So...for all of us stay at homers(ours.... not the one the Simpson's live in...:-))....do you realize if you saved a miserable $5.00 per day for the next 300 days,that would give you $1500 to help pay for many of your trips expenses? So...instead of buying that pack of ciggies...those 2 specialty Starbuck's coffees consumed daily...those two monthly magazines where you might look at one article...those 3 or 4 sodas you drink every day...those $3.00 bags of chips etc......if you take that money and toss it into a large tin or piggy bank and seal the top/bottom so that you cannot easily get in to "borrow" some money for laundry...you would be able to do it. Now...how hard would that be?
It is actually very easy once you get into it and,since you do not miss that money as you were going to spend it anyway,it is like free cash after your goal time is set.
I used to consume alot of Coca Cola...way too much.Figured that I would average 3-5 a day(cans).Always bought them at the corner store so that they cost me around 79-99 cents per tin.
I realized one day that I just never seemed to be able to go anywhere at the end of the year and began to think about all the ways I wasted money and that if I saved that money instead,that I would be much happier.
I picked up a paper(papier) mache huge piggy bank at a garage sale and decided that for every Coke I did not drink,that I would place a dollar into this bank.
Well....it worked out well for a few days...$5.00 every day for a week and then I had a couple of Cokes and could not put as much money in my bank.Well....it actually bugged me that I was depriving myself of some year end cash,so I hunkered down and fought a galliant battle with my discipline for the year.
The bank was started on October 14th 1994 and the goal was to get to the following year just before Christmas and then I could open it.
I got so good at this,that I decided to toss in other extra money and change as well(only quarters and bills by the way...no pennies,nickels or dimes),especially after a good garage sale or some other estate work which I did.
It got to the point where I would be extremely disappointed in myself if I did go off the path.....and believe me...I occasionally did.
I bank got heavier AND YET....I actually got lighter! Yep....getting that junk food diet out of my system actually caused me to lose weight and in 14 months I had dropped 14 pounds!
The time of reckoning finally came and,on December 10th 1995,I smashed open the bank and was so shocked at the amount of money in there that I actually could not believe it.
After sorting out bills and quarters and rolling and counting,I had saved $3704.50!!! No lie,no exaggeration! Money that I had not missed.Money that I would have wasted.I was shocked!!
Needless to say....I was hooked on the saving method.
So.....stay-at-homers.....we have 300 days.I know we aren't all rich,but this could be a way to at least get something going for a measily $5.00 per day!
Don't put it off.Grab a large tin or peanut butter jar,get a hole going in the top,glue the lid on and start today.You will thank yourself for it next year.Oh....by the way...two things:don't make that hole too big,cause you do not want to make it easy to "borrow" some change out of that piggy bank,and keep the bank in a cupboard or closet to keep away any temptation of "checking to see how much I have". DO NOT CHECK OUT THE CONTENTS until the due date(hence the gluing of the top).
Your goal is $5.00 per day but if you can't get that in,at least get something in.
SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR WITH BANKS IN HAND! START TODAY!!