Monday, January 6, 2014

Resolution: How I Saved $205

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When I found out I was pregnant with Lyla, I was stunned, shocked, surprised.  You name it.  Nevermind the fact that I was bringing a life into this world.  I had to do some soul searching about who I was and what was important to me because now I was going to have a little person watching me very closely.  One of the first things that came to mind was MONEY.  Were we going to have enough?  What was our game plan to make sure we always did?

Knowing where to begin challenged me.  I decided whatever my plan was going to be - just start somewhere.  So that's exactly what I did.  My husband has a tendency of leaving change everywhere.  My savings plan was basically a penny a day.  I began collecting all of the change that he left lying around.  My thought process was to see how much money I could save on change alone by the time Lyla was born.

Lyla's birth came and went and I was still collecting change.  It had almost become a habit and I kept thinking to myself, Maybe a little bit more, a little bit longer.  Finally when she was a few months old, I went down to the credit union and got some coin wrappers.  I went home and sorted through all of the change, neatly wrapped it up and took it back to the credit union.  {Yes, I know that there are coin counters, but I was too cheap or just flat out did not want to pay a machine to count my own money.}  Thank goodness for reusable grocery bags because that change was heavy.

At the credit union, I told the representative that I wanted to open up a college fund for my daughter.  He thought it was great, especially since she was still a baby.  We went through the process of opening the account and when he asked me for the money to deposit in the account, (I'm laughing at the thought of this now) I pulled out my grocery bag of wrapped change and handed it to him.  His eyes opened very wide.  I explained to him what I had been doing with the change.  We counted it together.  I had $205 in change.  I thought I had much less than that so I was quite proud of that number and very excited.


Is your resolution to save money?  What's your plan?  On the Featured Charities page, I have some links that we've used and hopefully might be useful to you.  Do you have any creative ways of saving money?  Do you have any funny stories about when you found out you were expecting?  Please share them with me.  If you like this post, share it with your friends.

Karina

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11 comments:

  1. It's amazing how quickly change can add up! My parents and I used to collect all our change during the year in a basket and in November roll all the coins and use the funds to purchase Christmas gifts.

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  2. I love this post, Karina! My parents use to save all of their change to go towards vacations. It apparently works cause we would have long vacations and stay a couple of different places a year, most of the time. I like your change saving story better, though. By the way, I share this site with anyone that brings up jobs and shopping for USA products.

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  3. We save our change every year and spend for Christmas. Some years are better than others for sure! I love this idea, wish when I was pregnant I had done this!

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  4. oh wow karina, i should start doing this, my husband leaves change everywhere too :)

    huggies,
    rea

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  5. lol...all that change, but good for you! the earlier we start, the more we can collect.

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  6. Hi Karen,
    Oh how true it is! I still collect change and use it for different things. It really does come in handy. Thank you for leaving your thought.

    Sincerely,
    Karina

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  7. Hi Rea,
    If your husband leaves change around, save it and you'll be able to do some of those projects that you listed on your blog without ever taking a dime from your household budget. Trust me!

    Sincerely,
    Karina

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  8. Hi Kristina,
    That's a great idea - save it for Christmas! Thank you so much for the tip! I am going to do that. Our grandparents were right - those pennies really do add up!

    Sincerely,
    Karina

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  9. Hi Lucy,
    I'm so glad you like the post. Vacations sound like a great idea to save the change for. We have that on goal list for this year. Maybe the change can be our spending money. Thanks for the story.

    Thank you also for sharing this blog with others looking for jobs and products that are made in the USA. I (and my family) greatly appreciate it.

    Sincerely,
    Karina

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  10. Hi Jill,
    That's such a great idea and tradition that you and your family have. I didn't think to do that. You're right, though. The change does add up quickly and the possibilities are endless as to what to do with it. Thank you for sharing your story.

    Sincerely,
    Karina

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  11. My husband puts all of his change in one of those big Coke bottles (sold full of popcorn), and it really does add up quicker than you'd think!

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