Savvy Budget

One Goal Down

I did it. I added the final $100 to my initial emergency fund. It is now at $1000. YEAH!! :::inset confetti toss:::
On to the next goal of paying off Stupid Debt estimated at $5000.

I also rolled $70 in quarters. NO, I am not so hard up I had to roll change to buy groceries. I did not rob a pay phone.

I have a jar. Not just any jar, but a "magic" jar. What's so magic about this jar? Glad you asked. Every time I save money I add a quarter to this jar. According to my calculations, this means I have saved money 280 times since the last time I emptied the jar. At a conservative estimate, this equals $280 I saved. I know it is more but each quarter represents a minimum of $1 saved by not spending.

If I resist eating out lunch, I put in a quarter. The real savings is more like $5. If I make a gift, cook instead of eating out when I want to, Buy an outfit at a thrift for say $3 instead of paying retail, resist a soda or drink home made sweet tea, pack my own lunch etc... I put a quarter in the jar and just like magic I have added to EF.

When the jar is full, I roll the quarters and deposit them in my bigger EF. Right now it is not as big as the initial EF with $1000, but just wait.

I keep this account at a credit union that is a bit of a pain to access. It helps me resist taking funds out. As a matter of fact, it was not even touched while I was out of work for 4 months last year or the 1 month between jobs this year. Had it been easier to access I would have tapped it out the first week.

posted by Casper @ 11:29 PM