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- Money Types: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte?
- Salary Negotiation Post - Retraction
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- Personal Account: Danielli, Part I
- The Fashionomics of Retail Begging
- 6 Steps to Better Pay
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- End the Superwoman Syndrome
- Rx for a Bloated Budget
- Create Other Income Streams
- Stop Wasting Time on Things That Will Never Make You Money
- The High Cost of Part-Time Work (+ working mom poll)
- Your (New & Improved?) Credit Card
- Prep for More Pay
- On Becoming a Financial Grown-up
- Challenge: Wear Just Six Things
- Personal Account: Gabrielle's Reflection on Worth
- Smash Student Loan Debt
Do the Saving Sweep
By MP Dunleavey Thursday February 25, 2010
Here it is, that sweet spot before one month ends and the new bills begin. It's time to breathe a quick sigh of relief... and do the saving sweep!
Check your accounts...
Peer into your purse or wallet...
Jog over to an ATM machine...
Empty your pockets...
And whatever cash is lying around, whatever you don't absolutely need, sweep that bit of money (even a leetle bit) into your:
- Emergency fund
- Curveball account
- Down payment stash
- Private coffee can of bucks
- "This summer it's France or nothing" fund
MP just swept up an extra $200 into her emergency fund, another $200 into her curveball fund and $250 toward her business Visa.
Amanda did the sweep this morning and added $300 to her curveball account, $100 to retirement, and organized $2.54 of loose change in her kitchen into a new cup.
Ready, set—SWEEEEEP! And then tell us about it.
Comments
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Written by kyra, February 25, 2010
our daughter (7 years old) recently saw a buddha statue at a local store that she fell in love with...to the tune of $420 (plus tax)...so, we told her we'd contribute towards her saving for it by 'sweep'ing our change at the end of each day. we're putting it in a 5-gallon water bottle, and she started off with a bang, setting up a hot tea stand at the end of our driveway and raking in about $16 on day one...we're at about $60 so far. amazing how that change adds up! we call it "change for buddha - buddha for change"
Written by Petunia, February 25, 2010
I like this idea. A lot. I am going to implement it, but with a modification. My income vs. outgo is "lopsided", I have more going out in the first week of the month than coming in, later in the month I have more coming in than going out. As a result, I have to hang on to a good chunk of late month income to cover the first week of the next month. However, I am going to pick a nice round number as my minimum, and transfer any excess to savings.
Kyra - I love your daughter's hot tea stand. If I saw a 7 year old selling hot tea at the end of her driveway, I would definately stop and buy a cup.
Kyra - I love your daughter's hot tea stand. If I saw a 7 year old selling hot tea at the end of her driveway, I would definately stop and buy a cup.
Written by amy, February 25, 2010
i just put $50 in "short-term" savings and $100 in the emergency fund. woo! thanks for the reminder.
Written by Kenia, February 25, 2010
This is a really great idea! I don't have a specific time-frame, but every few days I'll take extra quarters and make sure I have a stash in my truck (no it's not saving, but out here in CA I never know when I'm parking at a meter. The worst is not having any change in your car!). Any other loose change goes into a wooden savings Monkey that I got on vacation in HI a couple years ago. He's getting heavy... but I never look inside him I just let him get fatter. :) Then I do a virtual sweep. I get a cash-back reward on my credit card every month thats credited on my statement. Since it was money spent out of my budget that was going to be paid off ANYWAY (I pay off my cards in full every month), I pay what's owed for the statement, and then manually transfer the cash reward amount from my checking into my savings. The money would have come out of my checking anyway if I hadn't had cash-back rewards, so this is a great way to save a little here and there without my noticing!
Written by Victoria Drake, February 25, 2010
I love the "This summer it's France or nothing" fund. That was good for a chuckle and a reminder that this sort of thing is important. I save $500 every month. First for a car, then later for a condo for retirement. Thanks for your posts. I enjoy them. Is there a place on here to Facebook your articles?
Written by Krislyn, February 25, 2010
I just swept:
$25 into an EE bond I bought at my local credit union
$35 into our expense account (ie. I need a new tire for my bike, hubby wants to see Pink Floyd the Experience..etc.)
$100 into my long term savings/emergency fund.
$25 into an EE bond I bought at my local credit union
$35 into our expense account (ie. I need a new tire for my bike, hubby wants to see Pink Floyd the Experience..etc.)
