This is year number five for me, and it has become as much a part of my daily routine as tying my shoes in the morning or putting my hat on before I get out of my truck.
The first year can be a challenge but for me it has just become a part of my life.
I've been trying to share some tips this year with some of my Facebook friends to help them get started on this challenge. For those of you who don't know how it works let me review it real quick.
Starting the first day of the year or January 1st, you put one penny in a jar. The next day you add two pennies and the next day three pennies.
It starts off slow but that's not what's important. What is important at first is developing the habit of putting the money into the jar each day.
January can be kind of hard because you're just developing The Habit and it's kind of discouraging to see how slowly it accumulates. But they say if you do something repeatedly and consistently for 30 days it becomes a habit so I always encourage people to do it that way at first.
February and March are a breeze because by then you just do it automatically without thinking and it's still less than a dollar a day. The second quarter is a little more of a challenge, because you have to start consciously thinking about it. But it's still generally just pocket change.
Right around the end of June I usually convert everything in the jar into paper money because going into the third quarter, I actually find myself having to sacrifice a little some days, give up the donut with my morning coffee, or the cookies with my Subway meal in order to have an extra couple of dollars in my pocket each day, and it provides a really good incentive to see that hundred dollar bill in the jar each day when I add my money.
By the end of the third quarter we're actually talking real money; nothing that breaks the bank, but $20 out of my weekly budget is a noticeable amount and I start to feel it. But by then the jar has lots of paper bills in it, and the excitement of seeing it build up real fast justifies the financial inconvenience.
The first couple years it was real tempting for me to take what was in the jar and use it a couple days before Christmas but I convinced myself to wait, and so on New Year's Eve when Christmas is over and I'm starting to feel the impact of all of the Christmas expenses, I get to open up the jar and take out a big handful of money and I suddenly feel rich.
In 2019 it produced $667.95 in savings.
2020 being a leap year, it will end up $671.61.
Like I said it was becoming pretty much a routine at this point so I decided this year to kick it up a little bit and add a little bit more of a challenge for myself.
And so on January 1st instead of putting a penny in a jar I put one penny each into two jars.
I've kept that up everyday subsequently I have two separate jars going and I am doubling my savings.
If I can keep it up all year by the end of the year I will have just under $1,350.
For those of you who are doing it with me or considering doing it next year there are a couple of different tactics you can use.
The one that I actually recommend for those getting started is to put the exact amount in change into the jar everyday.
You will have a Jar full of change that builds up that is very inconvenient to spend. Do not be tempted to borrow quarters for laundry or a vending machine or anything else. By doing it this way there will not be any paper money in the jar until day 100, and by then, three months in, hopefully you will have developed the will power to put the money in and leave it alone.
Under this method you might add one penny on day one 2 pennies on day 2 and then on day 3 put in a nickel and take out two pennies, leaving a nickel and a penny. On day 4 you could put in a dime and take out the nickel and the penny.
To demonstrate the difference I have done one of my jars using each of the two methods this year.
Today is the 60th day of the year so today's contribution was $0.60.
If you have been doing this with me since January 1st, you have $18.30 in the jar, and you've probably developed The Habit yourself as part of your daily routine.
Up to this point it's been fairly easy; just a little bit of change here and there.
The next sixty days are going to be a little more of a challenge. Every day is going to require at least two quarters and in just over a month from now will be up to a dollar a day.
It's a little more challenging now but it's also a little more rewarding.
We're really going to watch those jars start to fill up fast now.
Keep an eye on them.
It's finally starting to get exciting.
