The 52 Week Savings Challenge!

So, it’s the time of year where we are all about spending money, whether it’s for gifts, visits to family, donations to charity, or for the fantastic meals that you’ve been dreaming about all year. It seems that everything around you is telling you to buy, buy, buy, so it may seem like a weird time to talk about saving your money, but we all have to start somewhere!

About a year ago, I found a cool savings challenge that I wanted to try. I’ve struggled for years to save enough money so that I would have a comfortable margin for error- if my car broke down, if an unexpected bill hit, etc- but nothing seemed to motivate me enough to actually start saving. Sure, when the problem was right in front of me, I would say that tomorrow I would start, but tomorrow is always just a little too late to help. The challenge I found seemed relatively easy, and since it was basically a competition, I was going to WIN.

For each week of the year, you put aside another dollar. So, the first week is one dollar, the second is two dollars, the third is three, etc. The most you ever have to do is $52, and that’s at the end of the challenge. By then, you’ve seen your money growing, and feel a sense of real pride. At the end of the year, you have an additional $1378!

If you started the challenge right now, this week, you would have enough saved next year to have a spectacular Christmas season, or perhaps something put aside to start paying for that new car, because the old one just keeps breaking. It’s also rather convenient to have a small fund to “borrow” from, something I’ve done at least three times this year. If I hadn’t been challenging myself, I wouldn’t have had enough to get my car repaired when the brakes went out, I wouldn’t have been able to purchase a new laptop when the old one refused to turn back on, and I wouldn’t have been able to pay my rent one month when the money from a paycheck was going to be a week later than I had anticipated.

And because I’m addicted to a challenge, I have two going on at the same time, about two months apart. When this is all done, I’ll have almost $3000 saved in just over a year, and that’s something I haven’t ever done before. It’s enough to replace the car that keeps breaking, or take a little vacation, or perhaps to save for another rainy day. I do know that I’ll be doing this again next year, and maybe this time I’ll put it in an Add-On CD, so that I won’t be able to touch it unless there’s an emergency. Maybe that will encourage some better fiscal planning on my part. This challenge certainly has. 

Post by: Liz R

Coupon Craze

Need a new hobby that will save you money? Start couponing! It will be worth your time and effort! “I don’t have time for it” is probably what you’re thinking. I said the exact same thing. We’ve all seen, or at least heard, the show “Extreme Couponers” where people fill up their store carts and pay little to nothing for the entire transaction. How can you do that too? Read the tips below to start saving!

Tips for couponing:

· Purchase newspapers. Make sure to purchase 4 Sunday newspapers, this is where you are able to find most coupons. Since most coupons state “limit 4 like coupons per household per day”, a good rule is to purchase 4 newspapers, therefore, allowing you to buy maximum amount of products.

· Per Purchase vs. Per Transaction. When a coupon says “Limit 1 coupon per purchase”, per purchase means per item, NOT a transaction.
          Ex. If I buy 4 toothbrushes, I can use 4 coupons; one coupon per item.

· Stack/combine your coupons. Make sure to use manufacturer coupons and store coupons together. You are allowed to do this unless stated otherwise in the stores coupon policy. You cannot stack a manufacturer coupon with another manufacturer coupon, the same with store coupons.
          Ex. If I buy 4 toothbrushes, I can use 4 manufacturer coupons and 4 store coupons.

· Know the stores coupon policy. You always want to make sure you are up-to-date with updates done by the company.

· Don’t buy everything. Once you get a good deal, you don’t want to stop. However, a good rule is to buy only what you need. Otherwise, you will be spending more money than you need to.

Still don’t see where you can save? Read my shopping trip below for a better idea.

I went to a local store in town which had a sale: buy three (3) oral care products and receive a $5 gift card. I bought three (3) tubes of toothpaste, each for $3.99 bringing me to a total of $11.97 before taxes. I had three (3) manufacturer coupons for the toothpaste each for $2 and three (3) $1 store coupons that I also used for the products, bringing me down to a grand total of $2.97 before taxes. But remember, since I bought three oral care products, I also received a $5 gift card back. So really, I got three tubes of toothpaste for FREE and got back $2.03 as a credit. How awesome is that!

The math:
3 toothpastes @ $3.99 each = 3 x $3.99 = $11.97 (subtotal before coupons & taxes)
3 toothpaste manufacturer coupons @ $2 each = 3 x $2 = -$6.00
3 toothpaste store coupons @ $1 each = 3 x $1 = -$3.00
Total after coupons: $2.97 (subtotal before taxes)
Receive $5 gift card for purchase of 3 oral care products -$5.00
Final Price for 3 tubes of toothpaste: FREE with $2.03 credit

Couponing has now become an exciting hobby for me! Although it does take time to sort through coupons and deals, it will definitely be worth your time! Saving has never been so much fun!

Post by: Kelly V.

All about MONEY!

· On February 3, 1690, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the Thirteen Original Colonies, issued the first paper money to cover military costs.

· In 1785, Congress adopted the dollar as the money unit of the United States.

· On January 23, 1901, the first credit union in North America, the Caisse Populaire de Lévis in Quebec, Canada, began operations with a 10-cent deposit.

· In 1909, Abraham Lincoln was the first American to be pictured on an American coin.

· In 1963, the motto “In God We Trust” first began to appear on U.S. paper currency.

· On September 2, 1969 Chemical Bank installed the first ATM in the U.S in Rockville Centre, New York.

· It costs more than a penny to make a penny. It costs roughly 2.5 cents.

· A quarter has 119 grooves on its circumference and a dime has one less.

· In Old English, the word “pygg” referred to a type of clay that people would use to make containers that held money. As language changed, “pygg” and “pig” started to sound similar, which is why we have banks that look like pigs.