I've said before that I get ideas & inspiration from other blogs for all sorts of areas of life, and last night, I got one of the best multi-purpose ideas ever. I've mentioned the incredibly beautiful and amazing blog, A Holy Experience before, and this post made me smile and cry and laugh. If you want to get to the heart of it all, or don't have much time, scroll to about the middle of the post and read about their Collecting Box. Or, you can read the letter I'm referring to further on in this post. This idea works because it meets some important goal-setting rules-
1 It's motivating
2 It's easy
3 You have a long term goal that's broken into smaller goals
On to the idea...Which is for married people...And she's so much more elegant about it...
She calls it a Collecting Box phenomena. The idea is to put a box on your dresser. A Collecting Box. For dollar bills, to go towards a honeymoon, a dream vacation for just you and your spouse. What makes this Collecting Box work is that you put a dollar in it every time you have sex. So, not only are you saving for something fun, you're doing something fun whilst saving! Also, I must point out, that if you're not engaging in this ahem, activity, very often, it would be a way to encourage more...activity. And if you are being, erm, active, and you have kids, it makes for a nice code. I'm thinking of sending Bry-D a picture text of a dollar bill and asking if he'd like to spend it. Or waving a dollar bill in front of him once the kids are in bed. And if you're ever not in the mood or need a reason to, you know, you can always remind yourself that this will get you a dollar closer to your dream vacation. For those of you that aren't going to visit her site, she states that the idea comes from an Ann Landers letter, and here's the letter-(with no date, I couldn't find it in the Ann Landers Archives)
“Dear Ann Landers: Last weekend, we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This morning, they left on a long-awaited trip to Hawaii. They were as excited as if it were their honeymoon.
When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip 50 miles from home. They made a pact that each time they made love, they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their 50th anniversary.
Dad was a policeman, and Mom was a schoolteacher. They lived in a modest house and did all their own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge, and sometimes, money was short, but no matter what emergency came up, Dad would not let Mom take any money out of the “Hawaii account.” As the account grew, they put it in a savings account and then bought CDs.
My parents were always very much in love. I can remember Dad coming home and telling Mom, “I have a dollar in my pocket,” and she would smile at him and reply, “I know how to spend it.”
When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, which we found enchanting. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoons. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they had managed to save, but it must have been considerable because when they cashed in those CDs, they had enough for airfare to Hawaii plus hotel accommodations for 10 days and plenty of spending money.
As they told us good-bye before leaving, Dad winked and said, “Tonight, we are starting an account for Cancun. That should only take 25 years.”
– Loving Daughter in Abilene, Texas“
I'm thinking of making this our go-to Wedding Gift.
Bry-D and I never went on a Honeymoon. We always said we would go on our 10th anniversary, but I was big pregnant that year, and the following year was a contract year(in union speak that means you have to stop spending in case of a strike). This summer will be twelve years, I wonder if we can manage to save enough for a trip this year? At least if we use this savings method we'll definately have fun trying!
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