Saving Mr. Lincoln December 2013 Update
See the cute snowman as a tree-topper in the photo above? This isn’t my tree, but a beautifully decorated tree in a retail store. But, I did take the picture!
Notice the snowman has a long, orange carrot nose? I chose this photo as the “feature” photo for Saving Mr. Lincoln – December 2013 Update for two reasons:
- Because it’s the holiday season and I wanted a festive red and green photo
- And, because the long carrot nose reminds me of Pinocchio and the story of how his nose grew when he told a fib.
Well, I’ve told a fib and I’m confessing now: my Saving Mr. Lincoln strategy has NOT resulted in a savings of $940.00 as reported in my Saving Mr. Lincoln – November 2013 Update. Up until today, it’s netted only $900.00.
Yep. I made a mistake. Me, the math genius. I’ve mentioned before that my father was a genius and I didn’t inherit any of his smarts and now, sweet peeps, it is blatantly apparent!
What happened, you asked?
Well, I counted the $40.00 I saved in the very first Saving Mr. Lincoln post twice. Once in the original Saving Mr. Lincoln post and then again further down the trail. In the second post, Saving Mr. Lincoln – March 2013 Update, I reported that I’d saved an additional $70.00 for a total of $110.00 and from that point on, I counted the February savings as $40.00 and the March savings as $110.00 (instead of $70.00)!
I didn’t catch my error until I was trying to reconcile my deposit for Saving Mr. Lincoln – December 2013 Update!
Is your head spinning, yet? Mine is…
If this is your first time reading our blog, my sincerest apologies to you as a new reader! {grin}. While I’m not a rocket scientist, I do have a normal IQ, so this shouldn’t be this hard! But, in addition to saving my Lincoln’s, I’ve saved $1 bills and I’ve saved all my coins. So, all this money goes into one savings account and the total never matches what I report in this monthly update.
Somewhere along the way, in my high finance world, I didn’t catch my error until now! {grin}
Anyway, a quick “refresher” about this monthly series: I’ve saved the $5 bills (Mr. Lincoln’s) that I receive as change from a purchase or that I receive as a gift and put them in a savings account. It’s been a painless way to save money and Charlie joined me in March, so the total amount saved includes his contributions to the challenge (a gift to me, but he gets the $5 bills as change from a purchase).
For the month of December, we’ve saved $85.00. The new (revised) total for our Saving Mr. Lincoln account is $985.00:
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February 2013 – $40.00
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March 2013 – $70.00
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April 2013 – $80.00
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May 2013 – $70.00
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June 2013 – $145.00
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July 2013 – $100.00
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August 2013 – $130.00
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September 2013 – $125.00
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October 2013 – $75.00
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November 2013 – $65.00
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December 2013 – $85.00
I wish that saving this money meant that I was spending less. But, it doesn’t. I still spend a lot of money – too much money! And, for the holidays, I’ve really gone overboard! I’m adopting a new spending strategy to my holiday gift giving next year. Too late for this year – I’ve already purchased 98% of my gifts!
I need to give credit for this idea to Charlie – he really does attempt to “keep me in line” and give me a reality check occasionally. I spend the money; he pays the bills. So, sometimes I’m not even aware of what I’m spending! His idea for next year’s holiday gift giving is this:
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Establish an amount that we want to spend for all gift-giving.
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From that total, assign a limit to each individual.
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Before going shopping, take that much money out of the bank and pay cash.
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When I’m out of cash, gift-buying comes to a screeching halt!!!
I actually like his idea. It will make me much more aware and accountable of what I spend. And, it will make me more selective in my gift-buying, because I’ll want to get the maximum value for my dollars and choose the best gift(s).
Anyway, what has your Christmas holiday spending been like for you this year? Have you broken the bank, too? Are credit card bills going to roll in starting in January, crimping your family budget for the next couple of months until you can get caught up?
If I’m being honest with myself, and not telling a fib triggering a Pinocchio nose {grin}, I’ve blown it this year and need to strive to do better.
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other Saving Mr. Lincoln posts)
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