Piggy Bank Challenge 2017-2018

This will the 5th year of the Piggy Bank challenge @ Val's Quilting Studio, but only the 4th year for Sharla and I. We have done well each year and so we will continue and do it again this year. We used real banks the first year which were a monkey and a duck(McGee and DiNozzo...yes we are NCIS fans), and while I still love these banks they were difficult to use.

The last two years with have used a boxes I found at JoAnn's and they worked much better. Well I think Sharla used a cup to collect most of her change, but that is because she couldn't remember to take the box off of her desk.

I realize the boxes are boring, but they work and I can set mine on my desk, so when we do our monthly money/budget stuff I can drop a $20 in it. Since we gather much less change these days, I try to put a $20 in it every month (approx. $5 per week). If there is leftover money at the end of the month I might drop a little more into it. I can also still toss my change into it as well. But I may make a pouch this year to toss my change into, because it beats up the inside of the box a lot.

I would say we are going to buy more fabric with the money we save, but who knows what the year will bring. We serviced our sewing machines this year with part of the money so it would be nice to do that again next year. Maybe will take a class or buy some new cool tool. But it really doesn't matter what we buy, the important part is that I save more than Sharla (just kidding...well sort of...ok not kidding).  If you want to join the challenge simply check out Val's page. It really up to you if you save a little or a lot.

4th Annual Piggy Banks Savings Reveal

Sorry for so many posts today, but this will be last one, at least I think it will be. Today we are to reveal how much we saved in out piggy banks this year. We started saving last July and it has really added up this year. And all totaled, Sharla and I did really well. Since we changed how we do things, neither of us get as much change as we did in the past, so we both started tucking $5 per week or $20 per month in our banks then more as we had left over in the monthly budget.

So who saved more....me, but really only by a tiny bit and only because I found a stash of garage sale change left from a couple of years ago and threw it into my bank. I saved $423.89 and Sharla saved $410.85, so a total of  $844.74 (OH BOY). And we've already used  a nice chunk of that to have our sewing machines serviced.  Since we've been trying keep out fabric purchases to a minimum, that seemed like a good way to spend at least part of the money. And it was time for them to be serviced. It was a nice way to cover that cost without having to  adjust anything else in the budget. Now does that mean we won't be buying any fabric, NO.

We have already ordered a fat quarter bundle of Kaffe Fassett Collective Spicy. It has 30 fat quarters in it and we are splitting them so we each get 15. We have also already ordered the backing fabric to go with the bundle. We have the patterned picked out, but still need to order the sashing fabric. Here is the bundle

I picked the Red Rolled Paper as my backing fabric.

Sharla picked the Tomato Shoal (or as she calls it red fishies).

After we buy the sashing fabric for these quilts and our Tula pink quilts we will still have some left over, but we've not decided what to buy with that as of yet. To be honest we both really looked and couldn't find anything that just jumped out at us, so it may just sit until something does.

We did really well this year by consistently adding money each month. If we counted only the change, I had about $90 and Sharla had about $20. We are big time budget people (yeah Dave Ramsey), so any money tossed into the piggy bank was out of our fun money. So we weren't robbing Peter to pay Paul. We are both excited about our Spicy quilts, and I'm sure they will get onto our to do list very soon. In the mean time, I am just happy that we didn't turn all into fabric. The remaining money may also go to buy some other supplies like thread, batting, etc.

I am linking up with Val's Quilting Studio for the Piggy Bank reveal. If you want to see how others did go check out her page.

4th Annual Piggy Bank Savings = Money for Quilting Challenge 2017

Last week I revealed our savings from last year's piggy bank challenge and now it is time to sign up for this year's challenge. Sharla and I have done this for two years and although we didn't save as much last year as we did the year before, we are signing up for it again. But I'm changing the rules just a little for us. We used to stop every weekday morning for coffee and every afternoon for tea at a local McDonald's, but trying to cut back on calories and spending we've changed that practice and rarely stop now. That was our main source of change. My plan this year is to weekly drop some paper money into my box along with my change. I am hoping to drop a minimum of $5 per week or at least $20 per month.

The first year I got very cute little banks which were a monkey and a duck which we named McGee and DiNozzo, which is what we still call our savings.

Now they are super cute, but very hard to empty especially paper money, so last year I bought two boxes at JoAnn's to use. These work much better. I keep mine on my desk and Sharla keeps hers on her dresser. They held up well, so we are going to use them again this year. 

As of right now, my box has $5.68 in it so I'm off for a good start to this year. Which is change I found cleaning out my nightstand and this week's $5. And in case you're wondering yes we still have the original banks, but now they are just used as decoration to make us smile. If you want to play along, find yourself a bank, cup, jar or box and start saving. you can check out the link up at Val's Quilting Studio.

Piggy Bank Challenge - Reveal

It is time to tell everyone how much Sharla and I saved last year with our piggy bank challenge. I am sad to say it wasn't as much as the year before, but we changed several of our buying habits and just got less change. However, a penny saved is a penny earned and we are happy that we saved what we did.

So for the year I saved $127 and Sharla saved $106, which totals to $233, which we have already spent. It didn't take us any time at all to pick out what we wanted, and we were able to catch a couple of sales, which made those pennies go even further.

Do you want to know what we bought? Well we both love Blueberry Park and we both love the Bright bundle, so we both got a fat quarter bundle. We are still what pattern we want to use for them, but right now the top choice is Big and Bold by Cozy Quilts Designs. As you can see below we've not even unwrapped the bundle, because it just arrived.

