There is a lot to said for putting your spare change to work for you. Even if you’re working your way out of debt, or you are already pinching pennies so hard that the copper fuses together, the Mason Jar Money Method helps you make serious financial progress even when you have little to save each month.
The Mason Jar Money Method can be fun for everyone in family since you actually see your savings grow week to week and it’s right in front of you, not just an obscure figure in a bank somewhere. I recently read that the physicality of money, (actually touching it and seeing it) is more psychologically powerful than the concept of money on its own. (For more on this, I recommend reading the books Pocket Your Dollars and Zero Down Your Debt.)
Physically handing over paper money seems more “real” than swiping a card, and can even physically register as subtle pain for the spender. Watching your collection of greenbacks grow in the jar might be more psychologically stimulating than moving decimal points in an online bank account.
The Mason Jar Money Method is so “old school,” and that’s why I like it, it’s simple and it’s quite frankly- fun! It always makes me think of Pixar’s Up when I throw my weekly money in the jar:
(Up happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time..cue the piano interlude and I cry like an idiot)
I love the Mason Jar Money Method because it’s not only fun to do, but it’s easy to start, even if you’re broke. All you need is a mason jar or similar and a few bucks.
The basic plan starts with just $1 on the first week and you can ease your way into saving big bucks. For each week of the plan, you save an extra dollar.
Week 1=$1. Week 2=$2. Week 3=$3..and so on. Of course, by the end of the plan you’ll be putting away $52 in one week, but you’ll have weeks of time to lead up to the biggest saves, which takes the sting out of saving those extra bucks each week!
Best of all, when you’re finished, you’ll have well over $1300 in the jar to spend on something special- a vacation, holiday travel or that emergency fund you know you should have but haven’t started!
If you’ve missed starting your Mason Jar of Money on January 1, no problem! You can either play catchup (do you have an extra $1 or 2 lying around?) or find another holiday or milestone to save towards.
I’ve made it easy as pie to calculate your Mason Jar Money Method by starting with just .25, .5 or $1 with a free printable below!
How would you celebrate your next birthday, Valentine’s Day, summer vacation or Christmas shopping if you had $1300 in the bank? If you have a few quarters lying around, you can start today!
To start your Mason Jar Money Method you need a giant jar and click to download the cheat sheet below!
Click To Download As A PDF: Mason Jar Money Method – FrugalBeautiful.com
Update: My accountant Fiancé who helped me with the calculations did some travel research- for the $1 plan we could plan a weekend getaway to San Antonio for $1300… a nice one too! That’s something we could get excited about for a few dollars a week. So who knows what you can come up with your mason jar!
Additional Resources:
I would love to do this! I have a piggy bank that I toss all of my little change and cash into at the end of the week, but maybe having something clear so that I could SEE the money growing would be more motivational to remember and stay on top of it.
I would probably use the money on a trip to somewhere warm with a beach by that point! Maybe a cheap getaway to Mexico or someplace affordable.
The first thing that my came to my mind reading the title was douche jar from New Girl. haha~ Either case, you’re putting money in the jar.
I already have 2 piggy banks and I need to start utilizing that more.
This is such a great idea….I love how easy it feels!
This is Great right now I can afford the biggining & no doubt in my Mind by setting this goal somehow I’ll reach the goal
My husband and I did this! Well kind of. He was deployed shortly after we got engaged and we would shove all our cash into a piggy bank with a “honeymoon fund” post it note on it. It was funny because my weekly spending money always went in there for the most part- and friends would come over see it and drop cash in it too! We saved so much it was awesome 🙂
Wow, this is a brilliant idea! I’m definitely going to start my own jar — tonight! I think I have $3 to spare… 🙂 Thanks for the tip!
My husband and I do this and it’s wonderful!! It makes it so easy. We also keep our coins separate. It’s so fun to see the jars get full!!
My husband and I do this and it’s wonderful!! It makes it so easy. We also keep our coins separate. It’s so fun to see the jars get full!! <3 sorry I forgot the heart!!
I love this idea! And thank you for the chart! I’m going to commit to the $0.50/week plan (it gives me heart palpitations just to think of dropping $26 in the final week of 2014, lol). I’ll keep you posted!
This is a great idea – so simple, but you end up with so much at the end! I have an old-fashioned glass sweet shop jar that I might use for this, and by the end of the year I’ll have a nice amount set aside for Christmas food and presents!
I totally love this!!! I started doing this in my savings account but love the idea of actually using the physical money and keeping it in a jar! I am going to go the bank and take out what I’ve saved so far and put it in a jar. It is definitely a better idea for me because if it’s in my bank account, many times I’ll just transfer it over to checking and use it. Now I won’t be able to! Awesome
Love this! I included it in my latest “Massive List of Links” post (https://itsemmaelise.com/post/78652228099/massive-list-of-links-part-10). Thanks again for sharing!
♥emma
http://www.itsemmaelise.com
I realize something last month I never went vacation cuz i dont have money. And i across this mason jar and i had a color paper and i wroted down vacation 2016 and start putting money in mason jar. Im really excited about this plan jar. 😊😊start every year im going vacation to my country. Specially Summer day.and have exra money for xmas day.
That’s great, I’m so glad to hear that! I hope the Mason Jar method works out for you. 🙂
Put a photo of something your saving for and it helps to keep you focused
Fab idea!
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Awesome idea! This is a great reminder of such a simple concept that works. Thanks for sharing.
Great idea, something which I am doing myself.
Excellence idea I’ve started doing it in January, I was just throwing change in the jar but now I’m strategizing as I have a goal in mind.