Money Saving Challenges to Try This 2016
If money saving had been a challenge for you last year, it’s never too late to change this and start saving cash. The good thing is that we’re still on the first month of the year so you may still have your mind set to start the year right. There are different money saving challenges that you could try, which would help you eventually stash some cash and develop it into a habit in the long run. Let’s take a look at some of them and see which would more likely work for you.
Track Your Spending for a Month
You might think that it’s not a saving challenge, but doing this could actually help you save more and have a better budget. By tracking your expenses, you’ll determine where your money is really going. Through this, you’ll get to see if you’re spending too much on things that you don’t really need. Sometimes, you’re not aware that you’re already shelling out cash on things that you can live without that you end up not having money to save. Since you’ll be more aware of your spending, you would be more conscious about limiting your budget on unnecessary things and putting the money instead to your savings.
Try the 52 Weeks Challenge
There’s also the popular 52-weeks challenge. Many people have tried it and they were surprised of the result. What’s good about it is that it would let you start saving at a small amount and gradually adding more so it would be easier for you to stick to, especially if you’re not really used to saving. This challenge works by saving $1 for the first week, $2 on the second, and so on until your reach the 52nd week. You’ll have a total savings of $1,378 once it’s over. You may repeat the process so you can continue saving more.
Go for the Dollar or Spare Change Challenge
Another option to try is the dollar or spare change challenge. Instead of saving for an increasing amount each week, you will save a dollar at the end of the day. You may also opt to save all your spare change at night before you go to sleep. No matter how little the amount is, that would be a good start. Keep on doing this and it would become part of your routine. You wouldn’t realize that after some time, the dollar or spare changes that you saved have accumulated into a good sum of money.
Challenge Yourself Not to Buy Something New for a Month
As mentioned, there are times that we buy things that we don’t really need. Try to let go of the luxuries for a month. Stick to paying just your necessities like bills, foods and transportation. Do not purchase new clothes, shoes or bags. If you used to splurge on things or you’re an impulsive buyer, you’ll be surprised at the amount of money you’ll save after this. It doesn’t mean that you have to completely let go of the things you want completely or you’ll never buy anything new ever. This challenge would help you take a break on excessive spending on luxury items and limit yourself on this so you can save money.
Do you know of other money saving challenges that you wish to share? Type your comments below.
Photo Attribution:
Featured and 1st image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
2nd image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
