The $1 bill savings plan

[amyschiff]

My boyfriend heard this on a talk radio show a while ago. He thought it might be interesting for wisebreaders and I promised I'd post here about it. Basically the radio host said how he was skiing and met a guy who used the $1 bill savings plan to pay for his yearly ski trips to Colorado.

It's pretty simple, every time you pay for something and get change back, tuck away any $1 bills you get back as change. DON'T SPEND THEM! I read somewhere that said to cut a slit in the top of a shoebox and use that to deposit your $1 bills in.

This is obviously not the best possible way to save money (since you wouldn't be gaining interest on it), but it's an easy way to get started building good savings habits.

I would also argue that it helps curb spending habits because you have to think about purchases as more than the cost of the items you are buying: it will be the cost plus any singles you'd get back. If you pay with a $20 bill for a $2 cup of coffee, for example, the purchase would become $5 total since you'd get 3 dollar bills back in change. Ideally you wouldn't just spend more to prevent getting back as many singles.

[hermione]

I hardly ever use cash anymore, but I sort of do the same thing with coins. Whenever I pay for something with cash, I put all change I get in our coin jar which has over $20 now (from the last 4-5 years); only thing is I keep forgetting to take it to the bank so we're not earning interest on it.

[DistilledRose]

I do a similar thing with any change smaller than a quarter but it takes a long time. I think what I will be doing is soon is giving myself a weekly allowance in cash all coins including quarters. I think the $1 bill idea is great if you make sure you put it in the bank once a month to gain that interest.
A whole ski trip though! Wow!

[72Tiger]

I am using a cash envelope system, and put aside any dollar bills at the end of the month, but not every day, or every time I get them. In the last year, I accumulated $88 this way.

[SouthShoreGirl]

Whatever works to get you to save, I say go for it!

[Megan]

It's an interesting theory. I can't say I use enough cash to make it worth it, of course, but I agree with SouthShoreGirl - if it works, go for it!

I know a lot of people who do the rounding up thing when using their debit cards. A purchase of $18.46 would be rounded to $19. And then, every week or month, they figure out the difference between what they actually spent and what they rounded the amounts to, and then transfer that into a high-yield savings account. It's like Bank of America's Keep the Change program, only self-run, and with a high yield account.

[gt0163c]

Originally Posted by hermione

I hardly ever use cash anymore, but I sort of do the same thing with coins. Whenever I pay for something with cash, I put all change I get in our coin jar which has over $20 now (from the last 4-5 years); only thing is I keep forgetting to take it to the bank so we're not earning interest on it.

I do the same thing but I donate the change each year when my church does a couple of fundraisers. Once a year we do a "Baby Bottle fundraiser" where people are encouraged to put cash or checks in a baby bottle (which you pick up, fill and then return) for a crisis pregnancy center. Then, in the summer, at vacation Bible school, the kids do chores for extra money and bring it in for whatever group they're raising money for. Usually they have a competition to see whether the boys or girls can raise more money and I'm not above tossing some coins in the girls' side (to be fair, there are fewer girls, especially in the older grades, at my church).

[singleguymoney]

Originally Posted by hermione

I hardly ever use cash anymore, but I sort of do the same thing with coins. Whenever I pay for something with cash, I put all change I get in our coin jar which has over $20 now (from the last 4-5 years); only thing is I keep forgetting to take it to the bank so we're not earning interest on it.

I hardly ever use cash anymore either but when I do have it, any change goes into a large coffee can. I checked it a couple of weeks ago and I had about $40. That is just from earlier this year.

[fletcher88]

Pretty much anything that gets you to save is a good thing.

Fletcher

[AlmostFrugal]

There was a great article in the Boston Globe about a woman who did the same thing with five dollar bills. She saved $12,000 in just a few years.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/art...t_least_12000/