Ways to Save Money for a Major Purchase

My daughter turns 16 in three months.  She will have her learners permit at that time.  OMG.  I am way too young to have a daughter who is about to start driving people!  I mean come on now! How and when did this happen???

With that said, my daughter informs me that I need to pony up 1/2 for her car when she gets her actual license next summer.  Not in those terms of course, but, you get the drift…  Well, ummm, yeah. I’m a single mom who makes next to squat for what is supposed to be a well paid position. Internal transfers. I don’t recommend them!

So, what’s a ma supposed to do?  Well, this mom is working on different ways to pull in a few extra bucks here and there.  One of them is, I’m cutting out my morning routine of buying Belvita Biscuits from our little store area at my job.  I also decided to stop buying lunch out one day a week and buying a drink from same store area three – four times a week.  This adds up people!

With the money I’m saving from there, I’ll be putting that money away to put towards her car.  Any time I deviate from that, I do not add it to the pot at the end of the two weeks. Say I buy lunch one day. I cannot put that money into the savings amount.  This way, I’m still not counting on that money and it’s going to something worthwhile.  So, how much will I save just by doing that?  Well, lets see:

Belvita Biscuits – $1.50 per day. $7.50 per week. $15 every two weeks. $390 per year. WHAT???

Drink – $1.90 per day. $5.70 per week. $11.40 every two weeks. $296.40 per year. Ummmm.

Lunch – $11 per week. $22 every two weeks. $572. per year. Kill me now..

That right there is $1258.40 into savings for the year!  Are you kidding me?  This is actually the first time that I’ve calculated that out and I’m slightly sick right now.  I’ll have to come back later.

Ok, four hours later and I’m finally back.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not opposed to buying lunch out every once in awhile. And I will still buy myself a drink.  Otherwise, as much as I love my daughter?  What the heck am I working for?  Yes.  Momma needs money for herself too!  So, I may only buy lunch out once or twice a month. Maybe something that is not as expensive?  I know $11 doesn’t seem like a lot, but, ummm, yeah… As for my drinks, I do not count them if they are part of my grocery shopping :).

I am going back to listing items on eBay to sell and may start getting more of an inventory going as well.  Gotta do what ya gotta do!

You know… Kids are awfully expensive. I tried putting her up on eBay a few times. But, there’s this pesky thing we call “illegal”.  Apparently selling your teenager on eBay is taboo.  I mean, she’s a good kid. She does work well.  Honor Roll student. She’s got determination and grit. A whole lotta attitude. She gets that from me, so, I can’t complain too much.  But, I bet that all sold you guys right?  You’d buy her if the government would let me sell her, right? Ahh, well…  I guess I’ll keep her. Only have a few more years. Have to cherish them while we can.  Horns and all…  And I’m not criticizing her!  Honest.  Heck, I have horns too! I’m sure if they had eBay when I was younger, my mom would have successfully sold me. We didn’t have as many pesky laws back then.  Just sayin…

As I was saying, I’ve been looking at a few options. I plan on doing the $5 challenge as well.  Every time I come across a $5 bill in my change, it will get put away.  That will add up y’all!  I’m not sure the car dealership will be happy getting a lot of fives.

Every paycheck, I also get a roll or two of dimes. Sometimes, when I get change I’ll ask for a roll of dimes in place of a $5. I’m doing that one savings of filling up a two liter bottle. By the time you’re done, you should have $500 – $700 saved.  Any time I get coin change, I’ll ask for dimes instead of quarters.  Although, I do have another jar that I’ve been putting quarters in too.

So, I am obviously open minded in which ways I save my money. What other ways would you suggest saving money? What’s worked for you?