I enrolled in the Bank of America Keep the Change program when it started. I always noticed that the transfer of the "change" isn't immediate. The "change" they deduct from your checking account is held one business day before returning it to you into your savings account. (I just called Customer Service to confirm that.)

If the bank "Keeps the Change" from all their customers for one business day, that's a great deal for them. But is it a great deal for the consumer?

When the program started, all the Keep the Change transfers were matched at 100%. But now the match is just 5% of the transfers.

Is Keep the Change really worth it?

Sunday's spending

$xx.xx Weekly tithe to the church
$28.48 Groceries (and I still cash left in the envelope for the week!)


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Sunday's frugal triumphs

I picked up an exercise ball from

Freecycle today. It didn't look like much, but hubby inflated it and now it's perfect. I'll probably use it a few months and then Freecycle it back into the world. I don't stick to exercise routines for long.

I also picked up some garden pots from another freecycler.

Oh - I found a dime in the parking lot of the grocery store! I'm going to have to start of jar for "FOUND MONEY" so it doesn't get mixed with my other change. (I'm just curious to see how much money I do find.)

I was able to hang another load of laundry on the line before the rain came.

I drank two bottles of water which meant two less cans of soda today. (I keep water bottles in the fridge, but I hardly ever grab water when I want a drink.)

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Sunday's frugal oops

I am addicted to Diet Coke/Pepsi. I drink it non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. (It's the reason I have such bad teeth now.) I have a habit of reaching for a soda whenever I'm at the checkout. The soda coolers are there. The sodas are icy cold. And even if I'm not thirsty, I grab one. Grocery shopping, Home Depot, Wal-Mart. It doesn't matter where. I always grab a soda as I leave.

So today, I paid $1.39 for a 20-oz bottle of diet coke. And I didn't even drink half of it by the time I got home. Why do I do that? Surely I can go without a soda for the 15 minute drive home!

Friday's spending:

$40.99 dog food
$130.00 plumber

The dog food should last about 3 weeks - we have two Chows.

The plumber was a budgeted expense and not an emergency. We needed to get hot water plumbed to the laundry room. A one time expense - thankfully!

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I signed up for

YouData last month. Basically, they pay people to view ads. YouData deposits money into your Paypal account every Friday, paying you for the ads you viewed during the week. (I spend less than 5 minutes a day clicking on the ads.)

Being the last "payday" of the month, I just transferred my "earnings" of $2.33 from Paypal to my Bank account. That's a whole month of viewing ads at YouData. It's definitely nothing to brag about, but I do it anyways. Guess I could click on more ads in June!

Total Added to Savings: $2.33

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Like just about everyone else, I toss my change into a jar at the end of the day. Usually, I bring my change to the local CoinStar machine and dump the change in and listen to that wonderful sound of money sorting. It's like being in Las Vegas and winning at the slot machines.

But the CoinStar machines in my area charge a coin counting fee of 8.9 cents per dollar. In the past, I avoid the fee by opting for an e-certificate to Amazon.com which waives the fee. But this isn't really saving me any money. I'm forever shopping on Amazon to find out what I can spend my e-certificates on. (I still have a balance of $9.04 at Amazon just waiting to be spent.)

Today, I stopped into my bank and asked their policy on depositing coins into my savings account. I discovered they only take rolled coins and I can bring them in whenever I want. And she even gave me some coin rollers.

Even though my change jar has a lot of coins, I was only able to roll $11 worth of coins. And that $11 is in my savings account as I type....

Total added to savings: $11.00

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I also listed a bunch of books on Craigs List. Hopefully they will sell and I can add to my savings.

Today's Spending:

Dollar Store - $1.00 (mouthwash)
Market Basket - $32.58 (groceries)

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I ordered a $5 Amazon.com gift card with

Swagbucks today. (I earn Swagbucks just by searching the internet!) This is my fourth gift card since March 2009. I should have it about 10 days.

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Last week, I shortened my mini blinds and kept the slats. (They were 64" long and my windows were 48"). Today I recycled the slats into plant markers for my garden following this tutorial. Super easy - and best of all - free!

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I also cooked up a huge pot of chicken lentil stew today. This will give us plenty of leftovers for lunches during the weeks ahead. (It freezes great.)

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