Comments on: Snowflaking and Goals

By: Credit Girl

Credit Girl — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:10:20 +0000

The idea of snowflaking is a really good one. This article is also really good because it gives you some other ideas for savings, including snowflaking. Hope you like it!
http://www.gobankingrates.com/savings-account/saving-money-when-you-dont-think-you-can/

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:31:51 +0000

Money saved is not really money earned, so where does it all come from? I want a new car but don’t want to wipe out our auto and home maintenance fund to buy it, so I choose to keep driving my crappy Aveo. Do I get to move the $15,000 I’m saving to another goal? Nope, because that would be counter-productive.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to save a set amount for a goal? If I wanted a new car, I’d put 10% of my paychecks or $200 a month or whatever into an account for a new car…seems easier and more efficient than moving around a few bucks every time I buy meat from Sam’s Club instead of Krogers…

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:24:46 +0000

I have used this process to my advantage often.
Whenever I break a bill, I put the singles and change in a seperate pocket. When I get home, the silver and singles go into one jar, and pennies into another.

With this, I have purchased a $4000 bicycle, a MacBook Pro, and some other smaller items.

This money becomes my Rat-hole, which I turn into large bills, and squirrel away. I usually have about $100 in coins, and $500-$1000 in large.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:49:56 +0000

I can say I enjoy the concept of snowflaking but have yet to put it into effect. I don’t know if it is due to the way I was raised or the context in which I saw others spend money, but I buy immeadiately or I don’t buy at all. This behavior has made me be known as a modern day cheapskate. I just don’t buy as much stuff anymore. Using this technique you just shared I think I will be able to acheive some of my material goals and also some professional ones as well. It’s good to think in the context that it doesn’t have to all be done at once to be sucessful.

By: vinicius hisao suzuki

vinicius hisao suzuki — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:02:33 +0000

i loved this idea. in fact, i believe this will work perfectly for me because you don’t “feel” saving money, but at the end, you see the result. great idea! going to start today! thanks.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:15:37 +0000

I really like this idea. I know the way that I’ve been saving is to do automatic transfers between my checking and savings account. It happens one the first day of every month. I am also looking for ways to reduce my expenses. Recently I am going to be able to make two changes. I am moving to a bit smaller apartment ($400/month Savings) and also dropping cable and phone service, sticking with just Internet service (approx $100/month Savings).

With those choices complete, I will increase my monthly automatic transfers by $500 more each month.

Bottom line, the way I look at it is if I’ve been used to spending X amount of dollars and now it will become X – Y dollars, might as well put those Y dollars into savings.

Good luck everyone!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:24:52 +0000

I developed Cashflake for those who want to track their snowflaking on the iphone.

If it is OK to link, it is available at http://cashflake.com.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:28:52 +0000

I love this idea! It’s really easy to overlook how small things affect your finances, but this idea is a great way to make those small things count.

By: Stephan

Stephan — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:20:38 +0000

its a great way to realyl eat into your debt. The problem however that makes it hard to follow is the fact that a lot of people can not stick to the rule. If they save 5$, they are more likely to spend those extra 5$ on something else than save it for the future. Its just a part of the american way of living and money management, but hopefully this will get better as we have all lived through a very tough economic time the past couple of years. Preferred Financial Services

By: Richard | RichardShelmerdine.com

Richard | RichardShelmerdine.com — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:42:25 +0000

The 250 mile goal is definitely something I’d look into. Sounds like a great idea. I’m always willing to try out new ways to achieve my goals.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:05:17 +0000

I also “hypothetically” want an iPad, so I decided to sell off some of my unused gadgets on Craigslist. A super neat universal remote control ($60), a Wii + games ($250), a rarely used, but great condition netbook laptop ($250). Now, I have enough money to get an iPad, but I realized that I don’t really want one.

However, selling these items has allowed me to find another income stream. I had “hacked” my netbook computer, and the person that I sold it to has a group of friends who now want me to “hack” their netbook for them as well. I said I could do it for $75 each, and 3 people have already replied that they would love for me to do it for them. Since it’s a very easy job (something I can start and let run while I’m working), it’s an easy way to make some extra cash that I can save and invest, or buy myself a toy if I want to!

By: Annie

Annie — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:09:16 +0000

I’ve not heard of the term in the past but I do a similar thing. When I save money on a purchase I take the money saved and stash it in my savings account. Great post!

