change jars

[WDW2002]

I have heard a lot of people talk about change jars as a means of saving for trips. We also have one. I am curious...how much do you save in the jar? How long it took you to get that amount? What change do you put in there? etc...

We have been saving our change for about a year give or take a few months. And it is genereally only dimes, nickles, and penny's (quarters are laundry money). I have a five gallon water jug and there is about 3 - 4 inches of change on the bottom right now. We will be counting and rolling over thanksgiving (giving the kids something to do with there 5 day weekend .

 

[Biyanna]

For our Jan. 2002 trip, we saved for a year and had 120.00 It's not alot compared to others. But not bad considering I only made an effort 4 times a week to go through the car, pockets, bottom of purse, etc...Some people stated that they always paid for everything with paper money and always dumped all change at the end of the day. I'm planning on trying that this year.

 

[KaraJade]

Well, my DBf and I both do change jars and he is more successful at it than I am. My money comes out of the jar when I need to do laundry, etc. He puts all loose change in the jar, but also dollar bills. If he wins $ on Pick3, or is just doing really good on a particular week moneywise, he puts a bit more in in bills. He just took his to get counted not long ago, and it was enough to pay off our hotel for our upcoming trip, with some left over. I don't really ever have that much loose change, so my jar is a bit different. Every paycheck I set some money aside for our next trip, and when I deposit my check, i set that money aside and put that amount of cash in the jar.

 

[twinklingstars4u]

I'm a bartender and instead of changing up my coins at the end of the night I just put them in our trip jar. It is amazing how it adds up!

 

[Snow Brite]

I leave my credit card at home when I go shopping and pay cash. I also never give exact change, but pay with paper money. All the change goes in my wallet and then at the end of the night into my Disney jar. I average about $75 a month in change. I try to put "lonely" dollar bills in the jar also and any money I find in the laundry goes straight in the jar. I also go through the car, my old purses and the junk drawer right before a trip. I roll it all as I get enough, so I never have to spend tooooo much time doing that. I got a GREAT idea from someone on this board and switched from the Mason Jar I was using to a Mickey's Extremem Coolers Juice Bottle as it had all kinds of Disney stuff on it.

Have fun!

Jennifer

 

[busy mom]

We bought a piggy bank at the Dollar Store that you have to literally cut open to get the money out...that way there is no temptation to borrow from it! We started saving quarters, dimes & nickles in January for our November trip...we are hoping to have enough to have a special family dinner on our trip, maybe even enough for a day at Sea World! It's amazing how my kids get so excited about dropping change into our little yellow piggy!

 

[disneydreamerinny]

We saved for 15 months.
We put in only quarters dimes and nickles.
Total as of last week when we brought it all to the bank was $875.00 aprox.

That included soda bottle refunds, coupon money at the end of the grocery shopping, and every little bit of change found.

Anytime I went anywhere, I never gave anyone change. If it came to $1.01 I would give them $2.00 and take the $.99 home in the jar.

It added up pretty quickly this way..

 

[barbnbrian]

Last year I had enough change to pay for our plane tickets! Of course this was tag sale money too included. I save money from bottle returns, any coins I find laying around, and any change DH empties out of his pockets at the end of the day. Just went to the bank on Saturday with $180 that I had rolled so far to cover this year's trip in July. I have a Disney bank that's the castle with the characters all around it that I got at the Contemporary last year after we had dinner at Chef Mickey's. I put just quarters in that bank! Then I have separate jars for the nickles, dimes and penneys. Last year I was just putting everything into a big six gallon water jug, but it was a pain in the neck to separate and roll. By having separate jars for each coin, I just roll them as they start to get full. I get greater satisfaction by knowing how much I've saved up in change and seeing it all rolled. After I cash it in at the bank, I either buy Disney dollars or use it to buy park hoppers or pay for hotel payment or airline tickets.

 

[Mom+4]

Last year we used a non-openable piggy bank, which the kids loved to "feed." We saved in the pig for about 10 months and had about $375 dollars for our December trip. Most of that was used as spending money for our 4 kids. Now they each have a bank which we bought at WDW in December to save their own spending money. Mom's bank is already full, and needs to be counted, but the kids think that if it is full, we can go back to WDW, so I have to count it in secret and bank it. I imagine is has about $150 in it so far, which will go in a special account at the credit union which no one knows about, not even DH. I try to put all change in my bank each evening, but am not fanatic about it. I also add rebate money, occasional lottery winnings (which are few and far between, and never over $5), and small amounts that people owe me (like when I pick up a gallon of milk for the neighbor). I figure that all of these small amounts won't be missed anyway, and add up pretty quickly for things at WDW.

Good luck with your bank.

 

[NotTooGoofy]

Similarly, you can set a club account at a credit union or bank and deposit things like rebate checks into them. Over the past couple of months I've saved $65 into this account.

 

[Mickey0330]

We saved our change for 8 months & our kids took the whole can to the bank. The teller came back & told our kids they had $375. That was our kids spending money for extra's. That way they could buy mickey ice cream bars, popcorn, etc. with their own money. They were so excited to have that much money. Our kids didn't ask for much so we were able to treat us all to the Rainforest Cafe the last night & everyone was able to get their own desserts. It is fun & the kids are always looking for change for the "Mickey Jar".

Good luck!!

 

[DisDee]

We also have used this method of saving. When we returned from our trip in Jan., we started saving again. We have almost $100.00 in 3 months. As soon as it reaches that level, I am off to the Disney Store to buy Disney Dollars. I also plan to use the $1.00 a day savings idea for our upcoming Dec. trip. Also, any extra income that we earn, a portion will go into our trip fund.