I think I've mentioned before that I read a book, "The Christmas Jars" by Jason Wright a few years ago. It is a great story and very inspirational. After reading it, I wanted to start a Christmas Jar of my own, but circumstances interfered and I've been unable to. Until now. I started my Christmas Jar for 2010 on 12/31/09. I'm using a wide mouth quart canning jar, and it is already about 1/5 full. I'm so excited. I'm praying every day that God will lead me to the right person to donate the jar to. I'll keep you posted.
Last week on the news one night, they did a story about people saving $5 bills for a year. I guess this is a well-known savings gimmick, but I'd never heard of it. Whenever you spend cash, and get change, you immediately remove the $5 bills and save them. The reporter tried it and saved $940 in one year. Now, I don't know about you, but to me, that's a LOT of money! So, we decided to try it this year. I'm happy to report that I've saved $10 so far.
The secret to making both of these experiences work is cash. We used to only use cash for our groceries, but then, somehow we got in the habit of using the debit card. This year we're back to cash. Not only does that give me the chance to collect $5 bills and change for the Christmas Jar, it also makes us spend less.
I've placed a link to the Christmas Jar website and to the author's blog on my blog. Check it out. If you can, find the book and read it. Even if you don't do a Christmas Jar, it's a great story.
I am going to check out the christmas jar story, I don't remember you talking about it...only b/c I have "mommy brain". Saving $5 bills will be hard. I seldom have bills larger than that. ha I'll do it with ones until I can build up to fives.
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Was out to dinner w/friends and they too were talking abuot saving $5's. I agreed to try, not sure how faithful I'll be... :)
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