Next Sharla has been eyeing North Woods by Kate Spain for several weeks, and so she decided that she was going to get it. And although it is a Christmas collection, the fabrics aren't all Santa's and reindeer so I think she will use it for more than Decembers. We created a pattern off of something she saw but then we couldn't find again. So we used EQ7 to create a layout that will work for her. And she just had to open the bundle when it arrived, what can I say she gets a kick out of petting fabric.

And lastly, if you read my post last year I was eyeing a line called Tucker Prairie, but somehow I just never bought it. I love the colors, but whenever I would go to purchase it something else would catch my eye.  Yes I know my eye wanders a lot. When I was shopping I saw lots of things I liked, but I kept thinking of a pattern I purchased during May is for Makers called Picket Fence. And I wanted to make it and I found a couple of Tucker Prairie layer cakes and as they say the rest is history.

I still need to buy the background fabric for the Picket Fence and backing for all three of these, but for now I've used up my budget and we are very happy with our purchases. We will be doing the challenge again next year, because it is a great way to save a little or a lot depending on how much change crosses your path.  If you want to see what others saved you can check out the linky party at Val's Quilting Studio.

Piggy Bank Challenge 2015-2016

Ok it is time to start saving again for the Piggy Bank Challenge 2015-2016 or the 3rd annual, which ever way you want to list it.  If you read last week Sharla and I were able to save over $450 together last year. A pretty awesome feat if I do say so myself. So we are signing up for the challenge again this year. But we are making a little change. While we love McGee and DiNozzo, they are difficult to use. Dumping a change purse full of coins is time consuming through their little slots and they are tight and don't want to give the money back to us. Sharla ended up tearing a bill trying to get it out of McGee.

So we are switching to boxes. I changed at the end of last year, and it was so much easier to just dump my change into my box on my desk.  If they get full before the year is up, we will empty them into a zip lock bag.  Here are the boxes we are using, I just got them at JoAnns. Sharla's is the burgundy/green and mine is the purple/green.

Now for what we're going to buy with the money we save, that is easy.....FABRIC!!!! We are pretty set with our supplies, so that leaves the thing we are really love and that is fabric. We will look at lines that are available next year when we count the money.

I will say that we were successful because we didn't use our change. Whenever we got it, it went into a coin purse and we dumped that weekly.  It was a big change of habit for me, because I always used my change to pay. But holding it back really adds up quicker than even I realized.  We did toss in dollars on occasion. I think we will try to throw more paper money in this year to see if we can break $500 next year. Also it doesn't that Sharla and I are competitive, so we would often count what we dumped and lord it over the other if we more. I know we can be silly, but competition does help.

Now if you want to join the challenge, get a bank or box and start pinching those pennies and also link up with Val @ Val's Quilting Studio, which I will be doing today.

Piggy Bank Challenge - Finish

Ok Sharla and I got a couple of piggy banks last July and have been saving all of our change. I found a cute little monkey for Sharla and a duck for me and we named them McGee and DiNozzo. Yes we are NCIS fans. We made a conscientious to save all of our change. At the beginning we were dumping change about once a week from our change purses, but as time went on we did it less often. But still trying our best not to use our change. I will admit I stopped using my bank, because it was easier to dump the change into a box on my desk but I did consistently save my change.

During the last part of the year we changed our routine somewhat and Sharla wasn't getting much opportunity to get change, so when we found a jug of change that my dad had started we added it to her batch.  We also decided to split the total, but since we are within $6 of each other, that really isn't necessary.

So here is the break down

Now that is some savings!!! I will admit that at one point this year my nephew had been collecting quarters from his tips and I bought a bunch off of him and dropped them into my box. I also traded him some big bills for $1s and that is where I got my bills. Sharla started dropping in bills when she wasn't getting much change. Over all we did wonderfully. Unfortunately my bank no longer has coin counters on site.  So I'm not sure how we're going to convert all of it to bills, but we're going to have to, because we both have our eyes on things we want.

Sharla is eyeing Farmhouse by Fig Tree Quilts

or Canyon by Kate Spain

And I'm debating between Tucker Prairie by One Canoe Two

or Eden by Tula Pink

But all of these are coming soon, so we have some time to decide. And who knows we might be able to kick in just a little extra and get them all. It was a fun challenge and I was really surprised by how much we ended up saving. And I'm sure we are going to do it again soon. I'm linking up with Val @ Val's Quilting Studio.

2nd Annual Piggy Bank Challenge

I was invited to join the Piggy Bank Challenge over at Val's Quilting Studio. And since I need all I can save to cover fabric costs these day I thought it would be fun to join.  I talked to my sister and she thought it would be fun too.  We were just going to buy a plastic jar to hold our savings, but tonight I was at wally world and found the cutest banks.

Mine is a little yellow duckie, no big reason for a duck other than it was super cute. Now part of the challenge is to include your "goal" of what you would buy with the savings.  For me it is pretty simple, fabric is the top on the list.  But I thought about it for a while and I think if I save enough I may go with a Aurifil thread collection.  Either way, fabric or thread, I know I will put it to good use.

Now Sharla's bank is a monkey...and for those not familiar with her, it is because her nick name growing up was monkey.  That is just what my dad called her.  I sort of thought it would fade away when he died, but my nephew has picked it up and still calls her that.  She wants fabric, first and foremost with her savings, but she said she might go for something else, it will depend on how much is saved.

Now the monkey is slightly larger than the duck, but I figure if I totally fill it, then I will dump it into something else until the challenge is complete.  As of right now, I split the change I had on my night stand between both banks, and Sharla had a couple of fives on her desk that she added as well.  So we are well on our way. The next big thing is I think they need names....hmmm maybe Leroy and Jethro, Crockett and Tubbs, Lucy and Ethel, or maybe Felix and Oscar.  Going to have to think about this some more.  I'm open to suggestions.

You can join along if you want and you'll find all the info at Val's Quilting Studio.