Piggybank Challenge

Last summer I read about Val’s piggybank challenge.   Living in a house with three kids, each of whom own at least one piggybank, I thought this challenge would be impossible for me.  I always give my spare change to them.  Would it be morally okay for me, their mom and provider, to keep the spare change for myself?  And I didn’t even have my own piggybank!  So I just kind of forgot about it until one day I was in line at Michael’s and spied this cute little piggy:

At first the kids were slightly jealous of the new piggybank on the block, and they didn’t like the fact that mom was putting money in it.  But soon, they were excited about helping me find orphan quarters in the laundry, payment for my services we’d say.  Three cents found on the kitchen counter was more than fair for making dinner.   And they would help me periodically dump the change from the “poor box” into it.  (Yes, that is what my kids call the cupholders in the minivan thanks to the movie Robin Hood.)

In a few short weeks the little pig was completely full!  I needed something else to hold change, so I went on walkabout in my house and borrowed an old dusty jug from my husband’s office.  The kids continued to put anything they found—pesos, play money, and even a $2 bill—into the jug.  When I got the reminder email to count my money a few days ago, I was pretty excited to see how much it all added up to.

Now, you moms out there know that I couldn’t count this money during daylight hours without the children asking for their share, so I counted the quarters out separately, $81 including golden dollars and the $2 bill.

And the kids promptly got out their quarter collecting books and pillaged my stacks of quarters.  Now their books are looking much more complete.

We took the rest of the change to the bank and the total was $55.45, so all in all I was able to save $136.45. 

Now the fun part, what to buy with all that “spare change?”

Actually I’m going to donate the money to the Orphaned Wildlife Rescue Center near where I live.  And I’ll just buy what I was planning (I keep a list, for real!).  My favorite new line coming out is Story by Carrie Bloomston and I just saw a custom Aurifil thread box to go with it, cue angels singing from the heavens.

Thanks, Val, for letting me join in the fun, and we are already putting change in for next year!