There was talk of me not going back to work. Maybe finding something part time or watching kids or something. No matter what though, we were going to struggle.
It's one reason I kept all three kids home with me last summer, that and I wanted to experience full on what it was like to be a stay at home mom. But the money thing was definitely the reason we didn't do camps or send Freddie once a week. I figured if I could save all that money, at least that would give us a cushion to pay daycare with or live on if I quit my job.
Luckily, the universe was watching out for us. I was offered a promotion while on maternity leave and it came with a nice raise...exactly enough to cover Cohen's daycare.
But, last year on June 3rd, I was starting my last week of work and I came across something on the Internet about a 52 week challenge. A painless way to save a little money. Not a ton of money, but at the end of it, you'd have over $1300 to deposit into your savings account. So I figured I'd try it.
Basically it works like this, on week 1, you save $1 in a jar. Week 2, it's $2. Week 30, $30. Anyway, you get the picture. Every week, you set aside money.
Well, last week was week 52...
BOOM! I now have $1378 to deposit into our savings account. And believe me, my savings account needs it. It's been on a diet lately.
However, this money is earmarked for our Disney trip that we are hoping to take in November. So today, I start again, with $1 in a jar. I was going to do 2, but think maybe I'll start one at Christmas time as well, and next year...we'll have our Santa money.
Saving money is hard. I'm not going to lie...I definitely borrowed from the jar on occasion. But I ALWAYS paid it back. And there were weeks that I didn't have an extra $30 or $40 in the budget. So sometimes I was playing catch up...but it all worked out in the end and now we have half the money we need for Disney.
So go, find your jar and grab you dollar and start. You will feel so awesome on June 1, 2015!
