Good luck with your savings. I seldom have cash on hand, would have to take it out of the bank to get it.

Sue

Marilyn? just add a bank savings acct..they don't pay much, but like I did, dh got a bonus, and transferred it to savings...if needed, you can always take some back....

I did this last year. And already have over $200 in the bank for next year. I changed it up to make it easier. I took the finally tally and divided it by 52, to get $26.50 a week to put away. I have a Tangerine account and it automatically transfers the money to that account from my main bank account each week, so I don't miss it.

I've successfully done it for several years, and this year I'm going backwards for the first time - starting with $52 and ending with $1. I also save $1 bills all year, and I never save less than $500 and it's been as high as $1,000. This method works well if you pay with cash, which we do, rather than use plastic for purchases. Another way I save money is to cut my own hair, but I budget the amount and "pay" myself $20/month for the cut, so there's an additional $240 I add to the Christmas/Emergency account this money gets deposited into each month. We also add "found" money to this account, such as a rebate, recycling metal, having a garage sale....

I'm in too. Last year was devastating financially for us, yet, most weeks I was able to save. I debited my checking account on line and sent the money to a saving account. We used the $$ for a couple of necessities but for a couple of fun things, too. Nearly painless.

I've done it for two years now. This past year I did it backwards, MUCH better that way! I also like the idea of dividing it by 52 weeks. That seems very doable! And I sure like having $$$ for Christmas without pulling it from somewhere else!

I suggested last year that you mix up the weekly amounts, e.g. put the numbers "1" to "52" in a hat, draw one out each week and that's your goal for this week.

Several folks said that they liked that idea and would follow that path.

That way, one can have a jar and add small change and other small amounts in as one goes about life and business, so that one has some saved ahead for a week that a large amount is drawn out of the hat. That helps with the planning ahead, that's a major portion of wise money management.

You could draw them all out in the first week and write down the numbers on a calendar, but I prefer to draw one each week, as it's unexpected emergencies that cause financial trouble for many of us , and I think it a good idea to not know ahead the amount that's going to be required as this week's savings: good training in a reasonably small way for coping with the larger ongoing issues of one's financial life.

Check before setting up a new credit union or bank account, which you may not have much use for, for many of them charge fees to maintain them and you might find that it would pay better in the long run to just drop the money into a box at home. That you refuse to borrow from, in times of need.

ole joyful

Where are you supposed to get this cash to save?

Sue

Sue, it comes out of my wallet. ;)

Yes, I still use cash for purchases.

Moni

I see Moni, I just almost never use cash. If I need cash I have to go to the bank. Credit card and paid off each month. No debts. If I go to Aldi, I have been to the bank to get cash. I seldom go there though.

Thanks for the reply.

Sue

Different strokes for different folks.... It's not about what's right or wrong, it's just a choice.

We're cash people, too, and I always pay with cash, the last of the dinosaurs I guess..... I walk to the bank, which is two blocks away, or drive there when I do my shopping on Wednesday for a cash withdrawal. I always go into the bank so those employees will not be replaced by a machine. But I live in a small town, and that might make it easier to participate in a cash-based society. I love the interaction I have with the bank guys/gals. I participate in their food drives and other community services. They really enjoy my $1 bill savings fund and several have started saving their $1 bills to fund Christmas when they see how much it can add up to be.

Hubby and I each have our budgeted amount of "walking around money" which we use for things like his hair cut, an occasional treat like eating out or getting an ice cream cone, donations for something 'er other at work (which seems to be all the time in an office), something from the hardware store.... I use mine for non-food items (the food budget is also cash - $125/month - but it's used for food ONLY). Our walking around money is also what we use to fund the 52-week savings plan, my $1 savings, and my haircut money.

It's been proven people will spend less if they use cash rather than credit/debit cards. My food budget alone proves that. I know exactly how much money I have to spend for food and I stick to the set budget amount. Most people don't have any idea how much money they spend on food....

Having an emergency cash reserve at home, or on you, is also suggested. You should never depend 100% on electronics. Ask my friend who got his groceries and the credit card scanners were out in the store so he couldn't pay for them. So he went to the ATM in the store and it was down. He walked out to the ATM in the parking lot and it was also down. So he got in his car and went home without groceries all because he didn't keep some cash or a check with him. When you leave a cart full of food at the store, many of the food items have to be thrown in the trash (fresh produce, meat, deli foods, etc.). What a waste - all because one electronic system was down!

-Grainlady

I use cash too. I draw out a certain amount out of the bank with my debit card and that is the money I use for almost everything I buy. I am not a big consumer except for feed for my horses.

If you use the automatic transfer from chequing to savings account ... it makes sense in terms of efficiency, but I suggest that it may not teach much about hands-on, and increasingly effective, management of money.

Learn on a transaction by transaction basis how money works: an interesting hobby ... and it pays well.

