All that change really adds up!

[peanutzmom]

Wow! It seems like I share a lot of saving ideas with the rest of you! We always have a change jar going that is designated for something special (it has ranged from new flannel sheets -- yes we were starving college students at the time -- to spending money for family trips). We wiped it out in September when we took a three week trip to Europe, and now it's slowly growing again for our Disney trip in November. We're going to roll it and hang onto some of the rolled pennies & quarters for pressed pennies, then put the rest toward our trip. I also opened ING accounts for myself & my two kids. I transferred $100 my mom gave me for Christmas over into it, then my $25 bonus, plus $10 referral for both of my kids accounts. So I now have $145 for souveniers, which will do me fine since I'm not a big spender. I transferred $10 for each of the kids (Christmas money from Grandma), plus they each got th $25 bonus, so they each now have $35 for souveniers. Since they will be 4 & 6 when we go and we'll pay for things like ice cream & t-shirts, I think $35 in spending money will be enough for them. So, in 4 days I turned $120 into $215 in souvenier money!! BTW,I can send referrals out, too, just PM me with your full name and e-mail address. Finally, we're also doing the Ebay/Amazon reselling bit, and all of that money goes into savings for the trip. My DD (4) cracked me up this weekend. I was cleaning up some of her nicer baby toys to sell on Ebay. She got really upset when she found out I was selling them. When I explained that I was selling them so we had money for our Disney vacation, she ran around and gathered up almost every toy she could find (including new Christmas toys) and wanted to sell them so we could go to WDW longer! That's my girl!

 

[vhoffman]

Yes, that change does add up. I did a "Spring cleaning" this week and went through the whole house. As I went, I kept a ziploc bag with me to put loose change into. Well, when I took it to the coin counter at the grocery store I was pleasantly surprised to find I had $65 in change! And that's not including the 8% fee the machine took. Next time I'll roll my own. That would have been another $7. I'm going to put that money immediately into my ING account. BTW, if anyone would like a referral to open an ING account and get a $25 sign on bonus, I have several referrals available. Send a pm with your first and last name and email address and I'll get the referral out right away. I've found the ING account a great way to save for Disney. (Or if you're not sure what an ING account is, PM me and I'll fill you in on the details.)

 

[EsmeraldaX]

We always throw our loose change into a change cup, then at the end up the month, we take it to the grocery store's automatic change counter and always end up with $20-$30.