Piggy Bank Challenge, 2019

Valerie (d/b/a Val's Quilting Studio) created the Piggybank Challenge.  The idea is to save spare change for a year. At the end of the year you count it, report it, and spend it on something quilty.

I call my version the Change Game.  In the 1970's when I lived in a small city in Texas I noted that I'd get two nickels more often than one dime in change. People paid library fines with nickels but not dimes. I mentioned that to the assistant librarian. She laughed and explained that the German and Czech farmers preferred the heft of nickels.  I began saving all those nickels, rolling them ($2 worth), and putting them in a passbook account.

(Photo from Etsy. This is the papier-mache bank I got in high school and used until the rubber plug crumbled.  The Etsy seller says it's by Fitz & Floyd.)


Some years after that I began emptying my wallet every evening, keeping four quarters and five pennies out and putting the rest into savings.  I recall one bank teller asking if I was a waitress, thinking the coins were tips.  Decades after that I started to save bills:  $1 bills with Federal reserve B and H (my initials) and $5 bills.  Now, those add up! 

This pottery jar is now the change collector

Val's annual challenge means that my Change Game goes from July 1 - June 30.
Here are the 2018-19 totals: 
                               COIN         $50.00
                               CURRENCY   $676.00
                                TOTAL     $726
I don't have a specific quilt-related purchase planned (other than acquiring fabric when DH and I go to Shipshewana next week to meet my quilting friend Sheila and her husband). It's just nice to have a bit tucked away!

And with this post I'm tossing my hat into the ring to participate in the new Piggybank Challenge. Thanks for hosting it, Valerie!

The Change Game: 2018 results

An email from Val reminded me that it's time to report the results of the annual Piggy Bank Challenge.   Participants save spare change all year and, ideally, use it for a quilting-related splurge 

I have a metaphorical piggy bank. At the end of each day I keep four quarters and five pennies in my wallet. The rest of the change goes into a small stoneware jar. I put all $5 bills and all $1 bills with the Federal Reserve designations B and H (my initials) into the jar. When there are enough coins to roll I do that and deposit them in my savings account. Once or twice a month I also deposit the $5 and $1 bills. It all adds up! I re-set the spreadsheet 7/1/17. As of 6/30/18 I had deposited $96 in coin and $642 in bills. That's $738!   

I will spend some to buy a bolt of batting (that's what I did last year) and some at the PIne Tree quilt show later this month. The rest can sit in the savings account and earn a penny or two of interest.

Here's the link up to other savings stories:  Piggy Bank Challenge 

Weekly update: garden tour and Care Bags

We had beautiful weather this weekend with sunshine and low humidity. Saturday was perfect for the annual Illinois Dunesland Garden Club garden walk.

The walk starts at the library where the maps to the five gardens are distributed. There's no admission fee. The club makes money on a bucket raffle with items on display in the library lobby.  I bought $30 worth of tickets and won two gift certificates, a gift basket, and a framed print. I got my money's worth!

This year's gardens were in Beach Park, Zion (two, across the alley from one another), Winthrop Harbor, and Carol Beach (just north of the state line).


Back in the studio:
I've supported the Care Bags Foundation for a long time.  They provide ditty bags filled with toiletries (plus a book and a small toy) that are distributed to kids in crisis. My goal is to make 100 bags a year.  I'm glad I checked the website before I began making this year's batch because the pattern has changed. The bags are larger to hold fleece blankets that other Care Bags volunteers make.

Of course larger bags mean I'll use up more stash!  I plumb the Deep Stash to find vintage fabrics, tablecloths, and fashion fabrics.


This poly/cotton woven plaid came from a thrift shop, mill outlet tag included. $5.99 was the original price (1960's, probably).  The 4-yard piece was enough for five bags.

I have two quilt donation opportunities, one for August and one later in the year. If nothing on hand will suit then, gee, I'll just have to start something new.  To that end I've begun perusing back issues of quilt magazines.

