Some forget about making a down payment on a new car and keep the old family bus for another year; others take a part-time job and still others dump it all onto a credit card while yet others do it the hard way, saving up week by excruciating week.
That must be why there has been such an explosion of piggy banks on the Internet.
Here are the top 10:
1. Exploding Bank
The most recent is a special Japanese savings bank -- although it doesn’t have anything to do with a pig. The clever bank induces you to save by shaking and beeping hourly to remind you it needs to be fed some coins.
If you don’t feed it, the bank blows up and throws what few coins you have saved all over the floor. Well, O.K., it doesn’t explode explode; it just slams open a trap door and scatters your coins all over the floor. Seems like an explosion.
Japanese Toy Maker Tomy Co, Ltd. offers it for about $27.00
2.Coins Stop the Alarm Bank
Another savings device from the Land of the Rising Sun:
TokyoMango offers an alarm clock that won’t shut off unless you put coins in it. Want to sleep another 15 minutes or half hour? Yeah? What’s it worth to you?
3. Money Eating Monsters
O.K., no more Mr. Nice Guy Piggy Bank! Some banks are literal monsters that demand to be fed! Or else!
The Money Monster Bank gobbles up both coins and bills, then follows with 20 more-or-less age-appropriate comments (“Money, money in my tummy!”) while their eyes flash and ears wiggle. After the money is consumed, the saving monsters let out a mighty belch, letting you know your funds are secure and probably tasted good, too. Available soon for about $24.00 from Firebox via Pocket-lint. The Monster banks even heckle passers-by if they walk by without giving up some cash.
4. The Face Bank Robotic Piggy Bank.
This bank also eats money but with realistic munching motions. Just don’t get your fingers too close or you’ll need a plastic surgeon who specializes in hand reconstruction! Watch the Face Bank in action on YouTube. Go to:
http://weirdscience.ca/2007/06/10/coin-eating-piggy-bank/
How does it work? The Face Bank has motion sensors embedded in its eyes. The sensors detect your approaching hand, then latch onto the money, (hopefully!) gobble it up and swallow it for safekeeping. Depending on where you find them, the bank will deplete your plastic surgery savings by at least $14.95.
5. Digital Piggy Banks
According to the Chinese calendar, it’s the year of the pig. So that's another reason we're seeing so many piggy banks. The DigiBank from Keian takes piggy banking another step into geekdom.
You can program the bank just by showing it a coin, be it a dime or a Drachma, a half a buck or a Hallalah. After that, the bank is smart enough to recognize what type of coin it’s getting and how many coins are dropped in. It tallies your savings and displays a running total on its LCD display.
It costs around $15.00 at better piggy bank stores everywhere. (Chinese and more astute readers will note the middle bank is not a pig at all but a Panda.)
6. Economy Model Coin Counter
No programming is necessary -- or possible -- on this model. Just attach it to the top of a glass jar and let it track the amount you’re socking away for that upper eyelid surgery. The bank only costs $8.00 but, then it only recognizes Japanese Yen. (1 Yen is just about $.01.) Hey, we did say it was the economy model. Leaves more for your surgery. MORE »
7. Gold-plated piggy bank.
If you are headed to Beverly Hills for your surgical rejuvenation, here’s a bank that’s more appropriate to where you are: a gold-plated piggy bank from Jonathan Adler for $130.00. Or not. Maybe just stash 130 clams in an old sock toward your surgery?
8. Bankabank piggy banks
No, these are not the lastest iPods. They are just round, soft, supremely low-tech banks which don’t require batteries. The bank can hold $75.00 in U.S. quarters. Part with 48 of those quarters and one can be yours. From Gizmodoa.com.
9. Upscale Bank
This device also has not a shred of porcine influence and is a saving bank meant to resemble, well, a bank. Or, at least an ATM machine at a bank. But get out of the habit of withdrawing money -- it’s designed for inserting loose change. And just like its grownup, real life counterpart, you have to have an access card and a pass code.
10. Bank of Life
The Jinsei Ginkou (Bank of Life) from Takara Tomy is also called the “Tamagotchi Bank” because it has a console screen that shows the virtual lifestyle of a virtual man. When the bank is empty, the man lives in a tiny, unkempt hovel. But as you add more money, the character on the screen starts upgrading his environment all the way to a virtual fancy digs and a more lavish lifestyle. (He is also looking so much better after his surgery in this stage.) It’s designed to save $850 (real time, not virtual bucks!) but you have to save with 500 Yen coins.
BONUS BANK: Because you’re reading this on a computer screen, the last of the top saving devices hardly resembles anything else. But we’re sure you’ll appreciate having it next to your computer.
This cleverly designed piggy bank looks like a giant key from a computer keyboard, emblazoned with word “Save.”
The oversize plastic computer key (4.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.25″) serves as a constant reminder to save those spare coins you found under your desk or the couch cushions. The Auto Save Bank is just $10 from Uncommon Goods.
(While you’re recovering from surgery, here’s a head start on your next round of Trivial Pursuit: Why are many coin banks shaped like, and named after, pigs? (Hint: Doesn’t have a thing to do with hogging money.) Give up? Here’s the story, dug from the dustbin of history:
Long ago in Europe, dishes and cookware were made of a dense orange clay known as “pygg.” When people saved coins in jars made of the clay, the containers became known as “pygg” banks. An English potter misunderstood the word and made a bank that looked like a pig.
The rest, as they say, is history. Anyhow, good luck with your savings plan. Here’s more about financing your plastic surgery.
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