Baby C Fund

My hubby and I moved this past January into a much smaller home. We went from a single, 3-bedroom rancher to a 2-bedroom, 2-story, narrow and short townhouse. We love it but it is definitely much smaller (and go figure, we are paying almost $300 more in rent per month).

Craigslist has become my new friend. In the past year we've made several hundred dollars selling extra or useless stuff that we no longer need. My husband and I both had fully furnished apartments before we got married so we had lots of duplicates. Our brothers both got their own places right around when we moved in together so we gave some stuff to them but still had lots of extra stuff. For the first few months we were spending the money we made on other things.

But then I started a fund called the Baby C fund in ING Direct and anytime we sell anything on Craigslist I put the money in there. And anytime I get extra cash that hasn't been counted on, that goes in too. For instance, my company merged and I have stock and everyone got a nice dividend. I figured that was not money I was counting on for anything else, so in it went.

Whatever we can't sell we drop off at a local thrift store whose sales go right back into the community. So it's a win-win! Our house isn't cluttered and we're helping out a charity.

I also use a cash-only system and at the end of a pay period, I do a "clean sweep." Whatever is left in my cash envelopes gets swept out and deposited into the Baby C Fund.

And since my cash envelopes don't have room for coins I tend to just collect coins in my pocket all day and each night I dump them in a coin jar. I've been doing the cash system for not quite 6 months and that coin jar is quite full. Once it's full I'll take its contents to the credit union and deposit that into my account which will get transferred to ING as well.

I just checked the account today and in just a month's time our baby has over $300 already. When I get pregnant I plan to use this money on stuff like a crib and changing table/dresser, etc. I already have my bedding set picked out too (although that is subject to change) and cannot wait to get a positive test so I can start shopping! Since I'm not even pregnant yet I have at least nine more months to save.

I love that I'll be able to have guilt-free shopping sprees because this money is totally not allocated towards anything else. It's been a great way to save without feeling the pinch. :)