How to secretly save money?

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I want to put away $$ every month so I can buy dh something he’d really like for Christmas.

Has anyone one done this? With on line banking and easy access to financial info, it’s hard to stash money away! Any suggestions?

(dh getting upset is not an issue, in case anyone wants to say I shouldn’t ‘hide’ money from my spouse)
 
KCT said:
I want to put away $$ every month so I can buy dh something he’d really like for Christmas.

Has anyone one done this? With on line banking and easy access to financial info, it’s hard to stash money away! Any suggestions?

(dh getting upset is not an issue, in case anyone wants to say I shouldn’t ‘hide’ money from my spouse)
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My husband has Quicken tied into our checking account so he knows everything I buy, basically. He’s not controlling, he just likes that kind of accounting control. He would never question what I buy b/c he’s generous.

What I would do in your place is get cash at the grocery store, because the POS reports don’t list cash taken, just the final amount. Get like $5 at a time, not $100 at a time. Of course it depends on how much you need…🤷

Also, I worked for a while and put my earnings into a separate savings account. That one pays for our safety deposit box so it’s legit, but he doesn’t have it tied into Quicken so I can withdraw from it if I absolutely need to.
 
When I was a little girl back in the 70’s, my mom would open up a “Christmas club” and save 5 dollars a week until Christmas.

I don’t think they have those anymore…but something similar, a savings account put in 10 -20 dollars at a time.
 
I’m saving up for a surprise for my DH right now too. I just have a separate checking account from when I was single that we never put his name on. He knows it exists and he thinks I just use it as savings, but he can’t see it and he doesn’t know I use it for surprises. If I were you I’d just open up a new account. Or if your DH is very likely to notice that you’re moving money around, I would get a credit card with a small limit on it (like $500 or something).
 
Depending on how much you need, hundreds vs. thousands, save it in cash.

If it can be cash, I agree with Juliane, save it from extra grocery money. Then hide it away in your sock drawer.

The bonus is, if your family needs ready cash for an emergency, you have it. Of course, you wouldn’t have it for the gift, but if there was an emergency, that may not matter.
 
maryjk said:
Depending on how much you need, hundreds vs. thousands, save it in cash.

If it can be cash, I agree with Juliane, save it from extra grocery money. Then hide it away in your sock drawer.

The bonus is, if your family needs ready cash for an emergency, you have it. Of course, you wouldn’t have it for the gift, but if there was an emergency, that may not matter.
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This is what I do. But I also tell my husband I’m saving up for his Christmas gift, here and there. Of course he doesn’t know the exact amount that I’m looking at spending, but I do disclose my plan.
 
Do you have like a credit union scheme in America?

If so why not open an account with them, you can state what its for if you want to and save up bit by bit. You can keep the passbook with them etc (or at least you can in England) so he won’t accidently find it and the suprise be spoiled.

Failing that, why not open a seperate account in another bank or building society and just steadily save up. its only secret in that you don’t want to spoil the suprise right?
 
PatriceA said:
This is what I do. But I also tell my husband I’m saving up for his Christmas gift, here and there. Of course he doesn’t know the exact amount that I’m looking at spending, but I do disclose my plan.
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Good idea, that way if he puts away your socks and finds your stash, he doesn’t wonder about it.
 
PatriceA said:
This is what I do. But I also tell my husband I’m saving up for his Christmas gift, here and there. Of course he doesn’t know the exact amount that I’m looking at spending, but I do disclose my plan.
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That’s good. You wouldn’t want to have him thinking you are squirreling money away to run down to Mexico or something.

😃

p.s. What are you getting him anyway? you can whisper it if you need to!
 
Thanks for the replies. I just realized I phrased the question incorrectly.

Opening a new account and saving $$ in secret, I can do. 😛

It’s transferring the $$ from somewhere else that is tricky. With such easy on line access to all accounts, taking/ transferring $$ will be noticed.

It is a big ticket item, so $5 here and there won’t cut it. I was thinking $50- $75/ month.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
 
Well like TheRealJulianne suggested, if you have a debit card, anytime you can use the “cash back” feature, use it. I think our bank allows us to ask for $20 at a time on that feature, that easily add up depending upon how much you use the card during the month. The “cash back” won’t appear as cash, its included in the total debit amount for that particular transaction.

I think the only other option you might have is for both you and your husband to agree to a certain amount you both spend on each other for Christmas and open a joint savings account together.
 
I did that once. Like other have suggested, I laundered money through grocery shopping. It worked great!

I could do it even more easily now through the scrip program at school.
 
KCT said:
Thanks for the replies. I just realized I phrased the question incorrectly.

Opening a new account and saving $$ in secret, I can do. 😛

It’s transferring the $$ from somewhere else that is tricky. With such easy on line access to all accounts, taking/ transferring $$ will be noticed.

It is a big ticket item, so $5 here and there won’t cut it. I was thinking $50- $75/ month.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
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I’d either use “cash back” from shopping or else just shop a lot more in cash and get it from that. As long as both spouses think it is kosher, “in-house money laundering” isn’t that difficult!
 
I think I got it!

My mom lives w/ us and gives us $$ each month towards utilities. I can probably hide some of that each month. 👍
 
KCT said:
I think I got it!

My mom lives w/ us and gives us $$ each month towards utilities. I can probably hide some of that each month. 👍
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Just don’t forget to pay the light bill!

😉

Cash under the table, Mom, cash under the table…

👍
 
I do “work on the side” online, for which I am paid via paypal, so that is one way I accomplish stuff like this. (I know that this doesn’t apply in 99% of cases.)

I also have a few other ways:
  1. I return all the cans/bottles for the 5 cent deposit each. It’s slow going, but it adds up over time.
  2. I save my change, then cash it in at coinstar. It sucks because they do take a big chunk of the change, whereas my bank wouldn’t. However, it’s untraceable.
  3. I trade in my used video games for cash. After I’m done playing a video game, it could either sit there and be useless - or, get diverted into a future birthday/Christmas/whatever gift for my wife. The latter is better!
  4. My friends and I gamble, to a minimal extent - on fantasy football and fantasy baseball. On the rare occasion that I win, I always turn the money into gift money.
  5. I sell used things that I no longer need on places like ebay or elsewhere. I benefit from having my clutter shipped away, the person who buys it benefits from getting it cheaper than they would pay otherwise, and my wife benefits because the money would go towards a gift for her.
 
Takes some work but you could sell things to come up with some money.
 
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