What to Do With Your Spare Change
Save Your Extra Change and Get Rid of Debt
A nickel here, a dime there; what you do with your spare change could mean the difference between paying off your debt or not. Saving for your kids’ college and your own retirement? How a little spare change can make a big difference.
Saving Spare Change Will Affect Your Bottom Line:
- Keeping track of your extra change will make you start thinking more about money. And when you do that, you start realizing how easy it is to get into debt. Before, you probably weren't even aware of how much you were spending. All those nickels and dimes add up. When you keep all your change in a bowl and total it up at the end of the month, you’ll realize how much you’ve saved and how much you waste every month.
- Attack your debt with spare change. Now that you have a taste of how easy money can slip through your fingers, it’s time to get a handle on your debt by nickel and diming it to death! Let’s say you put all your loose change in a jar throughout the month and after 30 days you’ve accumulated $100. Take that money and apply it to your credit card with the highest interest rate. When you see the difference $100 makes, you’ll come up with ways to pay that debt down even further until it’s gone.
How to Come up with the Extra Change:
You need to make a conscious decision to save. It’s easy to spend a few quarters on a newspaper, a stick of gum or a lottery ticket. Once you commit, you’ll begin to appreciate how much the little things you waste money on, add up. But you need to get support. Involve the entire family in your project. You’ll not only receive encouragement, but you’ll also be teaching everyone else, especially the kids about the value of money.
How to Invest Your Spare Change:
Once you’ve paid off your debt, it’s time to begin building wealth. Start by putting the loose change you accumulate at the end of the month into a savings account. As soon as that grows to $1,000, open a certificate of deposit. And with part of the money, consider starting a Christmas Club account, so those holiday expenses don’t put you over the edge.
As your nest egg increases, you may want to look at investing in the stock market. Whatever way you decide to grow your money, don’t forget how it started, with a little spare change.
