It is just a bottle.

I don't get a large tax return. I earn $2.83 an hour and only have myself to claim. As many reading this, I have already received my return. I used it for bills. Last year I spent a ridicules amount on comics (not a complaint) compared to what I saved. This year started off slowly, purchasing a lot less in January but threw off all restraint in February, yet I still kept within my collecting guidelines.

A little less than six years ago I decided to save using a calculated experiment, on June 5th, 2006 my life started over. I had yet to start collecting CGC graded comic books and my expenses were a lot higher. I tried saving but always had a new bill or some unforeseen circumstance swallow my savings.

I decided to change my way of thinking. A previous customer of mine once told me that $10,000 in quarters fit in a five gallon water jug. I decided to find out if that was true dubbing it my quarter experiment. I started putting in a quarter a day, if you calculate that over a year it comes out to $91.25 (leap year with standing). That wasn't enough for me, nor fast enough. I added an additional four quarters every Sunday. This brought my annual total to $143.25. This still wasn't fast enough, so on the 5th of the every month (the date I moved in) I added another $5 and on January 1st I added $20.

My total for a full year became $223.25. For that first year I dropped a quarter every day, $1's worth every Sunday, $5 worth for every 5thof the month, and $20 for the year. When the year was over I counted what was in there. My calculation was correct, what I had added on paper was what was in the bottle. The bottom of the jug was barely covered. I wasn't filling it fast enough. After the first year I added 2X the amount; after my second year I added 3X the amount and continued to progress this way after each consecutive year. I even started to use dollar coins.

After my 4th year, the water jug stated to look like I saved something substantial. I was also getting tempted to just bring it to the bank. I stopped adding coins on a daily basis and calculated the allotted amount every month. I am three months shy of doing this for a full six years and I just added enough coins into the jar to cover the calculations up to June 5th, the beginning of my 7th year. I would have slowly added over the next 3 months but I am going on vacation in early April and I would rather not leave all that money lying around.

I might not have gotten a hefty return but after this water jug experiment I'll have a nice amount to put away in savings, some for my trip, and maybe even a comic book or two. As for as a water jug holding $10,000 in quarters, it's a fallacy; it's more like ten thousand quarters. After six full years of adding coins, both quarters and dollars I came nowhere near $10,000. I calculated how much is in there but will let you know the exact amount after I take it to the bank.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

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