52 Week Money Saving Challenge

Happy New Year and welcome to 2014.

I don't know if you've seen it or not but the 52 week Money Saving Challenge is all over the internet right now.  I have no idea how one would go about finding the original post for this idea because there are just too many of them.  Do a search and you'll see what I mean.
 
The concept for this plan is that if you make yourself a savings jar and put in $1 the first week you have started the plan. 
Each week you add one more dollar than the previous week. Week 1 deposit $1,  week 2 deposit $2, right up to week 52 depositing $52.   If you follow this plan at the end of the year you have saved almost $1,400.

I think it's a great idea and decided this would be my New Years Resolution.  There is one big drawback. I never have an extra $200 in December. I don't make a set amount of money each week because the number of children I care for fluctuates ...... and December is always the slowest month  because of  Christmas. I had to adjust the plan if it was going to work for me.
 
 
I found this chart  at www.savingadvice.com  and liked how it was more flexible with the deposit amounts. At the bottom of the chart it has the amounts from $1 to $52.   


Each week I put my deposit into my jar and cross off the amount I used from the bottom.   If I have a short work week I can deposit one of the lesser amounts and in the summer months when I  make larger paychecks I can make the larger deposits. In the end I will have the same total because all the deposits are in the jar. 

So that's my New Year's resolution... to work on my savings challenge for 2014.  Did you make a resolution? .. and if you did ,  did you come up with a plan to make it work?

Making it easy

This week I thought I'd share a few of the things that I found recently that make my life  a little easier and a bit more organized.
 I can't believe I didn't know most of these,  but if I didn't they might just be new to you as well.




 7 cups water, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/3 cup ammonia (or lemon juice) and 1/4 cup vinegar for-the-home , mix, apply to grout, wait for 20 minutes or so , wash off and you have clean grout.




These next two will come in really handy the next time you need to paint.

 

 

This would make clean up so easy.

And this would make painting those ceilings less messy.

 

 

 

 

Did you know that all those rolls in the kitchen that come out of the box when you try to use them have little spots in the end of the box to press in.  This keeps the roll in place when you are using it. They are even on the boxes from the dollar store. I could have used this one many times.

 

 

  

Have you ever locked yourself out of the house? I have.

Glue a rock to the top of a empty pill bottle, bury the bottle so that only the rock shows. A spare key is hidden inside! so simple!

 

 

Here's something that will keep kids busy for hours on those hot days.  You know the ones I mean, where nothing will make them happy.  Fill a plastic dish pan with water and add a bunch of plastic toys.  Put it in the freezer and you have the most awesome playtime activity for the heat.

 

 

 

This ones for flu season.  I've done this all winter and wish I had always.  Attach your old empty tissue box to the new one, This pic shows rubber bands but I use tape on the larger boxes.  You now have a place to put those used tissues.  When the box is done toss the dirty one and add a new box to the empty one.  Genius.

 

 

 

I haven't tried this one yet but next year all my ornaments will be put away like this.  I always wrap them in tissue but every year I lose a few.

Glue plastic drinking cups to cardboard and stack in bins. Perfect for even the most fragile glass ornaments.  And reusable.

 

 

 You can view all these and more here  I hope you can find something useful. I know I did.  

If you have one you would like to share please leave a comment. I would love to share it with my readers.

 

 

Have a warm and snug day if you can, If you can't be extra careful and stay safe in this terrible freezing rain.