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It may seem like a strange way to achieve some level of wealth, but you would be surprised by how much you can save if you just dump small amounts of money everyday into a piggy bank.

OK, it doesn't have to be a glass bowl shaped like a pig, but any place you can use to pile up the loose change, and single dollar bills that seem to accumulate throughout the day. You will be amazed at how much you can save, and by how easy it is to save that money. Think about it, nobody looks to that change in the bag and says "hey, lets lug this around all day."

Me personally, I know that when I do carry cash, I will typically end up with roughly a dollar a day that I will have in change. Most of the time I save it, but there are a few times where I end up spending it, and will regret it later when maybe that change pile is the only thing I have to spend that week. So here are a few tips on saving that money.

1. Don't walk by vending machines! The easiest place to spend loose change is in a vending machine, where all that separates you from a tasty snack is a mere 80 cents. If you work in an office where you have vending machines, and tend to use them a lot, just think of how much you can save by skipping that one trip. If you spend 80 cents a day, and you work five days a week, the math dictates you are spending four dollars a week. If you skip that trip though, you will spend four dollars less a week, or sixteen dollars a month. May not sound like much, but I will show you other ways to save that change.

2. In other situations where you may use change, just use a five dollar bill if you can. Think of it as a sort of a savings plan, where you are chopping your larger more desirable bills into lesser bills that you may just shove into your pocket, or the back of your wallet when you get your change back. When you get to that thruway toll, pay for groceries at the store, or at a restaurant, don't fall to that urge of getting rid of loose change! If you pay a 30 cent toll with a five dollar bill, and you keep the change to put into a jar, you have 4.70 going into that jar, instead of just handing over 30 cents.

Ok, so you have a large stack of coins on your counter, how do you go about making sure they will go into the piggy bank or some sort of change jar?

If you want, use a clear container, that way you can measure your progress, and you can actually see your savings add up. After a few days of seeing all that change adding up, you will be more tempted to save it, and see how much more you can add to that collection of change.

Set some sort of goal for yourself, and don't do anything to your pile until you reach that goal. If you want to save money for a rainy day, get the biggest jar you can find, and then don't do anything with it for six months. By then, you should have a few hundred dollars in there, assuming you are being aggressive with your savings. That is, saving at least one dollar a day in change, and one dollar bills that you may have left over.

If you have kids, save with them. Teach them how saving money can be an effective way of making money, and that saving is something that will help them in the long run. Doing this with your kids will encourage you to save your money, and it will be fun for the kids too.

Saving money, or at least not spending it all at once can be easier than you think. Just set realistic goals, and make sure you can commit to it, and watch your savings pile up!

Learn more about this author, Cody Hodge.
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