Friday 28 February 2014

I'm doing the Projcet Ikonz Spare Change Challenge

One of the regular readers of this blog recently set up a great blog of his own called Project Ikonz - it's focused on wealth creation and his path to achieving it.  I have been reading it fairly religiously and he recently did a post on spare change and how you can end up saving quite a lot by just putting your change in a jar by the end of each day.

How does it work

The idea is actually fairly simple:

  • Most people (especially men who don't often have enough space to store coins) spend money in notes and get some change that is in coins
  • These coins often get lost or wasted on small pointless purchases
  • You can save a lot of money by putting these coins on some jar and not touching them for a while
Does it actually work?

I first read the spare challenge post about 2 weeks ago.  I already had a container where I put all my coins - I generally used this money to wash my car and to pay for my coffee each morning so the pattern was already set.  Instead of using the money I decided over the last 2 weeks to see how much it would build up if I was committed to not touching the cash.  It really is amazing how much you end up saving!

Although I haven't counted the cash, I'm certain that if I had it in my pocket it would be spent much more quickly.  Have a try of this yourself - at most you are going to not have coins for two weeks...it isn't going to kill you.

Have a goal for the coins...

One great thing that the Project Ikonz blog suggests is to have a goal for the coins.  I have always used my coin jar as a kind of 'float' but I like the idea of being able to save up for something slowly that I would normally feel guilty about buying.  

My goal for my coin challenge is threefold:
  1. Buy a really nice wallet: Although I'm not much of a brands person or a luxury goods person, wallets tend to last a very long time and you tend to pull it out a lot so it gets noticed.  I am currently using a decent but rather cheap one I bought overseas
  2. Replace by driver and putter: I am not a great golf player but I enjoy a game.  In order to save money I actually bought my whole set from an opp shop for $15!  I saved a heap but the driver and putter really do suck
  3. Buy a new fancy tie:  I'm a sucker for a good tie but I normally resist the urge to spend a lot of money on them.  If I commit to using the coins to buy them I am not going to waste my regular cash on them.
All of the above are intentionally frivolous - this isn't my main method of saving but it is allowing me to shift frivolous expenditure into something that gets saved for over time instead of impulsively purchased.

Let me know if you are undertaking the coin challenge!  What are you saving for?

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3 comments:

  1. You're officially the first person to have taken up the challenge with me!

    I actually think you're setting your sights low with a wallet, tie, driver and putter. The first time I did the challenge, I put everything into one of those large money tine from a $2 shop. I was putting in anything smaller than $10 (including $5 notes). I pulled out over $1,000 in 6 months.

    The second time I did it, I put in anything I brought home smaller than a $20 note. This time in 6 months, I pulled out $3,000.

    The trick is during the day, to not spend any of the denominations that you would put into your jar/tin at the end of the day. You'll be shocked how quickly it builds up!

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    1. Wow...I didn't think it could build up that quickly...I thought I was being a bit aggressive if anything. I have a jar that I use and it does seem to be building up quite quickly.

      I like the idea of opening it every six months so will let you know where I end up at!

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  2. My top tips are:
    - Switch from a jar to a money tin from a $2 shop, on that you can't open.
    - Don't spend the denominations that you intend to put in the tin. That may mean that even though you have a $5 note in your wallet, you may have to break a $20 note to buy a $3.50 macchiato.

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