Wednesday 8 May 2013

Money Saving Tip - Put It Back Where It Came From!

Having started a 60 day spending ban in the past few days, I figured now was a great time to start posting some of my favourite money saving tips! First up is a little secret I've only let my family in on before, so if you've not heard of this trick already, I hope it helps!

No matter what happens, I always seem to have some money stashed away somewhere. If my bank balance is running low, I just have to saunter over to my money bank in my room and I'll soon find enough money for the bus fare or that issue of Kerrang! I just can't live without. 

My secret?

I'm very anxious when it comes to the tills in shops - even if I have the exact change to pay for the item, I'll use a note or my debit card. I can't bear the stress of handing over change and waiting for the person at the till to count it out. I guess it's a two way street really, because I'm saving them from the one thing I couldn't stand when I worked on tills myself once upon a time. I feel the pressure when someone's standing over me, waiting for me to count their change out, and in that situation, my counting skills crumble, so I ironically spend more time counting the change!

So using this method, I inevitably collect an awful lot of change, often the most inconvenient 1p coins that nobody really wants.
When I come home from town, I will sift through my purse and take out all the following - 1ps, 2ps, 5ps, 10ps and 20ps, unless 20p is the largest coin I have in there. I'll ensure I leave myself with £2.50 in my purse - 50p for the awkward bus drivers that never have change on them, and £2 for life's nuisances such as the one thing you need in Poundland when they don't take cards.
I'll take all the unwanted change and throw it straight into my money bank - mine's a TARDIS of course (not-so-secret Doctor Who maniac here).
The damn thing makes a noise like a possessed cash register when I pick it up, but that sound of change rattling around is a sound of promise, my friends, promise that one day, that change will amount to more than £2.
One day.

Every month or so, I go back to said possessed box and empty it all out, count up how much I have, and if I have enough to exchange at the post office for smaller, more convenient coinage, then I'll question myself - do I really desperately need that £1? Or can I keep these 1ps stored here for another century?
More often than not, the answer is no, I don't need it. So I just keep them there in all their noise-polluting glory. It's doing me no harm not having the smaller change, and it's also doing me no harm keeping the coins there.
Of course, there's an element of willpower involved, but any kind of money saving advice depends on your ability to control your inner feral shopaholic!

I hope this has been a helpful tip, it's just a habit I've developed over the years and if it helps one of you, then my purpose will have been fulfilled!

Join this zombie in another realm: Zombies Wear Band ShirtsFacebookTwitterInstagramTumblrPinterestBloglovinHellocottonShe Said Beauty

11 comments:

  1. I've been saving my coins in a big money box for a couple of years and I use it to buy either food or presents for Christmas. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh good idea! Christmas is always tough on purse strings, I like the thought of saving up all year round for it! x

      Delete
  2. My change is in my phone. (It's a 1950s pay phone replica). Sadly I empty it ALL the time. Buses here only take exact change and you put it in a machine. Will definitely try harder

    ReplyDelete
  3. Comment page just stopped working so that's why that is half a sentence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No worries lovely, Blogger hates comments half the time! Ah that's awful, having to give exact change would give me the worst panic attacks known to man! x

      Delete
  4. I put all my 1, 2 and 5 pence pieces into my piggy bank and divvy them up into coin bags. They go straight to the bank when I have enough, out of my reach whilst slowly mounting up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only I had your self restraint! When the number appears on my bank account, my brain goes 'yep, spendable'! x

      Delete
  5. I seem to have collected so many money boxes over the last few years that I have one for each type of coin. The coppers tin is getting pretty full and when it's full I'm planning to bag it up and take it to the bank and pay it straight into my savings account as I'm not going to miss it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow nice one, that must be hell on moving day though! I wish I had the self restraint to leave things in a savings account, it's just too tempting seeing the digits, they're there to be spent, at least in coin form I can't be dealing with the anxiety of spending them! x

      Delete
  6. I do this too :D I have a tartan piggy bank and also usually about 3 bank money bags going at any one time lol xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tartan pig? Okay that's awesome, novelty money banks are my weakness, which is ironic as they usually cost a ridiculous amount themselves... x

      Delete

Thanks for reading my post, I hope you liked it! I read every comment and aim to reply as soon as possible.