The Handbag and A New Way to Save For Wylie

Some of you may know that I obsess over purchases at times to a point I don't buy anything and stick with the tried, true and sometimes very used. Examples of this: My old VW, Shoes, Sweatshirts, Living Room Furniture, etc. For the past three years I have been in the market for a new purse and for the past three years I've agonized over the decision not really finding anything I was willing to live with for the next 10 years. My last bighandbag purchase was in 1993 (don't laugh) when my mom bought me a Dooney and Bourke handbag and wallet as my graduation gift. In fact back in AugustI lost the wallet after having it meticulously restored after 13+ years of use. I was heartbroken. I also resolved to buy a new wallet and purse bythe end of the year. Here is a sense of what I've done over the past three years... 1.Wyatt put aside money in our honeymoon fund to buy me either a nice pairof shoes or a nice handbag while in Paris or Monaco. I didn't buy eitherand we ended up using the money to buy our 1st anniversary gift of a CanonElph Digital camera. 2. November 2005, I put aside some money to buy a handbag or shoes inParis. Came home with an awesome pair of boots. Sadly no purse. 3. December 2005, Wyatt's mom gave me a little bit of cash to put towardsbuying a purse. 4. April 2006, Wyatt's mom gave me a little bit of cash to put towardsbuying a purse. 5. December 2006, Wyatt's mom again gives me a little bit of cash towardsbuying a purse. Do you see the trend here.... 6. April 2007. Wyatt's mom OFFERS to buy me 2/3rds of a Michael Kors handbag that I fell in love with as a birthday gift. I agonize again over the idea, wait too long, purse is gone. 7. April 2007. Wyatt's mom gives me a little bit of cash towards buying a purse. In the interim all of the cash kept getting put into my "birth" bank, which is a plastic panda bear that my mother gave to my father when I was conceived as a way to symbolize one more child to save for college. Over the years it is where all my spare change has also been dumped at the end of the day. I've emptied it on two previous occassions in order to "splurge" on something important. Well it's almost the end of 2007 and I decided to empty it again. I've found the handbag. It's a Coach Gallery Tote either in Red leather orWine patent leather. I figured with the money Wyatt's mom had given me over the years I would beable to buy it and put a little of my own cash towards the purchase price. I had more than enough cash to cover the cost of it before tax in actual dollar bills. Emboldened by that fact AND the fact that I had a ton of change (most likely about 10lbs) on the breakfast table I decided to begin counting.Wylie now has a nice chunk of change (no pun intended) going into his bank account. A REALLY NICE CHUNK OF CHANGE! Which brings me to the new way to save for Wylie. So, do you save for your children with the change in your purse? I'm liking the idea that at the end of the day all the change I have goes into the bank for Wylie. He has a little silver piggy bank that will hold a good amount of change. But after that it will be in the panda which is no longer my saving bank but Wylie's. I wonder if as he gets older if this will become how he saves for camp?