afriedl wrote:

Our kids also have jars that we fill with $2 of nickels at the beginning of the week.  When we need to (for disciplinary reasons), we take out a nickel.  At the end of the week, they get to decide how much of what's left goes into savings and how much they want to spend.  It's a little incentive for them and will hopefully teach them some self-discipline in both behavior and spending habits!

Thats a pretty nifty idea especially since it helps train them at a younger age. I will definitely keep that one in mind, i have nieces/nephews and cousins who are over for summers sometime so that might be helpful. THANKS!

I am constantly amazed at the way some individuals come up with little games to help pay off debt or save money. Years ago, I found if I put away money (hide it from myself) left over at the end of the day, by the end of the month I had a hefty amount saved.  I would place money in my jacket pockets, in coffee cans, in my pant pockets and leave it, any thing to hide it from myself.  At the end of the month, I would go through all of my pockets and usually would come up witht a couple of hundred dollars.  I would then either pay a bill or take it to the bank.  I told one of my sons this tip when he was having an issue paying his bill (one bill) and then having money for the remainder of the month.  He started tossing all coins in his ashtray during the day.  At the end of the day, he would place the coins in a jar.  When he found that the first attempt netted him $75 at the end of the month, he was elated. Make a game of it.  Some people say there is no way to save anything, but there are always some corners you can cut.  Instead of buying that candy bar, place that change in your pocket and pick up one of those free suckers at your doctors office.  Use the extra bucks at your local pharmacy, pick up those pennies on the ground when you see them:they add up.  Happy savings!.

I have a pretty flower pot that I have on my dresser that I am adding change into at the end of every day. I am also adding any change that I find, or even money I find that I had misplaced and forgotten. I'm also starting to save cans to cash in and that money will go into the pot. I plan to cash it in every once in a while and put it towards bills. I cashed in last week and it was about $40. I was happy :-)

I just cashed my change vase, and i got 97 buckaroos. I'm soo elated, but of course my book half a hour later for class cost me 98. sigh... im just going to be happy thinking i paid $1 for my book.

Wow!  I bet a treat at the end of the month has a great psychological payoff! 

I collect all my change in a pot, and then I end up using it for the electric bill . . . I never feel very satisfied even though I'm doing something good! Hmmm . . . 

What are some of the treats you give yourself?

Funny that everyone has the same idea! I was walking through the store today and I saw one of those giant piggy banks that's shaped like a crayon. I looked at them for a moment, and then picked one up. For $.99 I couldn't resist. It has now been duct-taped shut, and my fiance and I have decided to see how fast we can fill it up with our extra change. Supposedly you can fill the whole thing up and it will equal about $300...I'm interested in seeing how well this goes!

I love my coin jar. I keep it on top of the fridge. It holds around $200 when it's full.

If I put a $200 lump sum payment onto let's say a $10,000 credit card debt that's being charged at 16% interest, then I could potentially save around $800 worth of interest being charged on that debt!

(I worked that out using an online calculator I found on google here: http://www.infochoice.com.au/distributi … yments.asp )

So my $200 worth of change and $800 interest saving is now worth $1,000 - that's not small change any more

cluttercutie wrote:

Wow!  I bet a treat at the end of the month has a great psychological payoff! 

I collect all my change in a pot, and then I end up using it for the electric bill . . . I never feel very satisfied even though I'm doing something good! Hmmm . . . 

What are some of the treats you give yourself?

I buy shoes.

I kept a coin jar for more than 5 years and cashed it in to pay bills.  It was a nice little chunk of change and came in handy.  I had originally planned to keep saving it to buy a Kayak.  I never knew it would come in handy as emergency money.

Yes, the coin jar saved my life yesterday.  I've been sick but we haven't had any money for me to go see a doctor.  I went to the jar (in hopes that we maybe had enough for more nyquil) and we had $100 in change.  I traded it for bills and went to the doctor and paid for medication...all with coin jar money.