Step 3: Make A Plan For Filling Your Money Mason Jar
One popular strategy for filling your jar is to increase the amount of money you put in by a dollar each week. If that sounds like it will cause your saving process to be too slow, or that it will end up ramping up to too high of a weekly payment near the end of your project, there are alternatives. You could set a fixed amount to deposit and stick to it. For example, $25 or $50. Or, you could decide to double what you put in each week, but reset every month or every 2 months. For example, $1 in week 1, $2 in week 2, $4 in week 3, $8 in week 4, $16 in week 5, $32 in week 6 and so on.
If your purchase is on the higher end of the price range, you may find that a steady flow of midsized payments makes the most sense. Be sure, though, to take a careful look at your personal budget and remain realistic regarding what you can afford to take out of your paycheck each month.
You can tentatively choose a method, calculate how long that method will take and then modify your plan if it will take too long to reach your goal or won’t fit your budget.
For example, increasing your payments by a dollar each week will result in $1,300 saved in a year, while with the doubling method suggested above (assuming a reset every 2 months), you’ll save $3,315 in a year. For a $5,000 goal, the second option might make much more sense, but $128 in a week might simply be too much for many.
There are also some practicalities to consider when it comes to acquiring the physical cash to put in your jar. If you aren’t getting paid in cash, and you don’t want to head to a brick-and-mortar bank on a weekly basis in order to withdraw money, you should probably choose amounts that can be easily withdrawn from most ATMS (for example, $20, $50, $100). Note that there is often a transaction fee for ATM withdrawals.
If you’re going to use an ATM for this project, you’ll want to find a good bank that will let you avoid these fees. If you do get paid in cash, but tend not to receive certain bills – for example, $1 bills – you’ll also want to factor that into your plan. Putting an amount like $64 into the jar might be a major inconvenience.
Key Takeaways:
- Play with the math for a few different deposit plans before deciding on one.
- Choose how much you will deposit each week based on both your budget and your goal.
- Be aware of ATM transaction fees and find a bank that waives them.
Take into account your access to cash and to certain bill denominations when making your plan.
