie jar. I know a lot of people like myself who save hundreds of dollars a month with coupons. Think about how much you could have if you set all of that aside!!!
Let me know what tricks and ways you save money. I am going to try and save all $5's and coupon savings (as much as possible!!)
This post is written by Sarah Coulsey. She is a Wife, and Mother of two boys living in New England.
1 comment:
What a fabulous idea!! We're already doing it with change - I think we'll have to try it with fives as well!
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