You have heard the old saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Well a flock of birds took that saying to heart and found a way to form their own little nest egg, out of quarters. Quarters that they had retrieved from a car wash’s money taking system.
The Story
A recent email I received talked about the owner of a car wash who thought people were breaking into the computer system that takes your money when you go to get your car washed at an automatic car wash. In order to catch the criminals, the business owner set up cameras. To his astonishment, it wasn’t people at all stealing money, but birds who had learned how to fly up into the machine through the change return catcher. One bird exited the machine with three quarters in its beak. After following the birds to see where they went, they found over $4,000 in quarters on the top of the car wash and other quarters underneath a nearby tree. So, what does this have to do with you and what can you learn from a flock of birds?
Saving Money
This story is in no way telling you to rob quarters from a car wash machine. Instead, it is illustrating how even small coins can add up to large amounts of money. When it comes to saving money, the key factor is not how much you can save, but finding an amount that you can diligently save each month. It doesn’t do as much good to put away $1,000 one month, and then forget to deposit anything else into your savings account for the rest of the year. Instead decide on an amount that you can comfortably deposit, say $200 each month. It is a smaller monthly investment, but at the end of that year, you would have more than double that one $1,000 deposit you made. Obviously, the more money you can put into a savings account without being strapped to make your monthly bills, the better, but choose a balance you are able to deposit each month. For the birds, it was quarters, for you, it might be the same, it might be a bit more.
Start Small
A quarter might not seem like much, but if you are able to save just one quarter a day, by the end of the month you would have around seven dollars saved up. You can’t even eat out for dinner for less than seven dollars, so think about what you would have saved if you didn’t eat out one time. It is definitely more fun to spend money than to save it, but when an emergency comes, you might wish you had skipped that meal eating out and put that money into your savings account. Remember that saving money doesn’t have to be hard. Think of how many trips those birds had to make to have retrieved $4,000 in quarters. It they took two quarters per trip, they made over 8,000 trips. But little by little the amount added up, as it would for you as well. That quarter a day would be over $90 by then end of the year. It is a simple, easy amount that could make a difference in the balance of your savings account.
Start Saving Now
We eat at certain restaurants because they have items on a dollar menu. We buy cars because their slogans says that the car will only cost $10 a day. Why not save money because you can see the long run and see that that $10 a day, or even a quarter a day, will add up in your savings account. Saving money provides you with peace of mind, by knowing you are prepared for whenever you might need to rely upon a few extra dollars you have saved. A penny saved is indeed a penny earned. Those penny’s add up, so find a bank with the best savings account for you and don’t wait to begin saving money.
