Money jar

[Obsessedwithavocado]

Does anyone else have a money jar?

How long have you had it and how much is in it do you reckon? How much do you generally put in it and do you hide it 😂
This is my plan. I’m hopeless at saving for Christmas, holidays etc and need a way to do it

Do you have an online banking account? Some accounts allow you to skim change, this is a good way to put away little bits.
There are also accounts like Chip that calculate how much to take from your account every few days.

@Dizzydeers I do have bank accounts, but I thought it might be easier and better to physically squirrel some away

I had one years ago. I saved just over £200. Bought a camera and put the rest in premium bonds.

@megletthesecond How long did that take to save? Were you just putting coins in? I’m happy to add small notes

I do! There is £65 in it because I sold my old exercise bike on Gumtree this week for £50! I can't tell you where it lives but it's not hidden away as such.
I don't add to it regularly. I started it so I always had £5 in change for "bring a £1 to school day". We tend to put Gumtree sales money in there and spend it when we know we need cash eg raffle at local fete etc.

My Natwest account allows me to round up transactions into a savings account. I've saved loads so far this year!

Do you ever use money to get change? We never use money so don't have a change pot as it would take a year to collect £5

If you're hopeless at saving, it's best to put as many obstacles as possible in the way of raiding it. So a building society account is better in that respect than a money jar.

Old fashioned piggy banks didn't have a lid. The only way you could get into them was to smash the pig.

@Downtherivers I use cash all week

Do you normally use a lot of cash?

I used to save up change, until I realised that I was just making a job for myself by needing to count and bank it, so now I don't bother, I use hardly any cash anyway and any I do have, I minimise change by throwing it in the self service till at the supermarket then paying the balance by card.

Honestly, I'd just set up standing orders into savings account the day after pay day, to save for the things you mention, for things you don't need until a year away (so good to start saving towards Christmas 2024) set up a regular saver as you can't really withdraw the money without closing the account, and losing all your interest.

Also review your spending to identify where your money is going and what can be cut back on if you're not saving as much money as you should be able to on paper.

Money Saving Expert is good, have a look at:

Do a money makeover and potentially save £1,000s - Money Saving Expert

obsess I think it took about 4 years to save that up.

Cross posted about the cash. Could you use cards instead? Problem with cash is that you break a note and then it all goes and you've no idea what on.

With a card, you can analyse the transactions in your bank account and it will tell you how much you're spending on different things, so if you see it's a lot on certain non essentials, you'll know that's where to cut down.

No, because you don't earn any interest on it and if someone breaks in they can make off with it.

I have a money dish where all the coins go - which mostly get transferred to the chip shop.

Quote: "Honestly, I'd just set up standing orders into savings account the day after pay day, to save for the things you mention"

This. Beehive have a monthly saver paying 6%. You can't access it for a year so as PP, start to save for Xmas 2024.