If you’ve read here before, then you’ll know I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, because I don’t think they work. By February, March at the latest, I’ve abandoned all of mine. I don’t know if other people are better at it than I am, I don’t really ask.
Pet and I were talking about finances this year, which got me thinking about saving money. I was not very good with that this year, and next year needs to be better. I made more money this year than I ever have with the company, and while it’s still not great money, a bigger portion of it needs to be saved.
But I’m bad at that.
So I found a possible solution: accountability.
I’m a website called Swap Bot, where people swap all kinds of things: letters, postcards, crafts, books, you name it. Two people have swaps going that are about saving money next year.
The first one is simple: Save an equal amount of money for the week we’re in. So, week 1 is saving $1, and week 52 will be $52. It amounts to $1378 for the year. Not a huge amount, but it’s money saved, none the less. I imagine the last 6 weeks of the year will be the hardest amount, since it’s present buying time.
The second one is more complicated. It involves setting a specific goal per week, and putting that away. If you choose $10, then at the end of the year you’ll have $520, and $30 a week would be $1650.
I’m interested in doing this, although I don’t know which one I’ll do, or if I’ll do both. If I use a jar at home I’ll be far more likely to save the money: I can’t call and get delivery way out here. And, at the end of hte year, I can dump it into a saving account, or use it to pay off debt.
Thoughts on which sounds like a better option? Are you interested in doing this? Joining Swap Bot is free, if you want to use that.