Student Credit Card and Credit Education Blog

Seasons Greetings! 

I know I told you all that you were not on my Christmas list this year.  But, you’ll be happy to hear that I changed my mind.  Yes, I decided to surprise you with a little gift from me.     No - Sorry -  I am not passing out holiday cards filled with cash nor am I making each of you one of my personalized picture or music CD’s.    Instead, in the true holiday spirit of savings,  I gifting you with a special song that I hope you will all enjoy!

On the first day of Savings,        
Captain J sent to me
A point code in a survey.  

On the second day of Savings,
Captain J sent to me
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the third day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the fourth day of Savings,
Captain J sent to me
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,  
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the fifth day of Savings,
Captain J sent to me
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies, 
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the sixth day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the seventh day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for saving,
And a point code in a survey.

On the eighth day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Eight members a-hoping,
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for savings,
And a point code in a survey.

On the ninth day of Savings, 
Captain sent to me
Nine launderers scrounging,
Eight members a-hoping,
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for savings,
And a point code in a survey.

On the tenth day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Ten loans a-looming,
Nine launderer scrounging,
Eight members a-hoping,
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for savings,
And a point code in a survey.

On the eleventh day of Savings,
Captain J sent to me
Eleven Pointers pointing,
Ten loans a-looming,
Nine launderer scrounging,
Eight members a-hoping,
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for savings,
And a point code in a survey.

On the twelfth day of Savings, 
Captain J sent to me
Twelve scholarship chances,
Eleven Pointers pointing,
Ten loans a-looming,
Nine launderer scrounging,
Eight members a-hoping,
Seven students a-saving,
Six savers a-blogging,
Five scholarship points,
Four recycling rootbeer buddies,
Three frugal shoppers,
Two tips for savings,
And a point code in a survey!

Yep,  see what being snowbound in the house for 3 days (without a a car of you own to skid around town) does to you!     OK,  the song’s a lame & cheap gift but so what … didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s the thought that counts?      So, be gracious already and just say “Thank You, Matt.”   

Disclaimer: Read at your own risk – may make no savings sense!

ZZZZZZZZ

It sure has been a long, tiring week!  As you can see from my picture, I am asleep at my desk after an exhausting week of final exams.  Actually, I just woke up for you - my savings friends - to share my weekly savings story with you.

However,  I simply do not have the energy to even think (never mind write) at this moment.   So, let’s just cut through the chase and get to my bits of good news for the week:

1. Hooray … Final exams are over and the long awaited winter break has finally arrived!   I can’t even express how much I look forward to being a lazy bum for a few weeks and catching up on my precious sleep!  <yawn>
2. Mysteriously, my wallet somehow still had $20 left in it by end of last week.   Amazing, isn’t it?  Yet, it really is not much of a mystery where this “extra money” came from.   I was so busy studying last week that I had absolutely no time on my hands to spend any money.

Hmmm … What to do with this “extra money”?   Oh, the possibilities to consider!   This never happens to me;  I never have money leftover at the end of the week to spend at my will.   So, guess what I did with the money?  <yawn> No, I did not buy more rootbeer (tempted though).  No, I did not buy YOU a Christmas present (never even crossed my mind). Yes, I deposited the money into my ING Savings Account.

Impressed, aren’t you?  Well, don’t be just yet!  Hey, I know I have come a long way in my savings habits since this saving challenge started, but I’m really not that good yet.   The plain truth is that I simply was too exhausted to do anything more than hit the ING savings account deposit button.   But, it’s all good because now, with the money out of sight & out of mind, I can go back to sleep in peace (in the same broke student state that I have grown so accustomed to).  

So, in the end – with this Savings Challenge just about over – I bid you goodnight and goodbye telling you that although I did not reach my $500 savings goal by yearend, I am still much better off for my participation.   I can now say that I have some personal savings, which is much more than I could say just over two months ago.   And, I really hope that you can say the same thing!

Happy Holidays to everyone!   Hope to talk to you all again sometime next years!

ZZZZZZ   zzzzzz  ZZZZZZ   zzzzzzzz

How’s everyone feeling this week? Ready for final exams?  Well … Ready or not … here they come!!!

