I think I found the best piggy bank EVER!

[AdventurerKat]

Here's my story.

I took my four year old to Toys R Us about three weeks ago and we bought one of those plain little plastic pigs they sell there for piggy banks. They are about $2.50 each. We christened him "the Disney Pig" and put a couple of Mickey stickers on his sides and a pair of mouse ears over the top of him. I bought this pig for the reason that it is clear, so we could see inside, and that it is the kind you have to really want to get into ... no sneaking out a buck here or there when you need a latte or bus change. He is sealed shut til you mean business!

So I had told my son when the pig was full, we would go to WDW. (This is coincidentally going to coincide with the surprise trip I am taking him on for Memorial Day weekend and is part of how I am going to spring the surprise on him) We dropped some change from our old change jar in and some DD I had earned through rewards programs so there was probably about $25.00 or $30.00 in there.

Now for the best part. I don't know what it is, but EVERYONE wants to contribute to this pig! They all love the pig! My SIL sent my son $10.00 in DD. My MIL just sent him $10.00 and is going to send him more. My mom has given him change by the jarful and he is at her house again this weekend and has reported that "Tinker Bell" left him some more money at Grandma's house. My friends are giving him their change for the pig. Our nanny is in search of a couple of old DD she had from a vacation long ago.Now, these are normally people who do not "contribute" to our vacations in this way but they cannot help themselves from the draw of the pig. They MUST FEED HIM!! Even I find myself rummaging through my purse for spare change or ones every time I look at this goofy pig.

So I am looking ar the pig today and I would say there is at least $125.00 in him, possibly more at this point. That is some fast savings. My only fear is that he will be full TOO soon! We still have about 9 weeks to go!

My advice...get thee to Toys R Us and get yourself one of these pigs. You can't help but "feed" him. And if your pig has the power mine has, others will too!!

 

[tidoublegger]

Our "piggy bank" is a huge, clear, barrel shaped Snyders pretzel container from BJ's. DH hot glued the cover on and made a slit in the top so no one would be tempted to dip into it! We too decorated it with Disney stickers! It's about half full...when it's close to the top, we'll have to figure out how to get it open (LOL) and I'll start rolling the change to use towards WDW park hoppers. It's certainly a pain-free way to save and the kids enjoy pitching in too! Have fun on your trip!!

 

[winniedapooh]

Great ideas both of you, I am going to try them. Right now I keep my change in a coffee cup in the undies draw so the kids don't get tempted to dip in! When it gets full I roll it and put it in a special account at my bank and then fill her up again! I like the pig or jar idea so that they can see how full it is getting and the excitement builds!

 

[barbnbrian]

My official Disney Bank is actually a bank that looks like Cinderella's Castle and has all the Disney characters around it. I bought it when we were at the Contemporary two years ago and put only quarters in it. When it gets full, I roll the quarters and put it with the rest of my Disney vacation fund stash. I also save all our change and have separate empty peanut butter jars for dimes, nickels and pennies. The jars fill up pretty quickly and I usually start rolling the change when the jars are about half way full. I found it more encouraging to use smaller jars rather than the big pretzle type jugs. It looks like it adds up faster when the monies in the smaller jars. Plus, by having separate jars for each coin, it makes it easier to roll them.

 

[BrittnTylersMom]

AK, your piggy bank story cracked me up!..LOL!

How awesome that so many ppl feel the need to feed him!

Every bit helps!

 

[Lori-n-NY]

I love to watch my Disney fund jar grow. I put change in it everyday. Its almost time to count and roll some. My family gives DD money for her b'day and Easter so she can get DD with it. SHe has more spending money then I do...lol

I hope everyone has a good day.

Lori

 

[AdventurerKat]

Good idea about keeping everything separate. Next time I will have five little piggies lined up. Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters and one for paper money.

 

[sdamico71]

You might want to look around for a bank that counts coins. Most banks got rid of their change counters in the early 90s, but we have a local bank (PA - NY) that counts change for no charge. Even for non-customers. So if you live near a Commerce Bank, (their logo is a big red C) check them out.
BTW, if you do live near Commerce, their hours are awesome. Their "grand openings" of new branches, are fun filled, free days for the kids. Clowns, balloons, jugglers, free food. Great carnival atmosphere.

 

[dsnycrzy]

ditto sdamico71,

that's whom I bank with and I LOVE THERE HOURS. The penny arcade is the thing that counts your change and the kids get a gift if the guess within a few dollars of what the machine counts out. My kids love this bank too.

We have a big pickle jar that I have all covered with all disney character pictures from old magazines and calendars. But I do like that peanut butter jar thing
Maybe I'll do peanut butter jars for change and the pickle jar for cash, checks and DD.

