Ask:
Does anyone have any ideas for unique ways to make saving fun or turn it into a game? Does anyone have any games, tricks, or ways that work for them?
Answer:
I like to challenge myself to do it...For some reason it works...I challenge myself to save X amount for the month and am happy if I meet that goal and ecstatic if I exceed it I don't like to fail at anything especially when I challenge myself for it so that keeps me motivated.
Answer:
We challenge our kids to put any change they find ANYWHERE into the change jar. They all know it is going to us taking a family mini vacation this summer! I think we are up to just over $100 right now...and while that certainly isn't enough to pay for the vacation, it is a huge help...and they have been a part of that!
Answer:
We use challenge/reward to keep us motivated. Like, right now we are trying to pay off grad school loans. So, for every $200 we save up to put on the loans, we get a dinner out. Its a lot easier for me to put back thatextra item in the shopping cart or avoid the drive through when I can think about a great dinner at Outback or another favorite place!
For the kids (still 1 and 3) its about volume still rather than amount. They each ahve a huge teddy bear cannister from animal crackers and it becomes a game to "feed" the bear. So, all monies they find or are given go to the bear. When they fill it up they get to go to the store and pick out any one thing they want (At Dollar tree so only $1). DD(3) wants a purse she saw there so is asking everyone for money to feed her hungry bear. As they age and can understand more, we will have to rework it a bit, but for now it works for us
Answer:
DD is really too young to understand savings yet. We put $100 every month into our emergency fund because I feel we need to have one. I know at this rate it will be years before we are fully funded. Anything extra goes to the CC, I want to have it paid off buy the end of this year.
Answer:
Dh and I challenged our boys for any change they get or find around the house goes into our Disney fund. (We are going next month) anyway they have done this for almost a year and we just counted over the weekend. $250.00 (dh drops his change in also) The boys love it. We will have to find a new challenge but hopefully they will still be enthusiastic about it.
Answer:
We like to reward ourselves. For example, next month we will have paid off dh's car early, (after 5 months of putting almost all of our extra money onto his car loan), so we will be going to Disneyland for a few days as a treat for meeting one of our big goals. It really helps us to have smaller goals and rewards on the path to our BIG goals and real reward of financial security.
Answer:
Originally Posted by pandi410
We use challenge/reward to keep us motivated. Like, right now we are trying to pay off grad school loans. So, for every $200 we save up to put on the loans, we get a dinner out. Its a lot easier for me to put back thatextra item in the shopping cart or avoid the drive through when I can think about a great dinner at Outback or another favorite place!
For the kids (still 1 and 3) its about volume still rather than amount. They each ahve a huge teddy bear cannister from animal crackers and it becomes a game to "feed" the bear. So, all monies they find or are given go to the bear. When they fill it up they get to go to the store and pick out any one thing they want (At Dollar tree so only $1). DD(3) wants a purse she saw there so is asking everyone for money to feed her hungry bear. As they age and can understand more, we will have to rework it a bit, but for now it works for us
I love the Teddy Bear Idea!! I also need to find a way to motivate myself!!