Honestly, I can’t say that I am feeling prepared just yet for my exams. But, I can say that I am prepared with a plentiful supply of energy drinks and brain food for the expected late nights ahead of me.   Yep, I’m expecting to be one of those students who will be up day & night cramming for his finals.    And, the way I’m looking at it, I might as well at least be ready with lots of good munchies to energize my mind, body & soul through the upcoming week.

So, anyway … I never pictured myself as someone who would someday be wheeling a shopping cart around a supermarket looking for deals (never mind doing so with a grocery list & coupons in hand). Yet, there I was - in the good spirit of savings - doing just that yesterday, as I slowly strolled down each aisle looking for my items.   You know, it’s almost funny (and scary, at times) what participating in this ING Saving Challenge has done to me! I almost feel like my parents … okay, okay … so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean!

But, it’s still all good because I’m very proud of the four plus dollars that I just saved as a result of my frugal shopping efforts. And, keep in mind, this savings does not even factor in what I saved by simply doing my shopping once at a grocery store rather than making daily stops at the corner convenience store to purchase my day’s supply of food/drinks. Heck, I’m thinking that must be about $500 in savings or so! Yeah, yeah … let’s go with that number.    Now look at that,  I guess I’ve reached my $500 saving challenge goal after all!

So, my savings tip for this week is:   Spending a few minutes of your time looking for coupons before you go shopping will save you money at supermarket checkout.

Yes, I realize this is not a novel savings idea. But, let’s face it - it’s not a common practice for most students (me included) who just have not wanted to bother with coupons for whatever reason(s). But, it really is quite simple to do nowadays (and it’s even easier on your wallet).  If you do not have access to a newspaper to clip coupons the more traditional way, you can easily find coupons online that can be “clipped” and printed from the comfort of your own desk chair. Here are just a couple of free printable coupon sites that I found/used for my shopping trip: www.coupons.smartsource.com and  www.coolsavings.com. However, there are many, many other similar sites on the Web if you are interested in searching for more savings!

Until next week …  I wish you all good luck on your final exams!

Can you believe it?   It’s December already!    Believe it or not, it’s here - one of the craziest months of the year - and yes, a very busy one it is:

• December brings us into the final stretch of ING’ $500 Savings Challenge, with two lucky winners to be announced at the close of the month.
• December also means a crazy, stressful time for college students who are up late cramming for final exams (and probably praying a lot too).
• December is also the joyous holiday season, when everyone begins to stress about having to purchase holiday gifts for their family, friends and loved one.

I wish I had some magic words of wisdom to make the month of December easier on everyone.   But, sorry … I am no magician!    However, I do have a few financial suggestions that hopefully will help make the month a bit less stressful on your wallet.   So, let’s take it point-by-point:

$500 Savings Challenge: If you haven’t already joined the Savings Challenge, it’s not too late.    Jump aboard while you still have time, because if you don’t participate, then you have absolutely no chance at winning one of the $500 awards.    And, you must admit, the extra money sure would come in handy in January, whether it is to help pay off your holiday debts or to purchase your books for second semester.

Final Exams: If you happen to be one of those students (like me) who expect to be up all day & night cramming for his final exams, then you may want to consider planning ahead for the full supply of energy drinks and brainpower food that you’ll undoubtedly consume throughout your final exams time frame. Making daily trips to a convenience store to purchase your day’s worth of food/drinks is definitely a more expensive option than going once to a supermarket to buy items in bulk. For example, rather than paying $2 per day for one Powerade ($10 per week), buy a six-pack at the grocery store for $5 for a savings of $5 plus.

Holiday Gift Giving: I know, I know … We all love to swap gifts with the people we care about!   But, If you are like most students, you probably don’t have the extra cash necessary to buy them.   Rather than putting yourself in piles of debt this holiday season, here are some more frugal ways to still show people that you care:

