Windfall Fund

This week, I am starting what I call a "windfall fund". I have a spare ING Savings account that has been going largely unused, as we put any cash we might have into our mortgage. The purpose of this account, is for me to put any little, ordinary, everyday savings that come my way, into this account. Now, I don't mean the big things, like tax cheques, bonus' or Rudd money.

I mean the little things I've managed to save money on. For example, my Mum gave me a small packet of Weetbix last night, that she didn't want to go stale. It's just a small packet, but it would save me about $1 (it's about 1/3 of an Aldi packet of Weetbix). So I'll transfer that $1 into the windfall account. Likewise, she gave me a virtually full packet of wipes she kept at her house "just in case", and they were starting to dry out. That's $3 to the account.

This week, I've just been sent a sample of Snugglers nappies from Soup for a trial they're doing. That's 30 free nappies, just for trying them out! Given that I'm using cloth for the most part during the day, these will last me a good 2 weeks on the trial, and will save me buying a new packet to top me up in another week or so. I'll put that as a $10 windfall.

That's 3 small things, over the last week, that have saved me $14. If that's what I have easily over a week, that could add up to $700 over the year that I wouldn't even miss, as they are things I would have otherwise have paid for.

I also get paid a small amount of money for market research, and I'll put that money in there. Also I like to save the odd bit of change from my wallet into a jar, and any of that I'll bank and put in the "windfall" fund.

At this point, I'm not sure what I'd like to do with the windfall fund. Most likely, once I hit the $100 mark, I'll just make deposits into the mortgage. But secretly, I'd like to put it towards my eternity ring, or perhaps even a few days away over summer.

I'm planning on updating every now and again with how my total is going, so stay tuned!