The Saving Savings Challenge

I was reading Ginny Brady's Broadcast for UFirst Federal Credit Union and was inspired by her Saving Savings Challenge.

Here's the basic concept as explained by Ginny:
Each time I find a "bargain" or consciously make a lifestyle change that saves money, I'll deposit the difference between what I paid (or saved) and what I would have paid without the discount into a savings account. For example, since I bought 2 gallons of milk (I have a big freezer), I saved $1.74. I'll round that up to $2...
photo by • Eliane •
You get the rest, Ginny will deposit $2 into her savings account.


I'm going to take up the challenge as well. Of course there's the whole argument of whether a "sale" is really a "savings", but don't you feel like you hit the jackpot whenever you find a bargain?

So here's my first deposit. We're going to Portland for vaca early August. We nearly booked a hotel chain that we're familiar with and love. See we're 5 people so we always need either a suite or two rooms. Anyway this particular chain has always been good for us. But I felt the the $209/night was a bit higher than it should be. After a little online searching I found the same suite chain just 8 miles away at $165/night. Bingo I just won $44/night. Or $308 total for our stay. Time will only tell how good my bargain was, but they do have a basketball court something the other location didn't have.

Today's deposit $308.

Okay so with that one I saved money, but what do I do with stuff I don't expect to buy? Like the glasses I unexpectedly broke--and since we no longer have vision insurance--let's just say that cancels my hotel savings.

This Challenge could drive me crazy!!! But I'm not giving up! From now on I'm going to deposit the difference into an untouchable alternate savings. It's not really untouchable. It's my secondary savings account that I usually forget about. We've used it as an emergency fund in the past and it's dwindled slowly away, so it's time to build it back up.

Forget about the broken glasses and the hotel. I'm starting fresh and I'll keep you posted occasionally. As for you, it's the weekspend get out there and save!