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:37:57 +0000

Thank you for this impressive tip regarding snowflaking. I think I need to apply this when I complete my 30 day soda free goal, and then think about my next 30 day trial (which will be related to savings and finances).

I believe the idea of saving in one area and applying that to my financial goal will be the best way to build up that plan. Even when it comes to extra income that will be trickling in (which in my case includes league winnings from bowling, impending flea market and yard sales we’ll be conducting throughout the summer, and survey incentive checks that come in the mail) I need to throw more money into our emergency fund.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:29:53 +0000

I understand how you snowflake, but it seems like it only works if you see something for “x” amount but know you can get if for “x-y” somewhere else. If I knew that “x-y” existed, it would become my “x” and though I would know that I saved money in some fashion, it wouldn’t make me want to put that money into a savings account. I’d simply think – “look, I’m staying under budget so now I can spend more in that category.” I dunno, my brain just doesn’t want do the snowflake. Maybe it wants to see the snowball at the end of the month and sweep that into savings b/c those tiny transactions clutter up my statement :P Also, I’m wondering if the concept works better when you spend cash (then you can actually remove that money from an envelope and set it aside for a snowball later). I realize it’s just a little thing to trick yourself into saving more. My own “trick” to saving now is stocking up a couple funds at the beginning of the year with the amount I intended to save over the 12 months (I’m fortunate to be able to do this – like $1000 in a medical account, $1500 in a vacation account), then I save the rest in another account for grad school (it’s a much bigger amount that I can’t just load up immediately). I also have another hack for saving $1000 in a year – in yet another account (my credit union account), I put $84/month because that ends up being $1000/year, yet feels painless (it’s not so much more than $50/month, yet isn’t a whole $100/month). I sometimes think I should just set up 10 accounts each taking $84/month because it feels less painless than one big lump sum of $840/month (though it means more clutter!) :P I’m even switching to a biweekly budget b/c it reflects how I get paid and the amounts are smaller so it feels like less to pay out or save. I realize the irony that your whole post was on saving small amounts and here I’m telling you how I trick myself into breaking money into smaller amounts that feel easier to save. Honestly we’re all just looking for something that inspires us, right?

By: Maria

Maria — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:09:43 +0000

I use the snowflake strategy too, but instead of waiting till the end of the month to add the money toward my goal, I add the money at the end of the day. This gives me the advantage of daily compound interest.

The iPad is also a major desire. I cannot help but wonder, of the people who have already bought the iPad, how many of them have their emergency fund fully funded? How many of them have no debt on their credit cards, car loan and student loans?

I am constantly trying to overcome these temptations. So far, no iPad for me. I told myself that I have to save another year of college funding for my child and then I would give myself an iPad…

If I have to choose between sending my child to college with little or no debt, versus buying an iPad so that someone else’s kid can go to college with little or no debt, I choose my child.

By: Allison

Allison — Sun, 02 May 2010 12:47:46 +0000

I’ve snowflaking my way to a new camera ($900)! I have $400 so far! My snowflakes have come from money I save with coupons and left over change! But another portion comes from my exercise/healthy living goals! For every quarter hour I work out a day $.25 goes in the fund! Makes me want to spend more time trying to get healthy and exercise is free! The other healthy living goal came from looking at my statements and noticing how much I spent on fastfood! (ouch). So I limit myself $10 a week (almost a fourth of what I was spending) and whatever is left from the $10 goes to the fund! So weeks I have an awesome deposit to the camera fund some weeks not so much! But by doing this I feel like I’m earning this big ticket item!

By: Millie

Millie — Sun, 02 May 2010 12:18:52 +0000

Don’t forget that you can get those walking shoes on eBay, too! Go try on and write down the style you like and the correct size (try on at the store) and then go look around. I got a fabulous pair of shoes that had only been worn about a dozen times for about half the price, on eBay. :)

By: PureFi

PureFi — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:40:41 +0000

I really like the concept of snowflaking and also have used the idea of keeping a picture of your bigger goal in mind with a photo or other representation.

Having a friend do snowflaking with you and checking with each other regularly helps too.

By: Giorgio Sironi

Giorgio Sironi — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:28:01 +0000

For me it is the same situation with the Kindle 2. But the question is: is it worth some hundreds dollars?

By: David/yourfinances101

David/yourfinances101 — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:01:47 +0000

I can get into this idea much much more than the “det snowball” one. That makes no sense in the world to me, this one makes all the sense in the world…