Monday linkups:
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday
Design Wall Monday

P.S.  I am throwing my hat in the ring -- rather, my coins in the jar -- and joining Val for the 2017 Piggybank Challenge . You can see my score for 2017 in this post and my method in this post .

Raffle mania and the Piggy Bank Challenge

Our guild's July program is Raffle Mania. It's an opportunity to offload no-longer-loved quilting stuff and a chance to take home someone else's in a bucket raffle. (Bucket raffles used to be called Chinese auctions -- here is an explanation.)   Each member gets tickets based on attendance and participation during the year and additional tickets are for sale (.50).  I got 18 free tickets which was enough to "spend."

I contributed a specialty ruler I won a few years ago and never used, 24 patterns that I never got around to making, a shoebox with 16 yards of Christmas fabric, and a ziploc bag crammed full of 8 yards of Christmas scraps.



Here are my winnings.

This kit came in a vintage plastic box (remember styrene?). The pattern is dated 1985.  I only wanted the fabric. Another guild member was delighted when I gave her the pattern.




 More patterns.

In all, 11-1/2 yards of fabric, four patterns, and a bag of M&Ms for the price of attending guild meetings this year.

And now, on to the Piggy Bank Challenge.  Last July Val (Val's Quilting Studio) announced the 4th annual PBC.  The idea: save your change. A year later report the total and what quilty purchase you'll use it for.  My rules for my version, the Change Game, are detailed in this post -- basically, I save spare change, $5 bills, and $1 bills with Federal Reserve B and H designations.

The result, after a year:  $119.21 in change and $589 in currency.  That's $708.21.  This morning I placed an online order for a 40-yd roll of Warm and Natural batting for $321.99.   I still have money in the bank!

See how other quiltmakers have done in Val's link up

The change game -- and a new computer

 Months ago I realized my 2008 Sony laptop was not long for this world. It would overheat. The screen kept freezing.  Sheer inertia prevented me from replacing it.  When  Valerie at Val's Quilting Studio announced the annual piggy bank challenge I realized this was an opportunity to upgrade the computer.  

The challenge:  save spare change and at the end of the year use it for a special purchase.

My backstory: I have played my own version of "the change game" for years.  I began  when I lived in Brenham, Texas, in the 1970's. I wrote checks or paid cash in those days. (The only credit card I had was for Sears. It had a $160 credit limit).  When I got change back from a purchase there were usually nickels rather than dimes. I asked the assistant librarian about that. She laughed and said it was because the local farmers felt that nickels were more substantial than dimes. When she and her husband owned a restaurant and they learned to stock up on nickels.
 I put those nickels, and other change, in an orange papier-mache piggy bank that looked a lot like this one.  I used it for many years until the rubber plug in the bottom finally crumbled.   I emptied the piggy bank periodically and deposited the coins into a passbook savings account.

The years went on, I moved and married and moved again.  I kept on saving change.   I established a routine that I still follow. At  the end of each day I empty my change purse, keeping only four quarters and five pennies. All the rest goes into the piggy bank and then into passbook savings.  When I got my first computer I began recording the piggy bank savings. (I am not so detailed that I have kept all the old spreadsheets, though.)

A few years ago I watched as a friend sorted $1 bills from his wallet. He kept out all those with the Federal Reserve Bank "B" and "C," the initials of his wife's first name and their last name. He said his wife saved them for vacation spending.  That gave me an idea. Since then I've saved $1 bills with "B" and "H."  Soon after I added $5 bills to that savings.  I usually pay with a credit card (for frequent flyer miles or cash back) so the $1/$5 savings don't empty my wallet.

This week it turned out that I had saved enough coins and enough $1/$5 bills to pay for a new computer (17" HP plus MS Office, virus protection, Geek Squad setup, etc.)  [Bonus: I will get gift cards from Best Buy and, because I used my Discover card I will get cash back. (I will make a savings withdrawal to pay the credit card bill when it arrives.)]

I keep change in this pottery jar, a souvenir from the 2014 P.E.O. convention.

Now I can begin  Valerie 's Challenge with a clean slate!