Saving in a Whisky bottle

Murphy_The_Cat

I have a giant whisky bottle in my bedroom that a put my 1, 2, 5 & 20p pieces in and I also put in a £1 coin for every time I have more than 1 alcoholic drink in a day.

It takes approx 2.5 to 3 years to fill and this weekend I had the joy of counting out £732.20 in change.

The only house rule is that when the bottle is full it has to be spent on an indulgence.

MTC

p.s. it's old school saving but don't knock it !

madfrenchgirl

mmm

Ok fair enough, but do you know that those 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p coins are misisng ont he monetary market for those average 1.5 years that you keep them in there? If there is not enough of them circulating, the govt has to produce some more, and guess how they pay for it? They pay with taxpayer's money. True that this cash can be pretty annoying, but I try to buy something in full with those annoying little coins whenever I can so my wallet is not that heavy! DH has had coffe jars full of them for the past 3 years too, always been trying to get him to count it and bring it to the bank, but noooooo cant be bothered. ;-)

Bendybops19

Murphy_the_cat, i do exactly the same!!! And i also use a giant Whisky bottle!!!!!

madfrenchgirl - i dont really think it matters all that much, its not like our taxes have gone up because of people saving up their own pennies is it.

elisebutt65

I try and put 20's, 50's and £1's in as well, so really looking forward to emptying mine next month - not looking forward to trying to bank it though :rolleyes:

madfrenchgirl

no i dont blame taxes going up on you guys... LOL far from that! people have been doing this for ages, it is just that this type of thing costed quite a bit to french gvt when i was a kid, so if igured it would cost the same to the UK really... not blaming anyone, only stating a fact.

just a reflective thoguht:

http://money.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4566873-110996,00.html

Bendybops19

Sorry madfrench girl, i hope i didnt sound rude

Murphy_the_cat, because its such a big amount, where are you going to cash it? When its just a small amount and i desperately need cash, i take it to one of those coinstar machines, but for so much, i wouldnt wanna lose the percentage they take!

rchddap1

OH and I also do a similar thing....except its an old quality street plastic bottle that sits in a cupboard. We do try and fill it with all our change...but OH every now and then swipes some of the larger coins for his lunches or treats at work.

madfrenchgirl

Bendypops,

No its ok, I think between us two, I am the one who sounded the rudest... ;-)

Also, why cant the shops price things in a round way? Instead of 99p, lets be honest and price it a pounds (or more MSE like: 90p). it is because of those stupid prices that we end up with the loose change! i am trying to avoid allt his by paying everything by card, no cash just receipt I shred every month after doing my bookkeeping, and I dont need to write down where everything goes cos it will be on my statement! ;-)

grumbler

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

It takes approx 2.5 to 3 years to fill and this weekend I had the joy of counting out £732.20 in change.

Some maths :

1. With average balance of £365 you have lost about £50 of interest over 3 years.
2. You have more than 1 alcoholic drink every two days out of three (or even four out of five) :eek:

Murphy_The_Cat

ok folks whisky bottle saving cat style

Madfrenchgirl - annoying the goverment is reason alone for saving in a whisky bottle

elisebutt65 - counting the money is great fun and is good for the soul. Banking it however is a bit of a pain in the bum.

bendypops19 - i deposit my contents into my sons junior savings account at his building society and then at a later date i do a cheque to transfer the money to my account and spend it. A quick word of advice, talk to the tellers at the building society VERY nicely and ask them when it would be most convienient for them to take the money in - also after the deed has been done a box of Roses (or similar) always goes down well. Oh & make sure you have bagged it up properly.
Coinstar machines - pah, the work of the devil.

rchddap1 - what, you're oh raids the tin - divorce, the only option open to you :j

Grumbler - good figures but,
as both myself & Mrs Cat contribute to the bottle, your figures are a bit skewed. £732 in 3 years is £4.69 per week or £2.35 each per week. Given that it would cost each of us £1 per week in pay and display to bank it (if we could be bothered, and to be honest for £2.35 I couldn't) it would cost us a great deal more than the interest gained).
As for the booze intake, the Cat housefold is an even opportunity bottle filler and Mrs Cat follows the same rules as me (but "ahem" forgets to put money in from time to time). Neither of us drinks during the week, only at weekends, but on holidays we probably both have more than 1 alcaholic drink most days. It is very surprising how it adds up. I am currently trying to get my 22 month old son to put a £1 in every time he has more than 1 glass of milk a day but so far no luck !

I'm also thinking about doing a "XXX hardcore" version of whisky bottle saving where once the bottle is full I take out the 1p coins and replace them with coins of a higher value.

MTC

skylight

We do the same! Empty it either when we get desperate (!) or usually once a year as our holiday spending money.

Ours has neve been full though.........