Monday, March 26, 2012

March Money Madness: Save Your Pennies!



Hope you are all enjoying your Monday.
While i am away, i will complete the March Money Madness series 
because that's what a good blogger would do:-)

I wanted to share something Team Pancakes does 
and i am sure many of you already do as well because it is a useful practice 
in terms of counting and saving your pennies!

Let me ask you a question: 
What do you do with all the pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters 
you accumulate at the end of your day?

Some people use it to buy gum or candy at the store.
Other's may go into your purse (most of it doesn't though because 
we hate our purses bulging out because of those dreaded coins)
Other's  may use their coins for parking meters (myself sometimes)
Other's loose their coins only to find them in between the couch cushions.

You get the idea...there are many things we can do with our coins at the end of the day.
What Team Pancakes does is put all the coins we have 
accumulated throughout the day into what we call:
Team Pancakes Family Fund!


Initially, the coins do not look like much however
 day after day and month after month of accumulation,we noticed the money adds up.  
One year, we were able to roll up over a $1000.00 of coins 
so Mr. Pancakes could get emergency dental work.

After that incident, i was hooked on saving my pennies in the Team Pancakes Family Fund.
Of course this jar DOESN'T replace your regular emergency/savings funds 
BUT it can act as a supplement.

Some couples/ families use their JAR as a way to save their pennies for vacations,
 toys like a big screen TV, laptop, iPad...however you use the money in the jar,
 the most important thing is that you made 
a conscience effort to save extra money that you might have otherwise used frivolously.

Lately, we have been adding some bills too because sometimes at the end of the month, 
we have extra money left over that could go to the family fund 
instead of purchasing lunch, magazines or something that i really don't need.  
The best part of adding the bills is that it increases the family fun rapidly.

As the jar gets fuller, Mr. Pancakes will remove most or all the pennies 
so that we only have silver coins.  
We then begin another jar with just the pennies.  
This is motivating in a way because it makes you only 
want to save more silver coins because they add up faster. 

The name of one of my favorite blogs is My Pretty Pennies 
and you know what our pennies are pretty, we work hard for our pennies 
and why wouldn't we want to save them?

I encourage you today to start Saving Your Pretty Pennies!


Question of the Day:
Do you have a money jar/family fund?
How do you use the money in your jar...for vacations, buying toys?





13 comments:

Heather said...

Definitely a great idea! We have a coin sorter to store our loose change, which goes into our savings.

Alida Sharp said...

As a child my father would give me and my little brother the change he saved throughout the year. We were able to buy Christmas presents for the family with that money. Now my husband and I save our change and we donate it every year around Christmas time to a family or a cause that needs it!

Life's Journey said...

We also save our change to purchase whatever item it is we want so we don't take it out of the household budget.

Emily said...

I do something sort of similar, I take all my extra change (unless I need it for parking meters downtown), and put it in a piggy bank for my son Dominic. I figured it'll just keep piling up and once it gets full I'll take it to the bank for cash and put it in his savings account and refill it again and again :)

Lauren said...

we normally use our saved up change on vacation...whether it's to splurge on an extra dinner out or a fun excursion, it's always fun to have that extra bit that makes the experience that much more fun!

kita said...

We don't have one any extra pennies we put in our sons piggy bank and the pennies do add up he has about 30 dollars worth of coins. Maybe we should start one just the hubs and I good idea to start saving now for that splurge.

THE ALTERNATIVE WIFE said...

Wow that's awesome that you guys saved up that much and was able to cover his dental work! We have a change sorter so we just fill the rolls up and take them to the bank about once a year. :)

Hope you're having a great trip! xoxo

Cam | Bibs and Baubles said...

I throw all of the extra change into my son's bank. That little man is getting hooked up!

Nicole Marie said...

We currently do not have one, but I think its a good idea! Will start today and update you in about 2 weeks :-)

Anonymous said...

We put all our change in our son's bank and he uses the money for stuff. He actually has quite a stash. I joke and say I need one for me. ;)
I wanted to mention, don't get rid of those pennies without looking at them first. We also collect coins and learned that some pennies are worst a lot of money. Be careful you aren't trading out the $$$$$. Be on the look out for the old pennies. (Actually that goes for all coins)

Theodora Ofosuhima said...

i sure save my pennies, now i am saving them for little AOI. she has a piggy bank and i a sure she has more than 50 dollars in there and she is only 4 months :).

likeitsgolden said...

We give loose change to my son to put in his piggy bank along with change he finds/collects. Once it gets full we take him to the coin star and deposit it into his saving account. He gets to keep a few dollars.

Nellie @ Brooklyn Active Mama said...

Great idea! I need to implement this in my house!!