Earlier this year, I found $3,600.
Not too shabby, eh?
The story of how I found it is kind of fun, and it’s not every day you get to say “I found $3,600.”
My spouse and I have almost entirely combined finances. I still have some accounts at another bank, though, for a few different reasons.
The Big Credit Card Bill
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After Christmas, we had a pretty hefty credit card bill. It had a few different things on it, including a brand new mattress. My spouse takes care of most of our cash flow management. Things were looking a bit tight, timing wise, and we wanted to make sure we had a larger buffer in the chequing account, in case anything came up that we weren’t expecting.
My spouse called me and asked a pretty innocuous question, “Do you have any money you could transfer to the chequing account, so we have a buffer?”
I didn’t know if I did or not.
You see, money that is siphoned away, bit by bit, you really don’t notice disappearing. Then, all of a sudden, it can add up to quite a chunk of change.
That’s what happened to me. I logged in to my other bank account and the balance practically jumped off the page. I called my spouse back right away.
Hiding Money
“I’ve been hiding money from you! I’m stashing it away so I can run off on a trip without you.” I joked.
“But seriously, I have $3,600 over there!”
You see, my health benefit reimbursements still get deposited to that account, from back when it was my primary bank account. We always try to utilize our benefits as best we can, when they are about to expire at the end of the year. This past year, that included a few massages, and a new pair of prescription sunglasses for my spouse, all in December.
It also includes a slow trickle of physio, chiropractor and massage receipts throughout the year. Most of the time, it’s $15-60 at a time, so I never bother moving the money back to my regular account.
This time, one of the main reasons the visa bill was so large, was because of those reimbursable expenditures. Prescription biking sunglasses are not cheap, my friends. They’re pretty darn fancy, and pricey, and we wouldn’t have them if they weren’t covered by just-about-to-expire benefit money.
Needless to say, after I transferred that $3,600 back over, everything was golden!
How You Can Hide Money on Yourself
The whole experience is a great lesson in socking away small amounts, and having them add up to big ones. If you don’t have refundable benefits that you can siphon off to another account, you’re still in luck. There’s an awesome new program called Digit and it does just that.
It rounds up your transactions, to the nearest dollar, or five dollars, or ten dollars, and puts the difference in another account. You spend money just like normal on your debit card, and it puts a little bit away, every time. It analyzes your transactions and skims a little bit off of a bunch of them, in an amount that you won’t notice.
Let’s say you make four debit transactions per week and round up to the nearest $5 increment. So when you spend $8.79, Digit rounds it up to $10 and puts the $1.11 into your Digit savings account. It sends the little bits over to the account where they can accumulate. It’s even FDC insured.
To cash out, all you have to do is send them a text and the money will be transferred back to your main account. I have to write myself a cheque or send myself an eTransfer (which costs a dollar!). So clearly, Digit wins!
Oh ya – and Digit is free. They don’t pay any deposit interest on the money that you keep with them, as that’s where they make their money. This way, they can offer you the service for free! If what you have there adds up to a solid amount, simply transfer it to an account or investment that does pay you. #winning
Have you ever inadvertently hidden money on yourself? Have you checked out Digit yet?
Acorns is a much better service as you can actually earn money on the money you are “hiding” from yourself. I’m sure you get paid to mention digits though. So do your thang
I’ve never actually heard of it, thanks for the heads up!
Anne recently posted…Here’s How to Hustle Your Way to $59,000 in Your First Year of Freelancing!
Some years ago I had a similar experience. I was running a website that was paying me directly into my business account. My costs were minimal at the time and my full-time job covered all my living expenses so the earnings just kept getting deposited. I never even thought about them. Then one day I did eventually log in and I had over £4k just sat there! That was a nice discovery! 🙂
Richard recently posted…How To Pay Off Debt Fast
4 thousand pounds?! That’s a FANTASTIC amount of money to discover! Nice work.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I hide money in our regular bank account? Whenever I check it, I’m usually surprised at how it’s growing!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom recently posted…Spending the Long Weekend at Home
That is an AWESOME situation to be in!!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I do tuck money away but it’d not really hiding money from me. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE AND WHEN EVERYTHING GOES cause I’m SO type A and OCD that it’s not funny. ^__^;
Hehe, that sounds in character!
It’s like finding $20s in jacket pockets… it basically never works. The only time it seems to work for me is when it’s a blazer, or a dress jacket, that I never, ever wear.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
Great example of paying yourself first. You didnt even notice the money was missing. It’s such a powerful budgeting tool.
This is also a great example of how people lose money. Forgotten bank accounts, utility deposit, brokerage accounts, they’re all waiting to be found by people who have forgotten about them.
Thomas @ i need cash ASAP! recently posted…Making Money From Home: March Update $1,257
I still don’t understand how people lose money! I definitely still knew that I had an account… I just hadn’t put two and two together to realize exactly how much money had ended up there. Completely forgetting an account… maybe I’ll do it one day and then I’ll know what it’s like?
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
That’s a great idea. I do something similar for my Christmas account. I have a separate account at a different bank and I have an automatic deposit that goes there every payday. I never get a statement and I keep the debit card for it hidden away until Thanksgiving weekend. Then I have a nice little stash, guilt free! Maybe I should open up a second account and start squirreling away some fun money too! I did hide money from myself though – similar to your story. I had bought $2,000 worth of savings bonds back when my son was born. I bought them $25 a week over a period of two years. Then I stashed them in a drawer and forgot about them. Interest rates were better back then, so by the time he was ready to start college, I had $7,200 sitting there! That was a nice surprise! #InspireMeMondays
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Ohhh, that’s perfect for Christmas savings. So many people *mean* to do that, but never get around to actually doing it!
