High Schooler's Genius Hack for Saving Money for College Goes Viral — and She Has Her Boyfriend to Thank (Exclusive)

• Adrianna Rodriguez decided to purchase a piggy bank to help curb her overspending habit and learn to save money

• Her plan was to contribute $40 from her allowance each week, along with 35% of any money she made from babysitting, until August

• To prevent herself from opening the piggy bank, Rodriguez only shared the code with one person: her boyfriend, Jay, whom she's been dating for almost a year

• Not long after, she posted her story on TikTok, where it went viral, garnering more than 17.3 million views and 8,000 comments

Adrianna Rodriguez had been thinking of ways to curb her overspending habit and learn to save money when she came up with the idea of getting a piggy bank.

So, the 17-year-old ordered a pink home bank online and when it arrived, sat down to assemble it. It took her only 30 minutes to put together — it even came with its own jewels. From the start, her plan was to contribute $40 from her allowance each week, along with 35% of any money she made from babysitting, until August.

"I wanted to set aside some money so that when I go to college, I have a little personal fund to use," the high schooler tells PEOPLE exclusively. "That is my goal and I plan to stick to it. There's no specific amount of money that I'm reaching toward, just a time frame I want to complete."

Related: Dad Feeds 18-Month-Old Son a Pickle After Work. Two Years Later, It's Still 'Their Thing' (Exclusive)

To prevent herself from opening the bank, Rodriguez only gave the code to one person: her boyfriend, Jay, whom she's been dating for almost a year. While she loves her parents and sisters, she knew that her boyfriend — who has a front-row seat to her spending habits — would never give her the code unless she really needed it.

"I think we both knew that he was the best option to keep it closed," she says. "He was excited to know that not only did I trust him enough, but that his dream of me actually spending my money would come true, seeing as he holds the code."

"I didn’t think my parents would even entertain the idea of a piggy bank," she adds. "I also believe that my sisters would have forgotten the code right after creating it."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

When the Northern Virginia local went to put money in the bank for the first time, she recorded the moment on camera. Later, she posted it to TikTok, writing on the video, "Me because I can't save money for the life of me so I bedazzled a piggy bank that only my boyfriend has the code to."

Rodriguez thought it was funny enough that hopefully some girl out there with a boyfriend who had poor spending habits would feel her pain. Turns out, her video hit the jackpot, as it went viral, garnering more than 17.3 million views and 8,000-plus comments.

"The comments are all kind of on the same topics," she says. "People who related to me or boyfriends tagging their girlfriends, saying they would buy this for them. There were people in the comments, however, who were just blown away by my trust in my boyfriend."

"I got lots of comments insinuating that he would try to steal the money, which a lot of other commenters were offended by," she adds. "I kinda think it's funny because, knowing the kind of lighthearted and kind person my boyfriend is, I couldn't imagine him even hurting a bug, let alone stealing my pink bedazzled piggy bank."

Despite the negative comments, Rodriguez knows that if there was an emergency and she truly needed the money she could go to Jay and ask for the code.

"At first, I tried to trick my boyfriend into giving me the code — this did not work — and it was a little dramatic of me at the beginning, how much I wanted to be able to open it," she admits. "But honestly, at this point, I don't even think about it."

"This has not affected us in a negative or positive way," she adds of their relationship. "We never even really discussed it outside of me just sending videos of me putting the money in. It only became a focus point in conversation once it blew up, and it was just something we both got excited about for me."

"I hope people just understand this is a very lighthearted situation," she adds. "I'm just a girl who wants to save up a small fund before heading off to college after this summer and be able to open it in a few months and enjoy what I've worked toward. I also hope people take on their own money-saving adventure. I think the best way to do serious things is to make it fun and enjoyable for you to stick to it."

Read the original article on People