How many people have an old jar that they empty their change into at the end of the day. Change, you know. That jingling stuff that ends up in your pocket or the bottom of your purse after you break a one. Judging by the nearly fifteen dollars of it I have picked up off the ground at the gas pumps this year, some people have ceased to consider it money. The change jar is a time tested method to accumulate savings, but let me give my spin to this technique. Instead of saving the change from each one you break, try saving the change from each five that you break.
Wait, lets not go to extremes here. No, lets. I like to observe people. Observation is one of the key learning skills. One thing that I have observed, especially from men, is that when we break a five at the store the ones that we receive in change go into our pocket not back into our wallet. Women tend to treat their ones in a similar manner. I observed a man at Wal-Mart several months ago pay for a coke at the counter with a five and ,on cue ,when he was handed his change it went into his pocket. That same man was in the check-out line at the Dollar Tree next door a few minutes later and instead of pulling out the change (which would have more than covered his purchase) he pulled out another five. I laughed, and then I realized I did the same thing. Once money leaves my wallet and goes into my pocket, it is forgotten.
From that day on, when I break a five I intentionally put the change in my pocket and forget it. My pockets are emptied into my change jar every afternoon. My expectation is to pay for Christmas in full with my spare change. I must admit, I did not come up with this idea. I met a man in Florida who has done this with his wife for years. In one three year period of time he saved enough to by a beautiful, slightly used, bass tracker bass boat for cash.
If you are one of those people who have stopped spending cash, opting instead for debit cards, there are a lot of banks that offer cards that round every purchase to the nearest dollar and deposit the change directly into a savings account. That is "change" you can believe in.
Wait, lets not go to extremes here. No, lets. I like to observe people. Observation is one of the key learning skills. One thing that I have observed, especially from men, is that when we break a five at the store the ones that we receive in change go into our pocket not back into our wallet. Women tend to treat their ones in a similar manner. I observed a man at Wal-Mart several months ago pay for a coke at the counter with a five and ,on cue ,when he was handed his change it went into his pocket. That same man was in the check-out line at the Dollar Tree next door a few minutes later and instead of pulling out the change (which would have more than covered his purchase) he pulled out another five. I laughed, and then I realized I did the same thing. Once money leaves my wallet and goes into my pocket, it is forgotten.
From that day on, when I break a five I intentionally put the change in my pocket and forget it. My pockets are emptied into my change jar every afternoon. My expectation is to pay for Christmas in full with my spare change. I must admit, I did not come up with this idea. I met a man in Florida who has done this with his wife for years. In one three year period of time he saved enough to by a beautiful, slightly used, bass tracker bass boat for cash.
If you are one of those people who have stopped spending cash, opting instead for debit cards, there are a lot of banks that offer cards that round every purchase to the nearest dollar and deposit the change directly into a savings account. That is "change" you can believe in.
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