A Heap, One Grain at a Time
Posted by Gail | Filed under Saving
Remember that this week’s prize for sending in your “I Need Ideas” post is an Office-in-a-Box. It will be awarded by random draw from the entries received between Monday and Friday this week for the Success Posts, so you only have two days left to qualify.
My girlfriends and I were chatting the other day about the crap our kids did that blew our minds. We all have stories. I have the Alex Kicked the Dog story. Marci had the Shelly and the Banana story. And D told the story of her son, Mathew, and how he imported his sandbox into his room.
Mathew loved playing in the sandbox. When summer was almost over, D told Mathew that in a couple of weeks they’d be closing up the sandbox for the winter. Mathew seemed unfazed, much to D’s surprise, since Mathew spent every waking moment in the sandbox with his trains. Oh, well, you just never know with kids.
Mathew shared a bedroom with his brother. Charlie’s crib was in the corner of the room, and usually had one or two boxes stashed underneath. Over the next two weeks, each time Mathew left the sandbox, he took a bucket of sand out of the sandbox and piled it under Charlie’s crib, behind the boxes.
D was almost crying with laughter when she pointed out that Mathew’s plot only worked because she’s the world’s worst housekeeper. But as a working mom with three kids under 8, vacuuming wasn’t top of the list. The little bugger imported almost his entire sandbox, one bucket at a time, into his room. And D found out when she went into the room early one morning to check on Charlie, only to find Mathew wedged under the crib, making train sounds.
We very seldom think about what can be accomplished with persistence and concerted effort. Sure, we know we should save. But saving $100 a month can seem like a futile effort. No one gets rich saving $100 a month, right?
Well, when did Mathew’s pile of sand turn into a heap? Think about it for a minute. Sure, the first bucketful couldn’t have been much fun. But this six-year-old had enough imagination and stick-to-it-ness to know that over time he’d have what he wanted. We’d do well to show the same patience and imagination.
Ever heard of the Sorites paradox? Attributed to Eubulides of Miletos who lived in 4th century BC, the Sorites (which means “heap”) paradox asks a body to consider a heap of sand from which grains are removed one by one. Each time a grain is taken away, the heap gets imperceptibly smaller. At what point is it no longer a heap? When 1000 grains remain, or 100, or 10?
Now flip the paradox around. Can you see where I’m heading? While one grain is by no means a heap, consistently adding grains will, over time, lead to a heap. You won’t necessarily recognize the instance when the pile becomes a heap, but a heap it will be eventually.
Saving even the smallest amounts of money consistently will eventually results in nice heap of savings. Mix the “magic” of compounding interest with time and discipline and you can achieve wonders. You may not notice the exact moment when your automatic monthly deposits transfer into a worthy sum, but it will happen. The first step is to get yourself a bucket (an automatic savings plan) and start using it to move your sand from one pile to another, so that at the end of the day you’ve got a heap to run your trains through.
August 13, 2009 at 7:46 am
I love this story and the point your making. Great read with my morning coffee! Have a good Thursday
August 13, 2009 at 8:38 am
As always, you found a fun and creative way to make us think about savings, and encourage us to start today with a few grains! Thanks for the ongoing inspiration
August 13, 2009 at 8:51 am
LOVE this analogy Gail thank you for teaching a lesson once again!
August 13, 2009 at 8:52 am
Very clever metaphor, Gail – you are such a skilled writer.
Thank you.
August 13, 2009 at 9:00 am
Love this metaphor because it works for both saving and debt free goals!The heap of debt will no longer be considered a heap if I keep at it consistently.
Thanks for the clever reminder that patience is needed when reaching our goals.
August 13, 2009 at 9:19 am
stories like this one keep the fire burning, gail!
August 13, 2009 at 9:45 am
What a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it!
August 13, 2009 at 10:06 am
Very cute story indeed with an inspirational message!
August 13, 2009 at 10:26 am
Gail, you never cease to amaze me! Thanks for the great story!
August 13, 2009 at 10:40 am
All I can say is that I’m glad Mathew isn’t my son. You’ve got to admire that, but by no means would I want to clean it.
August 13, 2009 at 11:06 am
That’s one determined kid!
I like his style!
It’s a fantastic metaphor, keeps me happy with my “grains” of savings effort at a time when the gains seem so useless.
August 13, 2009 at 11:08 am
Choo Choo…chugga chugga chugga…
Another story analagous to yours is one I heard during a religious sermon about what a wise man noticed one day in his wanderings through a forest with a stream. He noticed that while water cannot break rocks on a single splash, when you a single drop of water fall on a rock at constant intervals, over time, those drops can cause even a rock to dent. Never forgot that story.
August 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I’m relatively new to this forum. Could someone please explain what the “I need ideas” post is?
August 13, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Nevermind! I figured it out! Thanks!
August 13, 2009 at 1:23 pm
It’s working – I’ve got $50/pay being automatically deducted to a savings account for a five-year savings goal for our car. I haven’t noticed the money moving, and yet when I check my account I am at $800.
August 13, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I am in love with Mathew! Gail, this website blog and your show (which I have only recently discovered) are wonderful tools. I have made my sons watch them because sometimes the words get through when they don’t come from Mom.
August 13, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I have a pretty basic question that maybe someone can answer. I want to start long-term savings like Gail suggests, even at just $100 a month, but I don’t know where to put this money if I want the compound interest to factor in long term. Is it mutual funds that I should be looking at, TFSA, or something else??
August 13, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Dil, the choice of where to invest is always difficult. The important aspect is to define “long-term savings”. What does that actually mean? If you say ‘retirement’ then assuming you’re young you mean 40 years or so. If you say ’save for a house’ well that’s much more nebulus — you may be 20 and want to buy a house at 25. That means long-term went from 40 to 5 years.
If it’s long term, and you’ve built up your emergency savings first, than either a TFSA or RRSP may make the most sense, depending on your income. there have been studies that show an RRSP does little for low-income earners, for instance in which case a TFSA makes more sense. Mutual funds can be purchased inside either a TFSA or an RRSP. Remember that ‘tfsa’s’ or ‘rrsp’s’ don’t actually return anything, it’s the stocks, bonds, mutual funds, savigns accounts and other investments INSIDE them that make up your return (loss).
If you haven’t built up your emergency savings, do that first (inside a TFSA, as you need liquid cash most of all in your emergency accounts).
August 13, 2009 at 5:37 pm
When I was 16 years old, I overheard a young mother tell another that no matter what, she and her husband put $100 per month in their savings account. “Even if I have to water the milk,” I recall her saying, “That money goes in.” I’m now 56 years old, and I often think about how much money that family would have now, 40 years later, at $100 per month.
August 14, 2009 at 11:36 am
Dil:
What Geoff said, plus:
It is difficult to buy GIC for $100 each time. I think Canada savings bonds can be purchase in low demoniations (but only once per year).
You might need to build up in a high interest savings account and then purchase a GIC once you reach the minimum ($500 -$1000); CDIC insured! Some mutual funds allow you to buy with less than $100/purchase. You can put the money into the money market (which does not pay much at the moment but is lower risk), short to long-term bonds, equity, or a mix of these. It does depend on your investment horizon and risk-tolerance.
August 14, 2009 at 2:22 pm
This is a fabulous post and it was so me! In my past, I never bothered to save because there wasn’t much left at the end of each month to save. In my present, I am amassing my grains of sand into a small heap so that my future is debt free equity filled bliss!
Thank you Mathew!