1. Take the time to visit and reminisce with your elderly aunts, uncles and grandparents. Time is free, and I can say from experience that they often appreciate the personal interactions more than any little trinket you could possibly afford to buy & wrap up as gift.
2. Instead of buying gifts, consider sending out personalized cards/letters where you write a special, meaningful holiday message to each person.   While this is not a totally free option, it is still much cheaper than purchasing gifts.   And, more importantly, it still shows that you are thinking of them even though you can not afford to buy them anything.
3. Use your imagination and creative talents to make gifts for your family/friends.   We all have some type of talent, so now is the time to put it to good use to save money.   For example, in past years, I have purchased a big box of CD’s, then burned one for each family member.   Within each CD, I either burned music to the person’s liking, or added digital pictures (with humorous captions) that captured special moments throughout the year.   Again, it shows you are thinking of them personally, and from personal experience, I can tell you that my family members still talk about and laugh at some of the picture CD’s that I have given them.
4. If all other ideas don’t appeal to you and you opt to purchase gifts instead, make sure to do so with savings in mind.   Use sites such as www.Upromise.com that will give you back a percentage of your purchase price in savings.   Be sure to browse online sites such as www.retailmenot.com and www.studentadvantage.com (assuming you own a card) to find coupons/promotion codes to use when you checkout your purchase.    You’d be very surprised just how much money you can save on your purchase simply using these promotion codes.   Also, if you own a credit card that offers cash rewards, you may want to consider using it to make your gift purchases (just remember to pay it off immediately!) because again, it puts money back in your pocket by gifting yourself with rewards.    Now, if you combine all three options together, your savings can even be greater!   For example, let’s say you purchase $50 flowers through the online Upromise link using your reward credit card (and you enter a 10% promo code at check out).   Your savings may look like this: a) Upromise deposits $7.50 into your account.   b) Your credit card gives you 50 cents in cash rewards.    c) The promo code takes another $5 off your total purchase price.   ACTUAL COST OF FLOWERS: $37

Well,  this about exhausts my worldly advice to all of you.   I hope it helps … and, I sure hope you didn’t read my entire blog and are now asking yourself,  “So, where’s Matt’s advice on how to ace my final exam?”    If so - all I can offer you is my apologies, because I have no clue!   But, if you have advice for me on this topic, please share because I’m definitely open to any/all suggestions.

Until next week … I bid you farewell and good luck to everyone this month!

Week 5 of the $500 Saving Challenge is now underway, and ….

• No, I did not hit the lottery last week.    Of course, I believe one actually needs to play the lottery to win the lottery, and that won’t be happening anytime soon on my budget.
• No, I did not discover a huge mathematical error in my favor when I balanced my checkbook for November.    While I was hoping & praying that I missed a few trailing zeroes during my calculations, no such luck.

Oh well, I think you get my point by now —not much has changed with my financial situation since last week.    Yes, I continue to struggle to make ends meet on a very tight budget.   However, I’m still in this challenge and I am still managing to save a few dollars here & there.   So, it’s all good!

Anyway, I do actually have some decent news this week.    I finally sold my extra ink cartridges!!!   Yes, I earned $15 on the deal, while another struggling college student got herself a great deal on three ink cartridges that should easily last her for the remainder of the academic year.   Given my positive experience with this past sale, I do plan on selling more stuff to earn myself some extra cash.    Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any items laying around my dorm room that I can part with right now.   However, when I go home for winter break, I plan on combing my bedroom for additional items to sell because I know I have plenty of good stuff at home that I no longer use or need.   So, you may want to keep your eyes open on CampusX Free College Classifieds after the holidays because I may just have something you are looking for.   You may also want to consider posting a free ad of your own; it’s a real easy way to make some extra cash while also helping you to purge your room of items that are just sitting around collecting layers of dust.   PS.  Did you know that ScholarshipPoints also gives you 25 points when you post your first legitimate ad on CampusX College Classifieds?  BONUS!!!

Oh, and by the way, my emergency fund coffee cup is filled with loose change at this point. And, to think … you all probably laughed at my laundry room idea when I first told you about it.  LOL    Well, I’m laughing now too … all the way to the bank (as soon as I have a moment to roll up all my change, that is).   And, the moral of this week’s little savings story is: Every little bit adds up.

Later people.   Have a great week and I’ll talk to you all next week.

OK, so the truth is that despite my best efforts to bring in a bit of extra cash in order to save reach the $500 savings goal by year-end, I have not been extremely successful so far.   Sorry, but … it is what it is!

Yes, I probably could find a 2nd part-time job for the holiday season to help out in the cash flow department.   However, the down side of this idea is that it would leave me with even less time than I already have to keep up with my heavy workload at school.   Then, if my grades slip, I run the risk of losing a couple of renewable academic scholarships for next year, putting me in even worse financial shape than I started this year in (which, by the way, was not terrific to begin with).   So, bottom line, this is simply not a risk that I can afford to take right now!

