May 23, 2011 Results

Yesterday I began the saving my savings project. I started it off by heading to the bank and opening up a second savings account linked to my regular accounts. Each day I will transfer money over that we have effectively saved.

One of the areas that we haven't done well lately is in eating out over lunches. So both of us packed our own lunches and for that I credited $12. In addition, I got my newspaper bill for the next six months. We had been getting both Saturday and Sunday but never seemed to look at the Saturday paper. I wanted to keep my Sunday subscription for the coupons. I called and asked them if we could opt out of Saturday. Doing that saved $13.78.

Finally, I closed out the day selling one of my kid's old fall coats on Craigslist for $5.

Total transferred over to savings: $30.78

Getting Started

It all started when I found our dream house. You know the one. It had everything we wanted. The neighborhood. The size. The bedrooms. The layout. The lot. Everything.

And it also had a price tag that was easily $100,000 more than we could afford.

But it got me thinking about an idea.

I am pretty good about saving money. I clip coupons, nothing extreme, but I clip them. I send in money for refunds. I use cash back shopping sites.

So I am already saving money. But what if instead of saving money we actually saved money?

What if every time I went to the store and the receipt showed how much I had saved...what if I then put the amount into savings?

What if every time I brought a lunch to work I paid myself back what I would have spent?

What if I didn't just "save" money, but what if I actually saved it?

I'm not kidding myself. I won't magically find $100,000. This dream house will have to pass.

But I am going to try this little financial experiment all the same.

I will kick it off by opening a savings account today just for this purpose. Then I will document the journey, strategies, and things I learn on this blog.

Let's see where it goes...