At the end of the day, my father used to come home from work and empty his pockets on the table by the phone. There was often a train ticket, a couple of receipts, and a handful of loose change that got dropped into an old mason jar. We called this the “fun fund” and every so often, we’d dump it out, sort it, and use it to buy ice cream or see a matinee.
Today, most people use a credit or debit card to make purchases. The jingle of spare change is something of a bygone sound.
Fishing nickles out of the washing machine isn’t something I miss…but I must admit, saving up change to made a purchase was fun.
I must not be the only one who feels that way, because there are some great apps out there that give you the digital equivalent to my dad’s mason jar… and they have some really great options for saving that can help you save up a bit at a time towards a goal, or even invest the money so that your “fun fund” grows even faster.
Acorns App for Tiny Investments
One of the best apps for small savings is Acorns. For just $1.00 a month, Acorns will round up the purchases you make on your card and then invest the change. You can choose from several investment options, and then go about your business as usual… all while your spare change invests itself and grows.
The great thing about this app is that it’s just a buck a month, which is even better when you realize that you’re bypassing trade fees and the cut that an advisor would normally take. Plus, the entire process is automated… easier than plunking change into a mason jar, and you have the opportunity to make money in the market at the same time.
Chime Helps You Save When You Spend
If you’re not so interested in investing but would like to save up towards a goal, Chime is a great option. This app allows you to round up and save change, and also gives you the option to put money into a savings account each time you’re paid.
You’re not going to earn interest with this savings plan (well, 0.01% isn’t nothing…but it’s close). However, the app will round up when you make a purchase and automatically deposit it into your digital “fun fund.” You can also transfer up to 10% of each paycheck into the fund automatically, and as an added perk you might be able to access your paycheck a few days early when you use Chime.
The Digital Swear Jar
The less savory cousin to the “fun fund,” the swear jar is where many families collect spare change as a sort of “naughty tax.” Depending on the frequency and intensity of a person’s potty mouth, this jar has the potential to fill up much faster than the other one.
A digital version of the swear jar can be found in the Tip Yourself app. This allows the user to deduct money from your bank account and put it directly into a “tip jar,” and can be used as an incentive (good job, you drank your 8 glasses of water today!) or as a deterrent (you left your gym socks on the floor, put a dollar in the tip jar).
This is a fun way to save as a family, and you can see your progress each time you access the “jar.” A family trip, meal out, or another group treat is a great incentive to work on habits…both good and bad…together, and watching your fund grow is an added incentive to keep one another accountable.
Of course, you can also employ the old mason-jar-on-the-counter trick. But these days, it grows much slower than it used to… and an app is a great way to capture the power of the jar in an easy, tech-savvy, and entertaining way.
I save my spare change for holidays and Christmas
That’s what we do it’s for Xmas time but ur right it’s not as full as we use to get every year we end up rolling it to pay bills or whatever comes up that has to be paid these days everything is so dam expensive it hard to save ur change but I’m definitely going to look into the apps thank u
I prefer the change jar digital can disappear in a blink
Raymond Dorr, You are absolutely Correct that ; Digital; is ‘blinky’
The ‘Mason jar’ will never blink into invisibility nor be out of touch by you or any of the ‘Family’ any time at home where it is!
I’m on a fix income
my rent is 1575.
How do I save at my age
I want to go back to work
that is sad, but you should have started saving the day you got a job as i did by the time I was 21 I bought a house, I saved up $ 500.00 as a down pmt. at the time the cost of my house was $ 5000.00. only and my monthly pmt. It was only $ 50.00 it took me 10 yrs to pay it off, once it was paid I remodeled it , and added an extension I now have everything paid for and no debt and all I pay is the taxes, and have a great house.
Wow u go girl I wish I was like u my grandparents did the same thing but different amounts money wise, but I was raising a child by myself when I was 20 yrs old and I moved back to Massachusetts originally from anyways to my grandma house the memories I had nowhere to go in California so I left and came back home working 2-3 jobs all the time but yeah I wish I could’ve done the same someday I’ll have my own place to be my forever home. Great job there dear I’m happy for u stay safe
i know it is kind of late but if you put so much away as I did back then $ 5.00 a week did it for me you have to put money away every payday even if it is only $ 5.00 a week but do it every payday and see how it builds I was making $6.oo an hr.which was roughly$ 25.00 a week and I was single and a woman to boot so if you take your paycheck and take out $10.00 a week see what you will have in 6 months, a nice down payment. put money aside every paycheck even if it is only $5.00
That’s so true u actually sound like my grandma giving me the same advice thanks for that ?
i think when a person starts to work they should start to save for a down payment I saved $ 500.00 for my downpayment as that time houses were only starting at $ 500.00 now my house has been paid for and I have added an extension and done some remodeling now I sit in my house in comfort, and all I pay are taxes, which is only $ 700.00 a yr. and I am now on pension, I also have a husband who pays the utilities
and now I can enjoy my retirement