With the exception of the dribs and drabs of extra cash that may come my way (as a result of recycling cans, selling unused items, and finding loose change in the laundry room), I have finally resigned myself to the fact that I instead need to better manage my personal finances according to my regular part-time income.   While this definitely is not an easy task, I also understand that it probably the reality for most college students … and, I’m no different!   Basically, it boils down to this for me: I must get better at sticking to a budget, at spending what little money I do have more wisely.

So, if nothing else, I am pleased to say that this $500 Savings Challenge has helped to teach me a valuable lesson.   Personally, this “competition” gave me the extra push that I needed to take a hard look at the money coming in & out of my door on a regular basis.   And, in doing this, it also allowed me to see where I can afford (and not afford) to make reasonable spending cuts without throwing myself totally off kilter.   It also helped me to see that although I may not be rolling in lots of dough, it is still possible to occasionally tuck away a few dollars into my savings account as long as I keep savings on my list of priorities.   Hey … this is all good stuff … yes, it’s the good common sense kind of stuff that I’m sure my mother will be happy to hear that I finally am realizing, considering she seemingly has been preaching it on these deaf ears of mine for years now.

Anyway, will I reach the $500 goal by yearend?    No, I highly doubt it (unless I am lucky enough to win the $500 scholarship being awarded for this challenge, that is).    Being a competitive person by nature, this is a bit hard to admit. However, it’s cool because I still choose to look at my current situation as “my glass is half full, not half empty”.   For you see, I may not be able to save the full $500 by the target date, but I am still managing to save some money.   And, when I compare this to what I had in my savings account before this challenge began (ummm, that would be $0), I can still say that I am ahead of this game.   Actually, I can now proudly say that I have $55 dollars in my ING Direct Savings account … let’s make that $60, because I plan to make another $5 deposit as soon as I leave you today.

So, tell me … is your glass half full or half empty today?   If you have not yet joined the $500 Saving Challenge, it’s not too late to give it a try.   Remember, you have nothing to lose, just to save.   Believe me when I tell you, if I can do it, you can too.   And just in case you don’t believe me,  go ahead and ask my mother because I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you herself.   Grrrrrrr

Until next week, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Again,
I’m expecting the later part of the week to be quite hectic for me at school & work, so rather than keeping you all hanging without my normal end-of-the-week update, I decided to post it now.  After all, I know you are always so anxious to hear about my weekly financial adventures, and I simply did not want to disappoint you all.   No need to say “Thank You”  … Let’s just say we consider this an early Christmas present from me to you.  (See, always creatively thinking about how I can save $)

So let’s see now … By simply budgeting for my week’s breakfast costs, I already am not feeling the same amount of self-inflicted pressure to have to get up early enough to hit the cafeteria. If I sleep in, I am OK financially, and if I do happen to wake up, then it’s an unexpected bonus to my wallet. And, believe it or not, I actually did wake up early enough yesterday morning (without even being a total bear around campus!) Think I may even be getting used to this early to rise to thing - NOT!

