Sign Up for the 2016 Piggy Bank Challenge

It's that time again:  time to sign up for Val's 3rd Annual Piggy Bank Savings Challenge over at  her blog, Val's Quilting Studio.

 

You may know Val from her weekly hosting of the Tuesday Archive link-ups (more on that at the bottom of this post).   Val started this savings challenge to put aside money for quilting purchases.  Now she and her DH compete to see who can save the most!  When the savings for this year were revealed, Val won!  I participated for the first time last year and managed to save almost $40 and it's going to fund the first  few months of a BOM.  I'm hoping to do even better this coming year but the challenge will be to figure out how!   I know, I know, just put in more money -- but it's not that simple since most of the change before now came from tips in change that my DH received as a UPS driver and from bottle returns.  My DH is starting training tomorrow to move into the tractor trailer division so (fingers crossed) won't be delivering packages any more which leaves just the bottle deposits.  Actually, if I can keep my oldest son who is a commuting college student from raiding it for carfare, maybe I'll have more to show at next year's reveal!

 

As before, whatever is collected will be saved in here: 

 

This is the jar my DH pressed into service many years ago with a plan to put the accumulated cash toward vacations.  When I started adding the bottle return money and found that I often received bills in addition to change, I needed a way to store them outside of the jar.  I decided to use the little jewelry pouch for that purpose.  It works and can be stored right on the jar for convenience and easy access!

Maybe you have a lot of loose change hanging around?  Then why not start your own jar and link up with Val and the rest of us and start saving for some special quilty purchase for next year!!!


Re:  Tuesday Archive Link-Ups

Now there's even more incentive to participate in Val's Archive link ups.  Val's hosting has gotten so popular  that she now has a sponsor!  That's right, not only do you get a chance to reviatlize some of your older blog posts but you might win something for doing it!  Everyone that links up a post on her blog on Tuesdays will be eligible to be added to a drawing at the end of the month for a $15 gift certificate to the online store Fabrics N Quilts!  Each Tuesday, Val posts what the topic for that week is and if you have a post (an old one or a new one) about a project that fits the theme, just link it up and give everyone a chance to read about something they may have missed.  I follow so many blogs at this point, I welcome the chance to catch up on some posts that I haven't seen or find new bloggers to follow.  So head on over there on Tuesday and join the fun!

Piggy Bank Challenge Reveal!

Today's the day we get to empty our Piggy Banks (or jar in my case) and participate in Val's 2nd Annual Piggy Bank Challenge Reveal!

This started when Val and her husband both began saving their change and then challenged themselves to see who could save the most.  Val blogged about their competition and encouraged by the response from her readers, opened it up for everyone to join the challenge too.  For quilters, the idea is to use the money saved to buy quilty wish list items although you are not limited to that. 

I was intrigued because my DH and I have kept a jar for years with the idea of saving up our change to put toward vacations: 

As I reported last year, we've never filled the jar since we have often raided it for change for school lunch money, train or bus fare or parking meters.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when the emptied jar yielded a little more than $37 dollars mostly in dimes, nickels and pennies!  So I decided to try again and see how much could be saved this year.

My husband was usually was the one bringing in all the change.  He's a UPS driver and his elderly customers often gave their tips in change.  I mostly shop by debit card and when I do spend cash, I am usually that lady digging in her wallet for exact change to pay the cashier.  So for me, saving change has been about putting the proceeds from our recycling bottle returns into the jar. 

When I went to empty the jar today, I must admit there wasn't much in it!  It was mostly pennies and not so many that I couldn't just count them myself rather than taking them to the Coinstar machine like I did last year. 

Total yield $3.60

I'm not surprised because I haven't noticed DH leaving change on his night stand as much this year and with our oldest son in college and commuting, we'd often hear him raiding the jar in the morning for change because he forgot to fill his Metrocard (electronic fare card) the night before.  However, not to fear because unlike last year we have a backup source:

When I started saving the bottle return money, I found that I often received bills in addition to change.  I didn't want to put them in the jar since it would mean breaking it to get them back out so I put this little jewelry pouch into service for them.  Empting that today:

Total Yield:  $36!!

 

So our total piggy bank savings for this year:  $39.60!  For having actually having paid attention to trying to save, we only beat last year's take by $2.44 but it's still money we wouldn't have had if we hadn't set it aside.  So what's my wish list item?  Today I received instructions for the first block of Turning Twenty's new free mystery BOM.  As part of it they are also selling block kits in Kaffe Fassette fabrics (cut your own or precut)  so this will pay for the first two months kits (for four blocks total).  I'm not sure if I will use the kits to make the BOM or just add the fabric to my Kaffe stash but either way I welcome the additions to the stash I've been collecting for a series of  KF quilts I want to make.  

 

For the next year, I'll still keep the jar although it will be limited to being funded by the bottle returns.  DH is starting training next week to drive tractor trailers.  Hopefully, in the coming months he will be transferred to that division which means he will no longer deliver packages.  If so, it's good-bye to tips but a much less physically strenuous holiday season!

 

So thanks Val for another year of encouraging saving!  Link back at Val's to report your savings container contents or be encouraged by everyone else's savings stories to start your own Piggy Bank!

Challenge Accepted!

Guess what?  Val (she of the famous Tuesday Archive link-ups) over at  the Val's Quilting Studio blog is hosting her 2nd Annual Piggy Bank Savings Challenge!

 

Val started doing this to put aside money for quilting purchases.  When her DH found out how much she managed to save, he started his own jar and they have been competing ever since to see who can save the most!  

 

At first I thought I might not participate but not because I can't use the extra cash or don't have a jar.  In fact, we (my DH and I) do:

 

It was my DH's idea to start this one years ago when our kids were younger.  The original plan was to use the accumulated cash to put toward vacations.  But we've never filled the jar up!  Now that's partly because I rarely have change -- I do most of my shopping with a debit card and those few times I do use cash, I'm the one on line digging in her purse to give the cashier exact change for the purchase!  Too often DH forgets to empty his pockets at the end of the day, so what's in there is what I dump in from his pockets before his pants go in the laundry or from his nightstand (or the floor in front of his nightstand).  When the kids were younger, we routinely raided the jar for change for school lunches.  Now that the kids are older we often dip in it for carfare when we forget to refill our Metrocards or to keep change in the car for parking meters.

But I spoke to DH and he's willing to take up the challenge with me.  So to start us off, I decided to empty the jar to see just how much we had in there.  I figured it would be less than $20 since I assumed it was mostly Pennies, Nickels and Dimes because most of the raiding we've done over the years has been for the Quarters.  So imagine my surprise when I took the contents to the Coinstar machine and it said this:

Wow and the jar wasn't even a quarter full!  Imagine what we'd have in there if we fill it (and keep the quarters this time)!  So Val, your challenge is accepted!!  I realize that given the narrow neck of our jar, we can't put dollar bills in it (without having to break the jar to get them back out) so we're going to think of someplace else to try to save those. 

Since this will be a shared jar, I don't know right now if all the proceeds will go towards a quilting purchase.  However DH always jokes about wanting to go to Alaska and I've said the only way I'd go is on a quilt cruise.  Hmmm, this could be a way to come up with the deposit and make that happen for both of us!  For now, I'm going to round down what we got and put the $2.16 back in the jar to start us off.  Can't wait to see what we'll have by next year!

Got a lot of loose change hanging around?  Then why not start your own jar and link up with Val and the gang and start saving to make a special quilt dream come true!