My husband and I maintain all of our accounts, (other than my PayPal account), jointly. I originally opened that account solely to buy things on eBay. Shortly after buying things on eBay I started selling things there and the account slowly grew in value. I took a look today and realized the balance reached $4,000.
I wish I’d kept better track of the money that goes into and out of that account. I believe a combination of selling unwanted items, blog advertising and cash back websites helped me reach that happy little number. I also wish I knew how long I’ve been saving in that account. If I had to guess I’d say it was started around 2005 or 2006, but I’m not quite sure.
Going from $0 to $4000 is not too shabby, but I am certainly far from the the fast track. If I opened the account in 2005 it’s taken me seven years to reach this mark. Well, to be fair it may have taken me less time if I used the account solely for saving money. I also make all of my eBay purchases and other online transactions through there.
While I like keeping that little account all to myself, I realize I should probably transfer the money into our savings account. After all, PayPal money doesn’t earn interest, so it’s just sitting idly there.
I think it’s time to dump the money over to our savings account and start back over. I really wanted to hit $5,000 before performing the transfer, but at the rate I’m moving that might take another two years!
Squeezer @Personal Finance Success says
I would still call $4000 to be a pretty sizable amount of pocket change!
One Frugal Girl says
Oh yeah it is! It took a long time to add up to $4000, but it was worth the wait!
Little miss moneybags says
I move my Paypal money every month or so. PayPal has a track record of freezing user’s ENTIRE accounts in any dispute, not just the money in dispute. I also feel that it’s not quite as secure as a bank account (especially if the PayPal password is the same as any other password, such as one for email) and as you said, no interest. Rates aren’t high but $4000 would give noticeable interest each month!!
Congrats on racking up so much in your PayPal account–but I’d suggest moving it now and not waiting to hit $5000!!
One Frugal Girl says
I just read about the freezing of PayPal accounts and decided to move my money immediately! It should transfer to my bank in the next couple of days. I’ll earn interest on it and feel better about keeping it there.
Newlyweds on a Budget says
It’s still nice to have that large sum of money!
One Frugal Girl says
I couldn’t believe all of my little eBay sales, cash back and other ‘side ventures’ added up to $4000. Not bad!