Tightwad Tips- Saving a Little at a Time

Many years ago I learned a neat little trick for saving money and it really required so little effort and I never missed the money. I started saving my change instead of spending it. For instance, if I bought something that was say 50 cents and paid for it with a dollar bill, the 50 cents change went into my savings jar. Over time that built up quite a lot. We paid off some credit card bills doing this very thing and never missed the money in our budget. Another twist to this trick is to write down a whole dollar amount in your checkbook when you write a check. For instance, if you write a check for 10.15 then round up and write down 11.00. You have then saved 85 cents without really even missing it. Doing this does take some getting used to when it comes to balancing your checkbook, but eventually you learn to ignore the extra in your account. To give a really good example of how much the change in the jar can add up, I will tell you about some friends of ours. For a couple of years they had been putting all their change in jars. Then they decided that they wanted to take the family on vacation so they pulled out all the change jars. After it was all added up they had enough cash to completely pay for the vacation. Folks, they had saved close to a couple thousand dollars in change! They had a nice vacation and didn't have to worry about it putting a strain on their budget. A little really can go a long way when you are diligent. Blessings, Kat