Tip of the Day: Save Your Change!

Do you have goal you are saving towards? (If not, you definitely should! Having a clearly defined goal has always helped us spend less, save more & work harder). Your goal could be anything, from a vacation, to new furniture, to saving for your child's college education, to a downpayment for a house.  Or, are you trying to pay off debt using the debt snowball?  If so, then you're probably always looking for ways to stretch your dollar further! But, no matter where you are financially, most people would jump at the chance to save money quickly and easily.

So, here's our Tip of the Day:

• The first step would be to transition to an all cash budget. This may sound scary at first, but overall, most people immediately spend less when using cash. Why? Because whether you realize it or not, people are more emotionally attached to cash than they are to swiping a debit card. That in and of itself can help you save money simply because you will probably spend less.

• Step two would be to always break your bills and save the change. This is an easy and painless way to save money that is already in your budget. I say 'painless' because most likely, you will not even miss the change.

For example:

• When my daughter was born, I purchased a piggy bank for her nursery. I admit that in the beginning I bought it more for decoration than anything. But, one day my husband and I decided to start putting a little change in it. Then, my husband became almost obsessed with saving our change...to the point where he would empty out my purse and pockets every night and immediately put it in the piggy bank. At first, I found it odd, then I just laughed at his quirky manners & then I realized, hey this is probably adding up! So, we both religiously broke all of our bills and saved the change for her bank. Well, it worked! Because in 6 months, she had over $230 in her bank, which we put into her savings account, which will eventually be put into a college fund for her. We've personally decided that we are going to continue doing this and until she's age 2, we will continue to add this money to her college fund. Then, we plan on using the money in her piggy bank to begin teaching her how to live a financially responsible life.



And just think...if we continued saving our change at the same rate we could save approximately $500/year for her without even thinking about it. Which, if invested into a good fund, could net a pretty good profit for college! So in my opinion, there is no reason that every parent, who wants to do so, can save at least a little towards their children's education. 

Even if your goal is not to save for your child's education, you can apply the same principles toward any financial goal!

**I will be posting a 'Tip of the Day' each day that will cover an array of topics including your money, your marriage/relationships and parenting. If you have a great tip you'd love to share, please email me at moneymarriagemotherhood@gmail.com!**