 

[Disney Ella]

Originally posted by tidoublegger
Our "piggy bank" is a huge, clear, barrel shaped Snyders pretzel container from BJ's.

Ours is is too! Unfortunately it doesn't quite have the power of the pig. It's filling up way too slowly for me!

 

[heathrow42]

barbnbrian, I love your idea about peanut butter jars and separating the change!

Right now, we have 3 piggy banks (and there are only 2 of us!) My fiance has a clear coca cola bottle bank on his dresser and I have a castle/fab five from the parks in my dressing area. When they get heavy we dump them into the big water bottle we got for FREE from a local water delivery company. (We went in to buy an empty one, they asked why we didn't want the water and they offered us one that was a little broken on the top and could no longer be sealed, but was otherwise fine!) The water bottle is great, because the opening is so small it is a pain to get change out, so we aren't tempted.

We call change Mickey Money... I try never to spend change and save it for the jar, my fiance on the other hand always likes to have change on him. I tease him and try to take the coins when he gets change back, saying it's not for me -- it's Mickey Money!

I tried to do this at work, everyone kept taking it for the vending machine!! And I have an office, so it's not like someone can just walk by and see a jar of change, they would have to come in and be behind my desk.

Thanks again for the idea about the smaller jars!
--Heather

 

[ceecee]

This little piggy has pennies, this little piggy has dimes, this little piggy holds nickels, this little piggy has quarters...the big piggy goes whee whee whee all the way to Disney World!!!!!!

Couldn't help it, when I thought of all the piggy banks lined up in a row. We bought one of those change counters that separates the coins and they fall into the wrappers, it was around $10.00.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I'll start rolling the change to use towards WDW park hoppers

If you belong to a Credit Union, they usually have one of those machines that will count it for you. Mine made me unroll all my coins when I took them in the first time. So, no more rolling for me.

 

[Jana49]

Here's how we save quarters:

We use an empty washed out 2 liter pop container for quarters only - they won't fit through the hole in the top! To put them in, make a quarter-sized slit in the bottle. No temptation to snitch a few - they won't come out until you rip or cut the hole much bigger.

 

[Forever a Princess]

LOL about the 5 little piggies lined up for the change.

Maybe we'll have to buy a few piggies of our own.

I can't seem to stop the "dipping" in the jar scenario so this would help us out.

 

[CajunDixie]

My fiance has a clear coca cola bottle bank

I have one for my quarters! I bought it at Ice Station Cool in Epcot. For my other change I have some "kids" banks. Donald Duck which is full of dimes and nickels. Fred Flintstone full of pennies. And currently filling up a larger Fred with pennies, nickles and dimes. Dollar bills from couponing, rebates, and surveys go into my M&M tin bank that has a bank pic with Christmas decorations. All my car money goes into my Dale Jr Budweiser bottle.

 

[nowellsl]

We use the small plastic container that cotton candy comes in at Disney World (cut a change slot in the lid). When that is full (usually around $100.00) We dump it in one of the popcorn buckets and start over. We haven't filled the popcorn bucket yet because we keep going back before it's full!! We usually end up with about $200.00 that we use for spending money. I hardly ever dip into my change fund - it actually hurts me to do that!! These plastic containers are already decorated with the Disney theme!

 

[MandaMom]

thanks for all the great ideas. I just read this entire thread and I am going to go out and get the pig. We currently have a collection of about 8 Disney banks. My DD4 collects them. We get one for every major trip. We have 4 from WDW and 4 from DLR. They are all filled. My DD just recently filled up one we got from DLR it is the one that is a taxi with the Fab5. Her goal was to buy the Cinderella Castle playset that retails at DLR and WDW for 79.00 0r 69.00 she is now way beyond that and more excited then ever that she was able to save it up in 2weeks or so because her Grandma, Dad, and I gave to her bank.


MandaMom

 

[Tiggerlover91]

My Disney "piggy bank" is an old HAWAIIAN PUNCH plastic jug that I cut the top off of so it's easy to shove money into. Easy to take money out....sure it is, but I think in 5 months I've only borrowed money 3 times, twice of which I have replaced plus extra! It's not just my Disney savings, it's for emergencies that may come up, and me being out of work for one week was an emergency. I borrowed $50 of it to get my bank balance back up again and replaced that $50 before I even realized it. There's about $220 in my savings jar now and it's so fun rolling the change every Saturday and watching it get bigger and bigger! :happy1:
And now with this new second job I got with more hours and more pay than the last second job....I'm going to have to get the money into the bank and start "saving" all over again. I'm running out of room in the jar. In rolled change alone I have about $119!!!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

This is what my piggy bank looks like, minus that red marking on the side. He's pure white and HUGE! I bought him from Michael's for $3.00 and he's SUPPOSED to be painted or decorated, but I thought he looked pretty cool the way he was. He's quite heavy now