A Penny Saved

For a couple a years now Trey and I have wanted to do a "savings plan" that go around every year. Where you increase the amount you saved every, week, month or whatever. But each year we look at them and they just don't fit our budget. By the middle of the year at the latest we are cutting directly into gas and food money, having already lost our limited fun budget to the savings plan. This year we found one that will still require self control but we can do on our budget. It's the "Penny Saver Challenge"

You've probably seen it. For the day of the year, based on the Julian Calendar, you put in that many pennies. The logic is as follows; January 1st = 1 Penny, January 14th = 14 Pennies, May 7th= 128 Pennies, October 14= 248 Pennies. By the end of a leap year you have $671.19. For a non leap year it's $667.95. Now this idea sounds all well and good until you think about keeping that many pennies around. Not to mention remembering to count out that many pennies each day, ugh. For me I knew that was just setting myself up for failure. I really want to save up some money so I needed a new plan.

I made myself a chart. A chart that said each week what I needed to put in the jar with a little box for a check mark to track my progress. I found a large jar at Dollar Tree and taped my chart to it. I now have a savings jar. I'm thinking of doing it backwards so my highest amounts go in first. Don't we all seem to have more money at the beginning of the year? Or if I get a bonus pay a larger amount. Leaving the smaller ones for weeks with less money. I'm being pretty fluid now that I know what needs to be paid. I figure as long as I have a check mark for each week by the end of the year then I'm good.

You may wonder what am I using this money for? We are being practical. It's going to be our cash reserve fund. It won't go in the bank it will be cash we keep for emergency needs or emergent times. For instance when the power is out in most of the city and stores only accept cash. Or you are going to the fair and you don't have time to go to the bank and don't want to pay the ATM fee. We've never really had a cash reserve and it's time we got our act together. You can use it for whatever you want but that's our plan.

Here are the two charts I made.
Option 1- Download JPEG or PDF

Option 2- Download JPEG or PDF

They are pretty big they are 6.5in by 7.5in. You can try to shrink it but it gets harder to read. I like the larger size. If you are putting in on a bottle just make sure you get a bigger one.

If you are just moving the money from checking to savings in a bank account you may want to print the chart put it on the wall and mark it as you go.