When I was in college, I decided to start a “fun money” savings fund. I found a cute, plastic, red piggy bank at the Dollar Tree, so I bought it and named it “Bacon.” My plan for Bacon was to fill him with all my extra change, dollar bills hanging here and there, along with an occasional large bill, and to open him up on either my 25th birthday or my honeymoon, whichever came first. Little by little he started to fill up. I tried to keep pennies out of him as much as possible, so the day I opened him I’d have real money to work with. I figured that if I opened it on my 25th birthday, I could have an amazing shopping spree and if I opened it on my honeymoon, I could use it to have loads of extra fun with my husband!
As it worked out, my wedding came before my 25th birthday, and I took Bacon with me to our honeymoon destination: Lake Tahoe. After we’d been there a night or so, I pulled him out and showed him to Eric. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Eric so excited. He had a “We’ve won the lottery!” type of response. We opened Bacon up (carefully, since I’d named him and grown attached to him) and found over a thousand dollars. Eric, the organizer in our family, made piles of hundred dollar bills, twenties, tens, fives and ones, and he had a blast doing it. Don’t we all just dream of rolling in a pile of money at least once in our lives? During that week, we went to extra places and had carefree fun because of our Bacon fund.
After seeing Eric’s face that day, it made all of the saving worth it! All those extra bills that I contemplated using for fast food, but decided to save instead, grew into a lot of money which we were able to enjoy together on our honeymoon. Starting a fund like this is something you can do anytime. When I started the fund, I was not in a relationship, but I wanted to do something long-term. Now that I look back, I’m glad I was able to share Bacon with Eric. It is fun to save up money for yourself to have a good time, and I don’t discourage that at all (you can always buy two piggy banks); but, I do encourage you to start planning (and executing) something that will bless the socks off of your future spouse. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you’ll give him or her on your honeymoon. The lottery experience you want to give your spouse can be during the purchase of your first home, at the birth of your first baby, or whenever you think it would be the most meaningful. Lottery experiences don’t even have to be money related. Once you are engaged, study your future spouse to see what things excite him or her most, and then plan ways you can bless him or her immensely in that area. With planning like this, everyone can win the lottery.
It took me several years to build Bacon up, and I’m sure there were times when the selfishness in me wanted to open him up by myself and not share the savings with anyone else; however, after sharing the prize with Eric, I would not have wished it any other way, because sharing with your spouse, and lighting up his/her life, is so much more meaningful than keeping it to yourself. Opening Bacon with Eric on our honeymoon is a great memory I will never forget – and I hope all of you can have such a special memory with your future spouse as well.
What can you do now that will bless the socks off your future spouse?
Leave a Reply