$100 into my long term savings/emergency fund.
Written by LT, February 25, 2010
I filed our taxes EARLY and already received my refund. It wasn't as big as last year (we had our daughter last year) but it did allow me to pay our credit card OFF, invest a little in our Roth IRAs, start our children's savings account AND still go on a date. That's a lot of sweeping.
Written by Kate, February 25, 2010
I swept $250 of excess money in my checking account into savings, and set up my FSA daycare refunds to deposit directly into our long-term savings account. Yeah! All the extra change in our house goes into our son's piggy bank. He's only 2, but gets very excited about putting pennies and nickles into the slot!
Written by Amanda Steinberg (DailyWorth founder), February 25, 2010
Kate -- you just INSPIRED me. I'm going to teach my 3yo son to find the coins in our house and then save for his toys (outside of birthdays of course). You'll see in tomorrow's DailyWorth (I'll be publishing a personal confession) that I'm having a lot of trouble saying no to my 3 year old's demands. I love your idea -- I can't wait to teach him how to use the piggy bank he just got 2 weeks ago. Go savers go.
Written by Amanda Steinberg (DailyWorth founder), February 25, 2010
Oh, and Victoria, by all means you can just copy and paste the URL above into Facebook new message window. We will make it easier by adding a share button. Let me get on that ... it's been on my todo list for months.
Written by Kate, February 25, 2010
@ Amanda - Boy, can I understand that! Can't wait to read all about it!
Written by dreamcatcher, February 25, 2010
Well I will see where i can sweep some money, I having a hard time getting a savings account because of being in the Chexsystem. I am still trying though. So I still have been using my sons account. I drained that account a few months ago. I can't seem to save. I just have to start with one penny though right? Ok I am gonna go around the house and see where I can start a savings account again. HM?!
OH! I just got a .50 cent raise. I will take that extra and put it into savings. I won't use that amount for anything else. Question do I count before taxes, or after? And How do I calculate the taxes in or out? I am not very good at that kind of stuff. I guess I could just multiply .50 by 31 and go by that. Ok I figured it out. Just had to use my brain. Thank You Daily worth for being my sound board. And I am about 2 months from paying off one of my cc bills. i am so excited.
I still need an emergancy fund. I want to try to look at second chance accounts. How do I know if they are legitimate or not. I don't want to send my money to somewhere and have it be a scam. I am very scared of that. Any one help me? I tried looking around here and ther is nothing.
OH! I just got a .50 cent raise. I will take that extra and put it into savings. I won't use that amount for anything else. Question do I count before taxes, or after? And How do I calculate the taxes in or out? I am not very good at that kind of stuff. I guess I could just multiply .50 by 31 and go by that. Ok I figured it out. Just had to use my brain. Thank You Daily worth for being my sound board. And I am about 2 months from paying off one of my cc bills. i am so excited.
I still need an emergancy fund. I want to try to look at second chance accounts. How do I know if they are legitimate or not. I don't want to send my money to somewhere and have it be a scam. I am very scared of that. Any one help me? I tried looking around here and ther is nothing.
Written by Petunia, February 25, 2010
What are "second chance" accounts? That is a new term for me.
Congrats on being close to paying off a CC.
What will it take to get a green light from Chexsystem?
Congrats on being close to paying off a CC.
What will it take to get a green light from Chexsystem?
Written by Marie, February 25, 2010
I think this is a great idea! I only get paid once a month & it is always on the 15th, so I think I will start doing this on or around the 14th of each month. Thanks for all the great posts, I look forward to them everyday!
Written by Amy, February 25, 2010
10 dollars in spare change. Now in savings. Tiny, but better than buying junk food.
Written by kirsty, February 26, 2010
Thank you! I'm in the UK and woke up to this email, and it has inspired me to have a money blitz day. I've emailed various people to remind them about uncollected orders, paid some debt and put £100 into savings.
Now I'm going to tackle the little orders I've been putting off as they that don't bring in much money, but when you have 10 little jobs, it all adds up!
Thank you for keeping me motivated with all your posts.
Now I'm going to tackle the little orders I've been putting off as they that don't bring in much money, but when you have 10 little jobs, it all adds up!
Thank you for keeping me motivated with all your posts.
