Fun Personal Saving Challenge

[faithman1012005@yahoo.com]

Years ago I heard about a method of saving that is actually quite fun and a challenge at the same time

Take an item for instance that you are planning on purchasing, you figure this item costs about $50 retail. Now you look for a sale or a store that has the same item marked down, lets say to $25 (50% off) Now most people say "wow I just saved $25" but in reality they don't actually save it but instead spend it on something els.

Now instead of just saying "oh look I saved $25" you actually take $25 now and put it into savings and actually save it! I've found this a fun way to actually save money.

Has anyone els used this method?

[disneysteve]

I think this only works if you were actually ready and willing to pay $50 for the item before finding the better price. If retail was $50 and you were committed to not buying it unless you found a better price, then this wouldn't really make sense.

If there was something I wanted that was $50, I would search around online or at different stores to see if $50 was the best price. I wouldn't buy it until I was reasonably sure I was getting a good deal.

[Lindahfx]

I like this idea but I do agree with DisneySteve that it makes sense if you were already committed to buying it. A good friend of mine has recently committed to only eating lunch out a max. of 1x per week. So she said every day that she doesn't eat out she puts $10 in to savings. She said that she now has over $200 since she started a few months ago. That's another good idea.

[swanson719]

I don't know if this is so much different from a regular budget. We budget to spend a certain amount on certain things, and if the amount charged is over the amount budgeted don't get it. So like Steve said, if we have budgeted more than the price, we should save the difference. I think it more depends on how frugal you are.

[Ima saver]

This is the view I view the $20 challenge. Anytime I save money using coupons or getting a rebate, I take the actual cash and save it in a savings account.

[faithman1012005@yahoo.com]

I actually agree with DisneySteve as well, and you can do this with any price doesn't have to be full retail, it could be a price you planned to spend on something but found a better deal. I have done the savings on the eating out thing, for example instead of eating out 3 times a week I reduced it to 1 and was able to put away the difference. I personally like this idea for saving because it helps us to see how much little savings add up in the long run and can help keep us encouraged to pay closer attention to our spending.

[Daylily]

I did this for a while whenever I used coupons. Whatever the value of the coupon(s), I would immediately place that amount into the bank.

The first year that I used online bill pay, I counted up all the money I saved on stamps and put that equivalent amount into my vacation fund.

I live in a state that has a bottle deposit law. Whenever I redeem cans and bottles, I deposit that money into the vacation fund.

[HamSandwich]

ooh i like Lindahfx friends idea. im gonna try that and see how much i can save. it really does add up eating out!