Today was the weekly auto deposit to savings of $10, bringing my account to $957. The $3 transfer from paypal should come through tomorrow and I will be depositing $40 to hit my goal of $1000.

When I hit $1000, I am going to bite the bullet and open an ING account for six months with $250 to get the $25 deposit bonus. I am also going to take $250 and open an Emigrant Direct account as it is now at 5.15%. The remaining $500 will stay in my CU in case I need something for an emergency. I don't want to touch it, don't intend to touch it, but I'd rather have access to it quickly.

I will transfer the $10 weekly to Emigrant, plus the $65 monthly there as well, so that account will grow. When the time comes I will probably leave only $50 in my ING account so that if there ever comes a time when they are competitive again I can easily transfer money back there. Or so that if I am able to get referrals, I can get the bonus for that. I think I may end up opening accounts for my kids there, just so they can each get the $25 and I can get the $10 each for reffering them. But first their savings accounts need to build.

I am about to institute allowances with my kids. I will have them save 20% in their savings accounts that is not touchable, 10% will be used for church offerings, and 20% will be used for their piggy banks for them to save up for stuff they want to buy, or if they want to use it for buying presents at Christmas or birthdays. The other 50% they can spend as they wish.

I am thinking $20 a month each. Which seems high to me until I realize that they only will have $10 a month to blow. And I will keep their church money and their short-term savings money in my room so they can't just have at it. I think I'll make it a ritual, also. As in taking them to the bank to make their $4 deposits, counting out $2 in quarters for their church money and letting them clink them into the church banks, counting out the short-term savings money and having them put that money into that bank.

I am also thinking about putting $1 into their accounts each time they deposit their $4. They get a punch card at the bank and for every $5 deposit they get a punch and after 5 punches they get to pick a prize from the prize box. Good prizes, too like books and puzzles, not chintzy stuff. I can use it to explain a bit about 401Ks and how they match your retirement savings a bit.

The only difficulty I forsee is scraping up the $40 a month to do it. DH is supposed to get a raise in January so maybe it'll have to wait until then. I think it is important though to do it. I feel like teaching them to save and to make charitable contributions is an investment in their future. An investment that is just as important to me as investing in DH's 401K is.

Oh, the gas station I went to to get milk today didn't have enough pennies to make change so ended up giving me 10 cents in change instead of 9 cents. One more penny to add to my people keep giving me money total, bringing it to: $1.81 since April.