Written by Amber, February 26, 2010
My anniversary is in November, which is a time that is already hectic and expensive due to the holidays. So I save my change all year and whatever we have by then is what we use to celebrate with. It's fun to turn the change in and see what we've managed to save and pick out what we want to do for our anniversary evening.
Written by MP Dunleavey, February 26, 2010
you guys are SO AWESOME. we should do a savings sweep every week (or at least every month!)
Written by dreamcatcher, February 26, 2010
Petunia, I will have to show that I paid off my overdrafts in the bank, and when I called the last time It was told to me that, I would possibly have to wait up to 5 years? I think that was how many years it was. But I am glad I had my childrens accounts to work off of. I am using my sons account until I can achieve financial freedom. I had 2 overdrafts and I wish I would have known more about saving and debt repayment back then. Cuase I was more or less robbing peter to pay paul. And also, I tried living beyond my means. When I was married to my ex husband, He lived like we was millionaires. And I thought he as just trying to provide well for us, and was happy. When he went to prison, and I was left with all the bills, I was in for a big surprise, cause he left me with 2 huge auto payments,with insurance would be well over one thousand dollars a month. At that time I was only working at ajob that paid 7.00 and hour. ugh! so I happily did a volunteer repossession thinking my money troubles were over. ugh! I end up with a bill of 9000. on one, and 2000. on the other. So I did what any normal person would do, I went into my cave and hid. Thinking that was gonna make it all go away. Ahem. I quit answereing the phone, I checked my mail and didn't open the ones I thought were Collection letters. And I lived happily ever after........for awhile............That was 5 years ago. I am still yet in debt with a lot of people, I finally came out from my cave, and when I did, I started looking for ways to learn about bringing my debt down, and saving money. Well low and behold I came upon WWIR, and Dailyworth. They have been a life saver and a big help too. I finally after 5 years am starting to come up for air, and am able to breath. And I am not looking over my shoulder to see if there is any one after me. I no longer cringe when the phone rings, or get scared to open any mail. I still have a lot of bills on my plate. But I am attacking my past due bills one by one. On 9.00 dollars an hour i am making it happen. So yeah, I am happy to see one of my CC's reaching a real low. I can't wait to be debt free.
ok. Thank you for your time. and again thank you WWIR and Dailyworth. You people are great!
ok. Thank you for your time. and again thank you WWIR and Dailyworth. You people are great!
Written by dreamcatcher, February 26, 2010
oh sorry, Second chance accounts are for people like me who's name is in Chexsystems. Cause when your name is in that system, banks see you as high risk. And won't allow you to open accounts. savings, checkings, and credit cards all have second chance accounts available to them, from certain banks. I just don't know if it is a valid option, or if I need to ask more questions. Or what one to trust. Its all new to me.
Written by Petunia, February 26, 2010
DreamCatcher - I think I see, the accounts are "predatory", charging high fees, is that right? I think you are smart to be very cautious.
I did not know that having your checking account closed due to overdrafts also meant you would have trouble opening a savings account. That seems a bit unjust to me.
Are you eligible to join any credit unions? I suggest you check into that. First, into which you may join, and secondly if they will open a savings account for you. Many credit unions have very broad definitions of who is eligible to join. For example, in my city there is a credit union called ValleyFirst. Membership is open to anyone who lives or works in this county.
Digging out of a hole is a long road, sometimes difficult to boot. Pat yourself on the back, you're making great progress! Best of luck to you.
I did not know that having your checking account closed due to overdrafts also meant you would have trouble opening a savings account. That seems a bit unjust to me.
Are you eligible to join any credit unions? I suggest you check into that. First, into which you may join, and secondly if they will open a savings account for you. Many credit unions have very broad definitions of who is eligible to join. For example, in my city there is a credit union called ValleyFirst. Membership is open to anyone who lives or works in this county.
Digging out of a hole is a long road, sometimes difficult to boot. Pat yourself on the back, you're making great progress! Best of luck to you.
Written by dreamcatcher, March 01, 2010
Thank you for the encouragement. And the warning, I will stay away from the second chance accounts. Also we do have a credit union here, I will definately check into.
I struggle a lot with saving money, I definately want to have a emergancy fund account, I have to save up for a car, because my car was totaled over the weekend.
I struggle a lot with saving money, I definately want to have a emergancy fund account, I have to save up for a car, because my car was totaled over the weekend.
