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Saving Your Spare Change

Is there a vacation spot that you�ve been just dying to see, or maybe you have been yearning for some very luxurious and you just haven�t got the money to lay out to buy these items. Going on a vacation just seems like something that you do in your dreams!! It doesn�t have to be that way, not at all. A few years ago I was the same way, we would take a one-day vacation with our children, it seemed like we would never get that week long vacation that we all longed for. Then I came up with this idea; maybe it�ll work for you.

Make it a family effort. We sat down with are children and decided as a family upon where we wanted to go on a week long vacation (we all agreed on the beach). Then we agreed as a family to save the money as a group.

We first took a 3 lb coffee can and only cut it opened a slight amount, we took the coffee and poured it in a coffee container. We welded the lid shut again and placed a change slot in the top of the lid. We were able to place money in the can but unable to remove it. The small children decorated the can up with seashells and sand buckets, and placed the words �Beach Fund� on the can. We all agreed to place the change out of our pockets at the end of the day in this can.

To build up this kitty we all took several different steps to save money in our everyday lives and in turn place the saved money in the kitty. Here are several steps we took to save the money we needed.

I started to use coupons, if the face value of the coupon were 75 cents then I would take that 75 cents and place it in the beach fund. This really added up, at times I would be saving up to $10.00 in coupons. Don�t forget about mail-in rebates, they count also.

Instead of purchasing coffee and sodas through out the day my husband would take coffee in a thermos and ice water in a water cooler. He saved at least $6.00 a day in just drinks. I started to make him lunches rather than have him stop and eat at a fast food restaurant this saved us $4.00 a day. We were saving at least $10.00 a day just in the adjustments my husband had made.

The kids would decide to rent one movie between themselves instead of three individual ones and they would place the money not spent in the Beach Fund. They also decided to wave their allowances and have them placed in the Beach Fund.

I always bought brand name items and decided to save the difference between the store brand and the brand name. The savings is phenomenal!! Every once in a while I will find something that will not hold up like the brand name item and I�ll go back go back to the brand name but most of the time it�s hard to find a difference, so why not save that money?

Saving on house expenses is another way we cut back and saved money. We turned the thermostat back just a degree or two, which did not make a big difference in our house temperature, but it did make a big difference in the heating bill. We also started saving money by taking shorter showers, which saved on the water and the electric. We cut back on our talking time when it came to long distance phone calls, which was a savings when we go the phone bill.

Normal pocket change adds up fast, you may not even realize it until you�ve saved it all at once. Before we knew it we had enough money for our trip and plenty of spending money. We now have a continuous Fund that we have for our yearly vacation. We are still practicing many of the money saving ideas, which have proven to be very economical choices.