Oh wow, that is a very nice surprise to find with the bonds. That covers a solid chunk of tuition!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
Meant to subscribe to the comments.
Gen Y Finance Guy recently posted…March 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #3
Oops, I responded to your main comment!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
The only way hiding money works for us is by transferring it to investment accounts. Otherwise its just a hassle to have another account out there to keep track of.
I had a similar conversation on this over at Even Stevens blog. One thing is my wife and I keep a very large cash stash, so we don’t really look at our account balance to influence our buying decisions.
But I can totally see in theory how this could work for someone that manages cash more tightly. Its the whole out of site out of mind trick.
I am so anal and obsessed with knowing our numbers, there is no way I would had been able to let that account grow to $3,600 without knowing it. But glad it was a pleasant surprise for you.
Cheers!
Gen Y Finance Guy recently posted…March 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #3
Haha, I am not anal about the details at all. Like you, we have a lot of cash flow available, and don’t base our purchases on the account balances either. We’re all about the savings target, not the spending target, which is how this happened. The bummer is that we would have had the cash invested a month or so earlier, if I had clued in to its existence.
Almost all of it was for purchases that were on that massive credit card bill, which we were paying out of cash flow, so it could have earned some more for us if I had clued in sooner.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
Oh my goodness, no wonder you Canadians are so happy and friendly! 🙂
I loved this, and Digit sounds like a genius concept! I’m going to check it out! Congrats on the “windfall” , Anne, and thanks for the Digit Tip! 😀
kay ~ lifestylevoices.com recently posted…SPRING CLEANING FOR MINIMALISTS Challenge Part 4 ! 😀
Hahahaha, ah, I love you Kay!
Digit does sound pretty rad.
I thoroughly enjoyed the windfall, helllooo savings!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I have never heard of Digit, but I love the concept. I’m a big fan of the “set it and forget it” saving and investing strategy. It’s incredible how much small amounts can add up over time. 10% of my paycheck automatically goes to our employee stock purchase program and it’s pretty crazy how much money is in there after just 6 months. Since I’ve had it set at 10% since I started I don’t “miss” the money and it’s been a great way to set aside money for savings and investments.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…Would You Take a Pay Cut for Your Dream Job?
You can put in 10%? That’s awesome! Our max is 6%. I love that I don’t even think about, or include, those savings in our own targets. Like you, I’ve never had that money coming to me, so I don’t miss it at all, it’s awesome. Now, if only our stock price would rebound so I could cash some out for a nice profit!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I’ve never heard of Digit, but I really like the idea of using it. With my OCD, I like the thought of every purchase being rounded up to a $5 increment. It seems like a very easy way to save money. Great job stashing away so much money!
Kristin recently posted…My First Blog Income Report
Thanks… I’ll ignore the stashing for awhile more, haha. I know that CIBC has an option to round up transactions to the round numbers, I think it would look so funny to see a statement where everything was in round numbers!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
Spot on with the death by a thousand cuts Anne, we notice the big purchases – but the small ones end up being the worst. If I were your spouse, I would be THRILLED that you were able to find $3,600 at the best possible time too!
We try to fight this by being insanely over-involved in the excel sheet budget (no such thing IMHO). Every expense we pt on the card, I pay off immediately. It makes things simple and I don’t have to worry about paying it off each month, we pay it off each transaction AND record it on the budget. It may be more work, but I am guilty of these kinds of small purchases that negatively impacted the bigger bottom line and had to do something to change.
Great post!
Debtless in Texas recently posted…Springtime Savings
Oh ya. After I was done receiving a mocking, we were happy. Unfortunately it means that we didn’t have that money invested, in the meantime. *sigh*
I looooove me some excel, but we don’t budget at all. We do 99% of our spending on the credit card, there’s no way I would pay it off after every single transaction. You probably have an extremely good handle on where your money goes as a result, though.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I’ve never heard of Digit, but I like the concept! I try to stash little amounts away by moving them from checking to regular savings, but then something comes up and I end up moving it right back if it isn’t designated for something in particular. I’ll have to check Digit out 🙂 Out of sight out of mind, right?
Chela @SmashOdyssey recently posted…Upping My Progress Tracking Game
Interesting predicament! Do you have a target that you’re working toward, at the moment? It’s definitely out of sight, out of mind, and it’s even better when it’s money you don’t even miss.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I’ve never heard of Digit before, but it’s something I’ll have to look into once I start making “normal money” again. For now, on my stupid minimum wage budget, I’ve been putting $30/paycheck directly into my TFSA. I’ve always done these automatic withdraws much for the same reason as you mentioned – small amounts add up quickly and I don’t even notice they’re gone!
Amanda @ My Life, I Guess recently posted…So You Agree, My Job Is Not Worth It
That’s awesome that you’ve got a bit going, despite your lower-than-desired income… siphoning off a bit really adds up.
Alas, Digit is only in ‘merica… but I know that CIBC does something similar. I don’t know if any of the other banks do or not.
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March
I love finding money myself and you are right, a little adds up to a lot. I haven’t signed up for the Digit service, but I think its a really great service. Once I find time I am going to sign myself up. Thanks for the good information.
Petrish @ Debt Free Martini recently posted…A Different Kind of Spring Cleaning
It sounds pretty sweet, let me know how you find it, if you do end up signing up!
Anne recently posted…An Interesting Exercise – Blog Earnings and Stats for March