Anyway, as you probably know by now, my parents visited me this past weekend.  Their parental visit “forced” me to clean my dorm room in order to eliminate all evidence of my growing fondness for root beer.  And, let me tell you … Cleaning my room was quite the exhausting task, although fairly profitable.   For our grueling efforts (yes, I said “our” - there was no way I was tackling the job myself so I enlisted the help of my roommate/accomplice), we cashed in on a total of $12.15 that we split evenly.  While I believe my roommate’s share of this windfall may already be long spent, mine is not! Don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming any sudden sainthood toward savings, I’m just telling you that I basically haven’t had much free time yet to spend it (which is probably a good thing, because I realize now that I am going to need this money.   Ugggh)
As for the visit from Mom & Dad, I must admit that it was a very nice change of pace considering the fact that I have not seen my parents since starting school in August. Not only was it a very cheap weekend for me (they paid for everything), but they also surprised me with a huge care package filled with food & drinks (nope, no rootbeer) & personal items, all of which will be a great help on my skimpy personal budget over the next couple of weeks. As an added bonus, as they were leaving to head home, they slipped me a couple of 20’s which was definitely an even nicer surprise. So, add it all up for yourself … yes, the visit with my parents was an all-around plus in my book. Gotta love ‘em!
Oh, I also need to tell you about my newest money-making venture for this week. I attribute this idea partially to Platinum Stud, as a result of his blog last week about looking for ways to bring in additional income.  To make a long story short, I brought my faithful old printer to college with me, and less than two weeks into classes, it decided to crap out on me (forcing me to buy a new one).  Of course, the ink cartridge supply that I also had brought with me from home did not fit my new printer and I had to buy more ink too. That was NOT a good financial week for me, by the way!  Anyway, as I was cleaning my room in preparation for my parents’ visit, I found these new, yet now unusable ink cartridges stuffed in the corner of my room, and thought, “Hmmmm … maybe I can make some money on these???” So, I decided to list them for sale at a bargain price on CampusX College Classifieds, which is a free site for college students looking to sell/purchase items.   Good idea, huh?   Honestly, I can’t tell you that I have earned a single penny yet, but then again, I just recently placed the ad and I’m very hopeful that I still will make some money.   While I may never be able to re-coup the full price that I paid for those ink cartridges, just getting back some of their worth is a lot better than leaving them in a corner to collect dust.   I’m now combing my room for other items that I may be able to sell, because I’m sure there is probably something else laying around that I no longer have any use for.   So, look around your own place, and I bet you will find some items that you no longer are using that could possibly earn you a few bucks. And, the moral of my short story is: Remember, one person’s trash is often someone else’s treasure!

So, with all that said, where do I stand in the savings department this week? Well, unfortunately … not so great! With November quickly coming to a close, my first priority this week is to get my monthly bills paid first. Living on campus (with my room/board pre-paid for the year), I luckily don’t have many bills to worry about. However, I do have a couple that I am responsible for paying using my meager earnings. So, my entire paycheck this week (along with some of the money gifted by my parents) will be used to keep the creditors away instead. But, on a more positive note, thanks to my root beer collection (and of course, my parent’s gift), I expect to still have $20 left in hand to carry me through next week. And, if all goes well with the ink cartridge sale, I may even be able to put money in the bank this week … but only time will tell.
Until sometime next week … adios, my fellow ScholarshipPointers

Hi everyone … It’s me again … Matt (aka, Mommasboy, according to Captain J, the blue tight-wearing wonder).

Anyway, as you probably already know, I started the ING Savings Challenge last Friday. Since I’m sure everyone has been waiting with bated breath *wink* to hear how I survived my first week of this challenge, let me spare you all the suspense with a play-by-play summary of the past week:

Day 1: Excited about the savings challenge! I deposited $30 into my ING savings account, keeping only $15 in my wallet for the week. Yes, I can do this … I can do anything!

Day 2: Hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep, completely forgetting about my grand plan to save money by grabbing breakfast at the cafeteria instead of the corner store. So, not only did I not save my coffee/breakfast bar money on Saturday as planned, but I also ended up spending more money that night to purchase “refreshments” for a party. NOT A GOOD START … but great party!

Day 3: Slept in again. Fortunately, no harm done though because I slept until past lunchtime anyway. Hey, what can I say? It was a very late night, and isn’t Sunday supposed to be a day of rest anyway!

Day 4: Overslept yet again, causing me to reach into my ever-dwindling cash supply once again to settle the roar of my stomach. Who’s the genius that invented the snooze button anyway?

Day 5: Do I really need to say it again? You must see the sad pattern by now. Fortunately though, I did have a different kind of awakening on Tuesday afternoon when I glanced into my wallet to find only empty space. I realized at that moment that there was no way I was going to make it through the remainder of the week if I didn’t do something … namely, getting my lazy butt out of bed earlier!

Day 6: SUCCESS! Yes, I finally resisted the urge to hit the snooze button and dragged myself out of bed. Sleepily, I trudged over to the cafeteria to eat breakfast before class. And, believe me, I pigged out (freshman 15 alert!) because I was going to make this trip worth my while! But, I’ll admit it; I made the trip grudgingly and I was NOT a happy camper on this day. So, later that night, I decided to go to Plan B, which as some of you may recall was my idea to search the dorm’s washers/dryers for loose change. Laugh all you want, but I found a whole 62 cents! OK, so it’s still wasn’t going to be enough to save me from my alarm clock the next morning, but on a positive note, it’s 62 cents more than I started the day with.

