Student Credit Card and Credit Education Blog

Hi everyone … It’s me again … Matt (aka, Mommasboy, according to Captain J, the blue tight-wearing wonder).

Anyway, as you probably already know, I started the ING Savings Challenge last Friday. Since I’m sure everyone has been waiting with bated breath *wink* to hear how I survived my first week of this challenge, let me spare you all the suspense with a play-by-play summary of the past week:

Day 1: Excited about the savings challenge! I deposited $30 into my ING savings account, keeping only $15 in my wallet for the week. Yes, I can do this … I can do anything!

Day 2: Hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep, completely forgetting about my grand plan to save money by grabbing breakfast at the cafeteria instead of the corner store. So, not only did I not save my coffee/breakfast bar money on Saturday as planned, but I also ended up spending more money that night to purchase “refreshments” for a party. NOT A GOOD START … but great party!

Day 3: Slept in again. Fortunately, no harm done though because I slept until past lunchtime anyway. Hey, what can I say? It was a very late night, and isn’t Sunday supposed to be a day of rest anyway!

Day 4: Overslept yet again, causing me to reach into my ever-dwindling cash supply once again to settle the roar of my stomach. Who’s the genius that invented the snooze button anyway?

Day 5: Do I really need to say it again? You must see the sad pattern by now. Fortunately though, I did have a different kind of awakening on Tuesday afternoon when I glanced into my wallet to find only empty space. I realized at that moment that there was no way I was going to make it through the remainder of the week if I didn’t do something … namely, getting my lazy butt out of bed earlier!

Day 6: SUCCESS! Yes, I finally resisted the urge to hit the snooze button and dragged myself out of bed. Sleepily, I trudged over to the cafeteria to eat breakfast before class. And, believe me, I pigged out (freshman 15 alert!) because I was going to make this trip worth my while! But, I’ll admit it; I made the trip grudgingly and I was NOT a happy camper on this day. So, later that night, I decided to go to Plan B, which as some of you may recall was my idea to search the dorm’s washers/dryers for loose change. Laugh all you want, but I found a whole 62 cents! OK, so it’s still wasn’t going to be enough to save me from my alarm clock the next morning, but on a positive note, it’s 62 cents more than I started the day with.

Day 7: With Plan B not being as fruitful as I hoped, I had not choice but to get up early again. So, I grumbled my way through the day, apologizing to my fellow classmates/friends for my foul mood all day!

Day 8: Week 2 begin … Thank God it’s finally payday!

So, what exactly did I learn by my participation last week?

· I am so not a morning person!

· I cannot subsist on only $15 per week (and still have any friends left).

· The idea of “out of sight, out of mind” really does work, because I didn’t even consider withdrawing the money that I had just deposited in my ING savings account.

And, what’s my new plan for Week 2?

· Well, to start with, I plan to deposit only $25 of my paycheck this week, keeping $20 for the upcoming week instead. Despite the not being so successful last week, I’m still positive about this savings challenge. After all, something saved is better than nothing, right?

· Modify Plan A. Since getting up early every morning to save breakfast money did not seem to be working very well for me, I’m temporarily re-setting my goal to 2 – 3 days per week. Can’t expect to change old habits overnight!

· Continue Plan B. Although the great laundry room search has not proven to be quite as fruitful as I originally hoped, sixty-two cents is still something. So, I’m not abandoning the plan altogether yet. Instead, I now have a coffee cup in my dorm room that I am filling with loose change. I’m thinking this could be my emergency breakfast money, if needed, or if all goes well, it could be a future deposit into my ING savings account.

· Enact Plan C. Yes, I have added another component to my grand plan. I’m finally going to clean my dorm room, and return all the empty cans (root beer, of course) that are stinking about the room. By the looks of my room right now (especially the huge, filled bag of empties stuffed in the corner), I’m thinking this effort my actually push me over the $500 savings goal in one shot! And, besides, my parents are planning to visit next weekend, so I can’t allow my mother see the room in this shape … after all, as Captain J so astutely figured out, it is all about keeping Mom happy and quiet!

Until next week … I remain $55 richer as a result of this competition!