Keeping Us Accountable: Update on Saving Our Change

 

This is my daughter's piggy bank & its contents, which we counted today.

(We also emptied it 2 months ago, which you can read about here)

You might remember when I posted in March about how transitioning to an all cash budget, always breaking your bills & saving your change is one easy way to build savings. We have been on an all cash budget for about 2 & a half years (thanks to Dave Ramsey's 'Total Money Makeover') & we have never felt more in control of our finances than when we do now. 

Within that time, we have met many of our financial goals:

• Saved up an $1100 emergency fund
• Paid off $36,000 worth of student loan & credit card debt
• Paid off $3000 worth of medical bills 
• Paid off over $5400 on our van
• Purchased a cheap used car for my husband for $2000 (lovingly known as a "beater"-which he happened to total after only 8 months!!)
• Paid cash for 3 Disney vacations
• Left the work force to be a stay at home mom
• Paid cash for our daughter's nursery furniture & baby necessities
• Richly blessed our family & friends with gifts for birthdays & holidays

Even after all of the goals we have met, we still have plenty of goals we are still working toward.  One being saving the first $2000 for our daughter's education. I know that this is out of order with the way Dave Ramsey suggests doing things. But, since we have chosen to only save for her education through saving our change right now, we personally feel it can be done simultaneously with our other goals (i.e. Dave Ramsey's 'Baby Steps').

In March, we counted her piggy bank & it totaled $230 (after 6 months of only saving our change).  And today, we counted her bank again (after another 2  months of saving just our change) and we have another $100.50 to add to her fund! So her current total for her future college fund is $1,928...we're only $72 away from our $2000 goal!  We're hoping we can save the remaining $72 in the next month or so & then open her E.S.A.

So in my opinion, if you have a specific, written financial goal (such as saving an emergency fund, paying for a vacation or starting a college fund) moving to an all cash budget, then breaking your bills & saving the change is one of the easiest ways to get started. Why do I consider it 'easy'? Because honestly, I don't think you'll actually miss the change!

Enjoy!!