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Debt Destroy

Money In a Jar



 Digging Out Of Debt - Posted: 5/11/2008
By: Lee Martin

 

"You have got to be kidding me", I said as I sat at the calculator, wide eyed in amazement.  My wife, bless her heart has started this money jar idea. Her reasoning was if at the end of the day we put all out loose change in a jar that at the end of a certain period of time we would have this huge amount of money that could be used for things we need. 

Now I like being married, so I went along with the idea.  Of course it didn't last very long, but I tried.  Then she had the idea that perhaps I could just stop going to the coffee shop each morning.  Well now she is beginning to get a little too personal and I was determined that my morning routine wasn't costing me much anyway.

With pencil in hand I sat down to figure out just how much money I "wouldn't save".  I was flabbergasted at what I learned about my spending habits.  Since I am a creature of habit it wasn't difficult to figure out:  1 cinnimon crunch bagel, 1 cup of hazel nut coffee and a local newspaper and the total is $4.40.  I usually go the coffee shop 5 days a week so now I have spent $22 a week and I go probably 50 weeks a year which would make my total $1,100 per year.  I have been doing this for the last 6 years, which mounts up to $ 6,600.

Now lets put this in perspective.  That price equals 2 years and 13 weeks worth of gas for my pick up and at todays gas prices that's a pretty big deal.  It's also twice what I give to my church, and I'm a minister.

I wonder how many jars it would take to hold $6.600?

Comments

Anna Lee (Guest) - No matter how much your debt is, it is still not too late for you to free yourself from your debt.Visit Total Services Debt today and be a debt free tomorrow. For more information, interested parties may visit on the site at: http://www.totaldebtservices.com
- Its true that we need to cut down on our habits but since its already a habit its going to be hard to cut it down or totally scrap it from our daily routine. I think I'm going to try computing my total expense on my habits just like you did. Thank you for this eye opener.
rofizarkasih - A little change in our daily habits trully can make significant  money saving. Thanks for enlightening me.
rhitter94 - Oh yes... that coffee habit is very costly.  Today I was weak, and went to Starbucks.  I justified it by saying I needed to a "decent" cup of coffee as adverse to drink the coffee here at work for free.  Yes.. coffee habit are difficult to break.
Debbie - People are often amazed at what the little coffee habit amounts to.  There seems to be 2 groups of people in the personal finance blogging world- those who agree that cutting back or eliminating the coffee shop will give you additional money better spent elsewhere; and those who feel the coffee shop is such a minor expense that it's ridiculous to even mention it as a way to reduce your expenses and live on less. I think I fall in the middle somewhere.  I love my coffee shop, expensive coffees.  They make me happy for some reason, and probably because it's about the only "treat" I allow myself regularly (2 or 3 times a week).  On the other hand, the $6 a week I am spending on that could pay the phone bill at the end of the month ($24) or my son's school lunches... But I don't think I'll lose sleep over my coffee. And you shouldn't either :)  maybe cut back to 2 days a week instead of 5 and give the difference to your church.