Day 7: With Plan B not being as fruitful as I hoped, I had not choice but to get up early again. So, I grumbled my way through the day, apologizing to my fellow classmates/friends for my foul mood all day!

Day 8: Week 2 begin … Thank God it’s finally payday!

So, what exactly did I learn by my participation last week?

· I am so not a morning person!

· I cannot subsist on only $15 per week (and still have any friends left).

· The idea of “out of sight, out of mind” really does work, because I didn’t even consider withdrawing the money that I had just deposited in my ING savings account.

And, what’s my new plan for Week 2?

· Well, to start with, I plan to deposit only $25 of my paycheck this week, keeping $20 for the upcoming week instead. Despite the not being so successful last week, I’m still positive about this savings challenge. After all, something saved is better than nothing, right?

· Modify Plan A. Since getting up early every morning to save breakfast money did not seem to be working very well for me, I’m temporarily re-setting my goal to 2 - 3 days per week. Can’t expect to change old habits overnight!

· Continue Plan B. Although the great laundry room search has not proven to be quite as fruitful as I originally hoped, sixty-two cents is still something. So, I’m not abandoning the plan altogether yet. Instead, I now have a coffee cup in my dorm room that I am filling with loose change. I’m thinking this could be my emergency breakfast money, if needed, or if all goes well, it could be a future deposit into my ING savings account.

· Enact Plan C. Yes, I have added another component to my grand plan. I’m finally going to clean my dorm room, and return all the empty cans (root beer, of course) that are stinking about the room. By the looks of my room right now (especially the huge, filled bag of empties stuffed in the corner), I’m thinking this effort my actually push me over the $500 savings goal in one shot! And, besides, my parents are planning to visit next weekend, so I can’t allow my mother see the room in this shape … after all, as Captain J so astutely figured out, it is all about keeping Mom happy and quiet!

Until next week … I remain $55 richer as a result of this competition!

Hi Everyone,   My name is Matt, and I am a freshman at Brown University.

While I sat here contemplating my reasons for deciding to join the $500 savings challenge, I started to hear my mother’s voice in my head saying, “It’s about time you become more responsible with money, young man!”    Oh, man, I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that line over the years.  Maybe it’s me but I guess I just never quite understood her point..   After all, don’t you actually need to have money before you worry about being responsible with it?

So what if I choose to buy a $1.50 breakfast bar and a $1.25 coffee every day at the corner store rather than getting my lazy butt out of bed early enough to grab it in the cafeteria?    The extra fifteen minutes of sleep in the morning is priceless to a sleep deprived student.   And, what is the big deal if I forget to remove my money out of the pocket of my jeans before I throw them in the wash?   Like the squeaky clean, loose change that inevitably ends up lost at the bottom of the washer was really going to make me rich anyway.

Sorry, I think I digressed a bit.   Anyway, after much thought, here are my top five reasons (what were you expecting, my name is not David Letterman) for joining this saving challenge.

# 5.   Saving money is the smart thing to do.  See, my college education is already paying off !!!
# 4.   I’ve always been a sucker for a good challenge, and we’ll just leave it at that.
# 3.   I was afraid Captain J would show up at my door in that hideous get-up if I didn’t agree to do the challenge.
# 2.   To see the look on my Mom’s face when I go home for Christmas break and tell her how much I saved.  I may even render her speechless (bonus!).
# 1.   I need the $500 scholarship.  Eat your heart out,  Victoria Fiorentino, this big one is MINE!

Anyway, now that you know my reasons, I probably should tell you my grand plan for savings (not so grand, but it’s a plan nonetheless).  I started today with a $30 deposit into my ING account.   Honestly, it was a bit tough to hit the button to make this deposit, knowing I’m now  left with only $15 until my next whopping paycheck.   But, I did it … because it had to be done if I want to succeed at the $500 yearend goal.  I guess I’ll be getting up earlier on Monday to hit the cafeteria (for a savings of $2.75 per day … ka-ching, ka-ching).    And, starting tomorrow, I faithfully plan to start checking the bottoms of the washing machines in the dorm’s laundry rooms, because I know there must be more students like me out there.   From there … who knows … but I’m resourceful, and I’m sure I’ll come up with something!

shh..

Points code: MOMMASBOY