I think that it's best to save a little here and there, to work toward the weekly commitment, and to make a substantial effort to spend less of the ongoing cash in one's wallet next week, in order to have saved enough to make up the contribution for the week. If one isn't sure what the amount will be until the beginning of that week, all the more reason to have a "savings" jar into which one collects some extra cash each week as one goes along, to keep from having one's hair stand on end when one pulls out a slip that reads something like "$50.00" required for that week, to add to the Christmas fun fund.

Helps one prepare for real emergencies in one's life, e.g. a major unanticipated car repair, one's furnace dying in January (or air conditioner, if one has one, in August) and such things.

I agree with Grainlady that surveys have shown that with the currency out of sight, people tend to spend less carefully when it's done on the card.

Also, Grainlady - you're not the last of the dinosaurs.

I like to do much of my business in cash. I'm (long-term) "frugal", too, partially translated by some as "cheap" - which also saves on letters, using 5 instead of the 6 in "frugal".

As a matter of fact, as the year-end approached, I was a bit worried, as I make contributions to several political entities and they must be by traceable instrument not cash, also I send a cheque annually to some distant churches with which I have connections and I figured that I was running short of cheques (new books somewhere in the house, but haven't been able to turn them up) but I found more cheques than I figured on for one account, so all worked out well.

I expect that I'll be able to manage next to nil income tax, both federally and provincially, again, this year. Trouble is ... in recent years, if I manage to claim all of my available provincial credits, I claim fewer charitable donations (carrying some to next year ... or to help my executor's accounting, following my death) ... but that means that I'll show fewer deductions affecting federal claim as well ... so I'll have some federal tax to pay.

I helped in an official capacity with our provincial election in 2014, and when their cheque came through, I had moral reservations about cashing it (and little empathy from friends, whose almost universal opinion was that when one gets a cheque from the government - one cashes it. Period).

Helped thusly with the federal election in 2015 (several miles from home, when an expected helper turned up sick, so they paid mileage) but less moral concern there ... as they paid my bank account, automatically.

Actually ... I think that rather makes my point, that dealing with money issues directly makes a greater impact that dealing with them somewhat invisibly/automatically.

Hope you all have a fulfilling New Year.

ole joyfuelled ... four guiding words for advent season at church were "Hope ... Joy ... Love ... Peace"

I would never use cash. I find if I have cash in a jar or envelope, I'll spend it. I have a Tangerine account online. The $26.50 goes into it automatically every Friday. I don't have to do anything. I don't miss it. I also have an account for my grandson that does the same thing, only $25 every 2 Fridays. The kid has more money than I do right now....

If I want cash in my wallet, I would have to go to the bank and get it, so I just leave it there till it is needed. I have no extra cash coming to me.

Sue

I started the challenge last year and was doing okay till I hit a "bump" in my finances and had to raid the fund .

jwood52- That's an even better reason to start again.... If you don't have an emergency fund, this is a good way to start one.

Marilyn-sue- This is just one of those little aids to get people in the habit of saving, like giving children a piggy bank or a pass-book savings account. If you already do that within the non-cash method you use, then that's just another method that happens to work for you, and the 52-week method doesn't have any relevance for you.

As an example of our non-cash method for saving.... We live on a modest 1/3 of our income and have the other 2/3 automatically distributed. We don't physically do anything for that. Most people aren't that diligent in their savings, and everything sitting in our banking accounts has a "name", including the cash we withdraw and use for everyday living, saving, and giving.

-Grainlady

Jwood, I did the same. Sadly, didn't pick it back up. But, that was the reason for me to start it again this year.

I am going to do it backwards also. Makes sense to me!

My husband would have a cow if I did this. I can sit on $500 cash and not spend it. DH likes to keep his in the bank so he can look at the numbers on-line. I'd be tempted to do it so I could buy him something once in a while that was a surprise.

For those of you who "fell off of the wagon" last year - congratulations on having committed to take the project on again, this year ... and good wishes for better success, this year.

Do you folks who find it hard to get enthused over this project have a financial cushion, so that you don't chew fingernails down to bleeding when a major emergency develops?

Life can be a lot more satisfying when one has some unallocated funds on hand as a cushion to make use of, to "rescue" one, if you will, when a major emergency develops.

This is a useful exercise to help one plan and work out a program on a small scale, to work on as training toward planning and building such an emergency fund.

That's as a starter, for many want to build a fund to help their offspring with post-secondary training, which needs to be extra to that.

With fewer employees enjoying an employer-provided pension in recent years, there has become a greater need for individuals to build a retirement income for themselves, and as our average lifespan has increased, our need to provide such an income in retirement has grown to cover more years, on average, as well.

How to accomplish those goals without savings, or learning how to develop them, a step at a time - almost impossibly difficult.

A tragedy-in-the-making that should be fear-engendering that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

ole joyful